02/05 Exodus 23:20-33 The Angel of His Presence

We come now to the conclusion of God’s instructions given to his people at Sinai. He has communicated to them his expectations for what life lived in community with God should look like. He is a God who loves justice and righteousness, kindness and compassion. He alone is to be feared and worshiped and obeyed, and his presence is to be enjoyed. Here, at the conclusion of his commandments, he pours out good promises to his people, and he gives them clear warnings. This is a passage of promises and warnings. I want to look first today at his great and precious promises and heed carefully his dire warnings, and then I want to turn our attention to the primary promise, the ‘who’ of the promise, the angel of his presence.

God has rescued a people out of slavery to be in relationship with him, to be his very own. He has led them and fed them and rescued them from all danger. He has put up with their grumbling and complaining. He has revealed himself to them, and has communicated with them his character and nature. He has given them clear instructions for life within the community of God’s people. Now he is making them promises. He is going to lead them through the wilderness and bring them into a land he has promised to give them. He is promising victory to them. He is promising to fight their battles. He is even revealing to them some of how he is going to give them victory, and why he is going to do it that way. He promises to care for their needs. He promises to bless them abundantly.

But these promises are conditional. He will do these things “if”. And so there is warning. Let’s look at the promises, and then let’s look at the warnings.

Exodus 23:20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

God’s Good Promises

God promises to send his angel before us. The promise of his presence with us is the greatest promise, so we will save it ’till the end. He says he will

guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared

God’s protection is promised on the paths of life. Where ever you go, I will be guarding you. And I have a goal in mind. I will bring you to that place. I will make sure you get there. Your way will not be unopposed. You will have enemies. But I will be an adversary to your adversaries and and enemy to your enemies. I will bring you to face your enemies, but I will blot them out. I will bless your food supply; I will keep you healthy and make you fruitful. I will make your days full and satisfying. I will send my terror and confusion on your enemies, and cause them to run away from you. And here’s how I will do it. I will do it little by little, because if I drove them out all at once, you would not be able to maintain the land. So I will keep them in the land to maintain it for you, and I will drive them out slowly over time, so that you can enjoy the land, so the land does not become overgrown with weeds and overrun with wild beasts. I will gradually give you the whole extent of the land that I promised as your possession. These are big and rich and generous and far-reaching promises. God keeps his promises. At the end of the book of Joshua, we are told:

Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands.

Then in chapter 23 Joshua says

Joshua 23:14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.

God has kept all his promises. Joshua continues with a challenge and a warning

Warnings for our Good

Joshua 23:15 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

This would have struck home to the people of Joshua’s day. Their parents forfeited God’s promises and died in the wilderness because of their disobedience to God’s clear instructions. God makes good and gracious promises to his people, but he also warns us so that we don’t miss out on enjoying the blessings he provides. Let’s look at the warnings God gives his people here in Exodus 23. He tells them to pay careful attention; to obey his voice, he warns not to rebel against him, for he will not pardon their transgression. He warns not to bow down to or serve the false gods of the people who dwell in the land, or to imitate their cultures. He instructs his people to completely eradicate any trace of their false religions. He warns against making any agreement with the people or their gods. He clearly warns that the danger of allowing idolaters to remain in the land is that they will influence God’s people to sin against God. They will be a snare, a trap, luring them away from enjoying the reality of a relationship with the true God and enticing them to buy a counterfeit. God warns us because we need to be warned. We have an incessant tendency to become enamored with anything and everything besides God. The desires of the flesh, the deceitfulness of riches, the pride of life, the desire for other things constantly competes for our affection. This warning and command is not the restrictive command of a lover afraid of being left for someone else; this is the kind of warning that says ‘if you touch the stove, you will experience pain and injury’. God demands that we have no other gods, not because he is emotionally needy and craves our attention, but because he doesn’t want us to get burned. If genuine fulfillment and blessing comes only in relationship with him, then turning to other gods is turning away from the only source of real life. Our souls will only be satisfied in him, and he wants to spare us the pain of endlessly running after dead-end damning lies.

The author of Hebrews holds up the Exodus generation as a warning to us New Testament believers; a warning against turning our hearts away from the Lord.

Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works 10 for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

We need these warnings today because there is a danger for us today. We have a tendency to ‘go astray in our hearts’, and our hearts can easily become ‘hardened by the deceitfulness of sin’. The exodus generation, who were the recipients of so much of God’s revealed truth, and experienced so many of his physical blessings, were disobedient and did not enter in because of unbelief. The author goes on to exhort us:

Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

Physical vs. Spiritual

For them the battle was physical. Their enemies were external and physical; Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites. The dangers they faced were tangible and physical; starvation, sickness, barrenness, miscarriage. Their borders were physical; from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, from the wilderness to the Euphrates. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Eph.6:12). The passions of the flesh wage war against our souls (1Pet.2:11). The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2Cor.10:4, cf.6:7). We are called to:

1 Timothy 1:18 … wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience.

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

And we have greater promises of victory.

1 John 4:4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 5:4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The Angel of His Presence

This brings us back to the beginning of the passage and the greatest promise of blessing that God gives. We need to ask the ‘who’ question. Who is the ‘angel’ that God sends to see that his promises are fulfilled? In verse 20 it is ‘an angel’ and in verse 23 it is ‘my angel’ and he is simply referred to in the other verses as ‘he’ or ‘him’. It will be helpful to know that the word ‘angel’ in the bible does not necessarily mean a guardian spirit or a superhuman winged creature. ‘Angel’ can simply be translated ‘messenger’. Let’s look at what this passage says about this messenger of God.

It says he was sent by God, that he goes before God’s people, that he serves as guardian on their journey, and delivers them to the place prepared by God for them. It tells us that he must be obeyed, that he has the authority to forgive or not forgive, that God’s own name is in him. We are told that to obey him is to do what God says, that he brings us to our enemies and God blots them out, that he blesses us and God fulfills our days.

This is not the first time that this messenger shows up in the bible. We have seen him before, when God called Moses.

Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. …4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The messenger of the LORD appeared; and God called to him out of the bush. The Angel of the LORD is equated with God. He shows up again at the Red Sea crossing.

Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

Exodus 14:19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,

So the angel of God is identified with the LORD himself, and is associated with the cloud, but is distinguished from the cloud. I think it is this same figure that shows up to Joshua in fulfillment of God’s promises.

Joshua 5:13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Let’s look back at what Exodus 23 says about this messenger and see if we can make the connection with Jesus.

We are told that he is God’s angel or God’s messenger.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We are told that he was sent by God

John 5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,

1 John 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

He goes before God’s people

John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

He is with us as guardian on the journey

John 17:12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He leads us to the place prepared by God

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

He must be obeyed

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

He has authority to forgive

Mark 2:5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” …7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

God’s name is in him – he possesses the character and nature of God

John 10:30 I and the Father are one.”

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

To obey him is to obey God.

John 13:20 Truly, truly, I say to you,…whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

He overcomes our enemies.

Colossians 2:13 …having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

He satisfies our hungers and makes us fruitful

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

We have such great and precious promises in Jesus. Let us heed God’s warnings and obey his only Son, Jesus

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

01/29 Exodus 23:13-19 Worship God and Celebrate in His Presence

We are going to jump back into Exodus right where we left off a little over two months ago. All scripture is God-breathed and useful for the New Testament believer to benefit by, so we are working our way through the book of Exodus to see what God has to say to us there. We are in Exodus chapter 23, at the tail end of what is know as ‘the book of the covenant’, a series of specific applications of God’s Ten Words to his people, describing to them what life lived in relationship with God should look like. The verses we will look at today, 23:13-19, reiterate the first command and then describe three annual pilgrimage feasts, feasts that all Israelites would be required to attend.

Exclusive Worship

13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

This is a reiteration of the first command that God gave his people: ‘You shall have no other Gods before me’ (Ex.20:3). God is a jealous God. When God wastes parchment by repeating something in his word, it is because it is important. We need to hear it. It is important that we get it. Here he is coming to the close of the book of the covenant, and he reminds us how important this is. ‘Pay attention!’ ‘Pay attention to all that I have said to you’. Remember the first commandment I gave to you. ‘Make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips’. God demands first place in our hearts. God demands an exclusive place in our lives. God will tolerate no rival affections. God is King of kings and Lord of lords, Lord over all. He is not one among many. He refuses to share his glory. God alone is to be worshiped, honored, obeyed, loved. We need to be told this multiple times, because our hearts are so inclined to worship so many other things.

To know the name of a deity was thought to grant access to that deity, and obligate that deity to answer your requests. To forbid even the mention of the name of another deity was to exclude the possibility of any association with any deity other than God alone. This is the strongest possible statement of monotheism, that there is only one God, and he alone is worth knowing. “Make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.” This is why it is so startling that Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in his name. If Jesus were a rival deity, this would be a direct violation of this command. Jesus suggests that we pray in his name to the Father, and he encourages us that this is a way of assuring that the Father will answer.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 16:23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. … 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

But Jesus even goes beyond praying in his name to the Father. He invites us to address our prayers to him personally.

John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Jesus invites us to ask him in his own name. This would indeed be blasphemous if Jesus were not God. Praying in Jesus’ name would fall under the condemnation of Exodus 23:13 if Jesus were claiming to be another God. But what Jesus claims is that he is one with the Father, one God. For Jesus’ command to make any sense at all, Jesus must be personally distinct from the Father; not the same person. We may ask the Father in Jesus’ name; or we may ask Jesus in his own name. Jesus is not the Father. Jesus is one God with the Father. This is exactly what Christianity has historically expressed as the teaching of the trinity. There is only, exclusively, uniquely one God. But this one God eternally exists in three distinct persons.

13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

three annual feasts

14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty–handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD. 18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. 19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Corporate Worship

God says ‘you shall keep a feast to me’. He says ‘None shall appear before me empty-handed’. He says ‘three times a year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD’. He tells us we must bring our best to him. Notice that all males were required to appear before the LORD God. This is corporate worship. I’ve heard some people say that they feel closer to God worshiping at home in their living room or out on the mountaintop than in church. I understand that sentiment. But worship is not about you or how you feel. God desires that all his people gather together to worship him. Worship is not about us, it’s about God. There were three times in the year, these three pilgrim-festivals, that every male in Israel was required to appear before the Lord. Although women were not required to be there, we learn from passages like 1 Samuel chapter 1 that they were welcome and that they did indeed come. God desires that we gather together to worship him. Listen to God’s ultimate purpose for our worship:

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The Pilgrim Feasts

Let’s look at each of these feasts that God required all his people to participate in. There are seven feasts listed in Leviticus 23. Here in Exodus, the three pilgrim festivals are highlighted.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover)

14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty–handed.

The feast of unleavened bread was closely connected with the feast of Passover. This fell at the time of the early barley harvest. Passover, as we have seen, celebrated God’s redemption of his people out of slavery. The passover lamb was killed as a substitute for the firstborn son, and brought protection from God’s wrath. John introduces Jesus by saying ‘behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (Jn.1:29). Paul tells us that ‘Christ our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed’ (1Cor.5:7). The feast of unleavened bread began at Passover and lasted for seven days. All leaven, a picture of sin, was to be removed, and only unleavened bread was to be eaten, symbolizing the perfect righteousness of Christ, the righteousness that he gives to us. As Israel was lead out of slavery in Egypt, so we are led out of our slavery to sin. The crucifixion of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God happened at Passover time.

The Feast of Harvest (Pentecost)

16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.

Three days after Passover, a sheaf of the first grain was to be brought and waved before the Lord. This was a recognition of God’s provision and of the promise of good things to come. This was the offering of firstfruits mentioned in Leviticus 23:10. Counting 7 weeks or 50 days from Passover and the firstfruits offering, the feast of Harvest was celebrated. This feast marked the end of the wheat harvest, and was the only feast that implemented leavened bread. Two loaves of leavened bread would be waved before the Lord – Jew and Gentile together in one body, forgiven but still battling indwelling sin. Jewish tradition marked this day as the day of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, fifty days after the departure from Egypt. This feast became known in the Greek-speaking world as ‘the fiftieth day’ or ‘Pentecost’.

Christ, our passover Lamb was sacrificed for us. On the third day, He was raised from the dead. Paul points to this in 1 Corinthians 15:

1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Fifty days later, we are told:

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians–we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

The harvest feast is being celebrated. People from every nation under heaven were gathering together at God’s command to celebrate the feast in Jerusalem. The promised and anticipated Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, and they preach the good news of Jesus crucified, resurrected, now Lord of all. God reverses the confusion of languages from the tower of Babel and the harvest begins.

… 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Jesus had told his disciples:

Luke 10:2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

God’s Holy Spirit was poured out, and three-thousand souls were harvested that day, and the church was born. And this was just a foretaste of the harvest that is to come! Jesus said:

Matthew 16:18 … I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The Feast of Ingathering (Booths; The Feast)

You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD. 18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. 19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The Feast of Ingathering celebrated the final fall harvest of second-crop grains, along with tree and vine crops such as olives and grapes. This was a massive celebration of the completion of the harvest, celebrating the goodness of God in his abundant provision. Remember, these instructions are being given in the wilderness of Sinai, in anticipation of entering the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. This festival was also known as the Feast of Booths, because the people lived in temporary booths to remind them of their time in the wilderness after God had delivered them from Egypt.

In Jesus’ day, part of the celebration of the Feast of Ingathering had come to include taking water from the pool of Siloam and pouring it out as an offering to the Lord. This is the context of Jesus’ statement in John 7.

John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

This feast, the Feast of Ingathering, when all of the harvest is complete and it is time to celebrate, has its ultimate fulfillment when God once again dwells or pitches his tent with his people. The prophet Zechariah points to its celebration at the time of Christ’s return.

Zechariah 14:4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, … 5 …Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. …8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. … 16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.

Invitation to Feast

God is inviting us to his feast. God knows how to host a magnificent celebration. God knows how to throw a party! The section just before this in Exodus laid out God’s requirement for rest. You must take time to cease from you labors, to seek refreshment and rest. Now God is demanding that we enjoy his feasts. These rules and commandments are so repressive and harsh! Rest. Be refreshed. Feast with me. It is sobering to see that this is one of God’s commands that his people failed to keep regularly. God invites us to a series of parties and we respectfully decline. This was the content of some of Jesus’ teaching; God throwing a feast.

Matthew 22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

God provides the feast. God invites us to come, enjoy, celebrate with him. God provides everything necessary for us to enjoy him forever! And yet we come up with excuses. We decline his invitation. We refuse to come. We despise his messengers. Or we reject his provision and attempt to come on our own merit. God invites us to everlasting joy in his presence, paid for by his own Son. Let all who are thirsty come!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

01/22 Basics – Love

We are looking at the basics of the Christian faith. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus. I asked the question “if you were to choose just three words that would most accurately sum up what it means to be a Christian, what would they be and why?” This question could be answered many different ways, but the three words I chose were believe, worship and love.

I started with the word ‘believe‘, because that is what we must do to become a Christian. We are told ‘believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved’ (Acts 16:31) and ‘whoever believes in the Son has eternal life’ (Jn.3:36; cf. Jn.6:47). Jesus said:

John 8:24 … unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

Believing or having faith or trusting, we defined as entrusting yourself into the care of another. Believing is the door through which we enter the Christian life, and it is also the air we breathe as believers in Christ.

Galatians 2:20 …the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The second word I chose was ‘worship‘, because worship defines what we were created to do. ‘whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’ (1Cor.10:31). As image-bearers of God, we were designed to put on display the greatness and awesomeness and majesty and beauty and attractiveness and sheer worthiness of God. He is the only being in the universe whose mere existence demands our undivided affection. In fact, the more we get to know this great God, the deeper we grow in relationship with him, more we are impelled to adore him. For the Christian, eating and drinking and all of life becomes an act of worship, bringing glory to the only one who is truly worthy.

The final word I chose, and the subject of our attention today, is love. I chose the word ‘love’ because this is the content of the greatest commandments according to Jesus. He was asked:

Matthew 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Love God and love neighbor. Everything depends on these two loves. Love is what Jesus points to as the evidence of genuine Christianity.

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Love is also the evidence to ourselves that we are his.

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

In fact, John goes so far as to say:

1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Love is essential to Christianity. The first and greatest command is to love God with your whole being. The evidence of being a genuine follower of Jesus is this kind of love. Lack of love demonstrates a lack of relationship with God, because God is love.

The way I want to go about tackling the monumental subject of love today is to spend the majority of our time looking at God and his love for us, and then allow that to define for us what love is and what our love should look like. This, I think is a biblical approach, because God’s love is given to us as the definition of what love is.

1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

And God’s love is prior to our love.

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. …19 We love because he first loved us.

So we will look to God’s love to define for us what love is, but before we do, I want to ask a question: When I say the word ‘love’, what other words or ideas come to mind? What are some synonyms you identify with love? Emotion, affection, passion, intimacy, romance…

When we are talking about God’s love for us, and the biblical concept of love, don’t throw all those ideas out and think this is a completely different thing. God’s love is richer and higher and deeper and wider and purer, but it includes those things. Our hearts retain an echo and a longing, although often distorted and not well articulated, of what it means to love and to be loved.

God Loves You!

We will begin with this overwhelming fact: God loves you!!! Hear the heart of God toward you today!

Throughout the Old Testament God is seen as one who abounds in steadfast love (Ex.34:6;Neh.9:17;Ps.5:7;86:5,15;103:8;145:8). His people praise him for his steadfast love (1Chr.16:34,41;Ezr.3:11; Ps.63:3; 107:1; 118:1; 136:1;138:2), sing of his steadfast love (Ps.89:1;101:1), think on his steadfast love (Ps.48:9;107:43), hope in his steadfast love (Ps.33:18;147:11), trust in his steadfast love (Ps.13:5; 52:8), rejoice in his steadfast love (Ps.31:7), take refuge in his steadfast love (Ps.17:7; 36:7;59:16-17;144:2), call on his steadfast love (Ps.6:4; 25:6-7; 31:16; 36:10; 44:26; 51:1; 69:13,16; 109:26:119:41,76,88,124,149), are satisfied by his steadfast love (Ps.90:14).

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, …

Believers, God’s love defines you! Paul addresses his letter:

Romans 1:7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints…

1 Thessalonians 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,

We are told;

Ephesians 5:2 … Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, …

Ephesians 5:25 … as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Galatians 2:20 … the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, …7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

In Romans 8, we are told of the permanence and security of God’s love for us.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul prays:

2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

It is essential that we know and embrace God’s love for us

1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love…

Knowing God’s love for us gives us strength.

Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith–that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The love of Christ for you surpasses knowledge! You need God’s Holy Spirit power to be able to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge!

Lord God, we ask you today to give us each the strength and ability to perceive your love for us, to believe your love for us, to allow you to love us, to know your love for us as we hear you tell us how you love us in your word. Amen

God is love. We know what love is by seeing God’s love for us. Let’s look together at what God’s word says about God’s love, so that we can see what love should look like.

God’s Love is Undeserved Love

First, we need to clear up a misconception. We often love because we find someone who is lovely, loveable, desirable, irresistible, someone that excites our affections. We ‘fall in love’; it’s ‘love at first sight’. This is not how it is with God. The bible paints a very different picture of God’s love for us.

Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak, …ungodly. 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. …10 …while we were enemies…

God’s love is undeserved love. What we deserve is God’s wrath. That is why Jesus died. We were enemies of God, weak, ungodly, sinners. Jesus rescues us from God’s wrath, justifies us by his blood, and reconciles us to God by his death. That is God’s love for us. There was nothing in us that was lovely or attractive. This is humbling, but it is freeing. We want to be loved because we are loveable. The bible tells us that we were offensive to God, and fully deserving of his wrath. That doesn’t make me feel very good about myself, but the bible does not intend to make me feel good about myself. The bible intends to make me see God for who he is in all the perfections of his beauty, and worship him. Our God is a God who loves the unlovely. There is nothing surprising when someone loves one who is desirable. But we are stirred to admiration of this one who chooses to love the unlovable. I say it is humbling but it is freeing. It is humbling because it shows me that there is nothing good in me. It is freeing because, if there is nothing in me that earns God’s love, then I can do nothing to lose God’s love. God has seen me at my worst, and has chosen to set his love on me. I will never deserve God’s love, but he loves me because he is love. I am secure.

God’s Love is a Giving Love

God’s love is a costly love, a giving love.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, …

This is an astonishing statement. Throughout his writings, John uses the word ‘world’ to stand for all that is against God, opposed to God, hating God, sinful, evil, in darkness, ruled by Satan, and in need of saving. John tells us in his first letter:

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world.

We are not to love the world, to embrace the world system and participate in its evil. John 3:16 stands over against this. God loved the world, but he loved it in this way – not by embracing the world as it is, but by giving the one thing that would overcome the evil and opposition in the world. God loved the world in this way – he gave his only Son. God’s love is a costly, self-sacrificial giving love. The only thing that would conquer my rebellious heart is God the Son, become human, crucified for me, as my substitute. God loved, so God gave.

1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God overcame the obstacle to his love for us by sending his only Son to be the propitiation for our sins – to satisfy justice and pay the debt of honor by the ultimate sacrifice. But this was no unwilling sacrifice. There was divine cooperation within the trinity to love us.

Ephesians 5:2 … Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, …

Ephesians 5:25 … as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

This is personal.

Galatians 2:20 … the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

God so loved wicked rebellious me that he became sin for me and was nailed to a cross to absorb God’s wrath against me.

God’s Love is a Transforming Love

Here we need to clear up another misconception about God’s love. When we think of the ideal love relationship, we often think of someone who is compatible. We might take a compatibility test to grade how similar we are to one another. We are looking for someone who shares the same interests we have, enjoys the same things we enjoy, has the same goals we have, shares common expectations, hopes, and dreams. We are looking for the perfect fit. We are hoping to find someone who will take us as we are and won’t want to change us. The problem with this is that we need changing. We are not who we ought to be. We are not who we were created to be. If God’s love for us meant that he accepted us just as we are, then it would not be love. It would be condemnation to remain in a state far short of what we were meant to be. God’s love is a transforming love. Make no mistake, God will take you as you are, but God will not leave you as you are. God fully intends to change you. In a passage addressing the marriage relationship, we are given God’s purpose to change us.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

The intent of Christ’s love is sanctifying, cleansing, washing, removing every spot and wrinkle and blemish. The intent is splendor, holiness. God’s love intends to make us what we are not. God’s love is a rigorous, abrasive, purging, purifying, refining love. God takes rebels and makes us his friends. God takes the ungodly and sets us apart for his use. God takes sinners and transforms our desires. This is not a comfortable process. The metaphors used make us wince. Here the picture is laundry. Harsh chemicals to remove stains, vigorous scrubbing, prolonged submerging. A ‘fuller’ is an old word to describe one who treads or beats cloth to cleanse or thicken it (online etymology dictionary), scouring and pressing and shrinking. Malachi combines the metaphor of the fuller with that of the refiner.

Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.

The refining process applied intense heat to a precious metal until it became liquid, when all the impurities would float to the surface to be scraped away. The process is painful, but the intended result is beautiful and creates value. God loves us and intends to sanctify us, to cleanse us, to make us holy, to present us to himself in splendor.

Christian Love

There is so much more to say about God’s love, but let’s come back around to our original question and give some brief application. How does the word ‘love’ sum up what it means to be a Christian? A Christian is one who is experiencing God’s love. A Christian must first be a recipient of God’s love. I must embrace the fact that I am unlovable and undeserving of God’s love, and humbly receive the infinitely costly gift of God’s love for me in the person of God the Son crucified in my place as my substitute. A Christian is one who is experiencing God’s transforming love as God daily addresses the sin in my life, cleansing and purifying and refining. Our hearts begin to be transformed so that we do begin to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength, and we begin to extend God’s love to our neighbor. We love because he first loved us. And as we have learned, this is not a mushy-gooshy feeling toward them, but if it is God’s love flowing through us, it is undeserved, extended especially to the unlovable, it is a costly, giving, self-sacrificial love, and it is a transforming sanctifying purifying love, painful at times, but meant for the good.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

01/08 Basics – Worship

We are looking at the basics of what we believe. Last week I asked the question “if you were to choose just three words that would most accurately sum up what it means to be a Christian, what would they be and why?” I’m picturing these three words as categories or buckets whose contents sum up what Christianity is all about. This question does not necessarily have a right or wrong answer, but I pray that the contents of our buckets are roughly the same. The three words I chose are believe, love, and worship.

Last time we looked at what it means to believe – to believe the gospel, or the good news of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. To believe means to entrust ourselves to the faithfulness of another. We put ourselves in the hands of Jesus and depend on him to carry us safely to the other side. The bible frequently calls the followers of Jesus simply ‘believers’. Believing is the opposite of earning. Belief is the door through which we enter into a relationship with God.

John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

Belief is also the lifeblood that sustains and energizes the Christian.

Galatians 2:20 …the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So the first and most important part of being a follower of Jesus is believing. I must depend on the good news of Jesus’ sacrificial death for my sins as my substitute. Then, the Christian life is a life of believing, depending, trusting; walking by faith.

My second word is ‘worship’. Today I want to consider what it means to worship as a Christian. Not all worship is Christian worship. It has been said that we as humans are worshiping creatures. The question is not if we will worship, but what or whom we will worship. We were created to worship. All of life is worship. We worship without realizing we are doing it. Worship is choosing to spend our resources – like time, energy, money, attention, affection – on the things or people we categorize as valuable or ‘worthy’. This is why Jesus had so much to say about money – because it reveals what it is that we treasure. A simple evaluation of how we budget these various resources will prove very revealing of the true condition of our hearts. Some worship things like leisure or pleasure or learning or power. Some worship people, like parent or spouse or children or hero. As Christians, we believe that there is only One who is truly worthy. How we live our lives – how we choose to spend our time, into what we pour our energy, what we do with our money, to what we give our attention, what it is that we delight in – these things will reflect and reveal what we believe about who or what is worthy of worship.

Today I want to glance quickly at some of the biblical data that demonstrates that we were created to worship God. Then we will look at worship in four categories:

1. a gospel relationship with God – the prerequisite for worship;

2. fear of the Lord – the root of worship;

3. knowing God – the fuel for worship;

4. prayer, song and drink – expressions of worship.

Created to Worship

We were created to worship. Isaiah 43 speaks of:

Isaiah 43:7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” We were created to worship and bring glory to God. One day all people will fulfill their purpose and bring the worship to God that he deserves: Psalm 86:9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. (cf. Ps.22:27,29; 66:4; 102:22 ; Is.66:23…)

When asked about the most important commandment of all:

Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ What you love is what you worship. In another context, Jesus said: Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

Our bodies are meant to worship God with.

1 Corinthians 6:19 …You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Our gathering together as believers is for the purpose of worship.

Romans 15:6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

God alone is to be worshiped. His wrath is revealed because:

Romans 1:21 …although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. … 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. … 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up …

We were created to honor God as God, to give thanks and glory to him, to worship and serve him, to acknowledge him. Failure to do this is falling short of doing what we were created to do, and incurs the just penalty of the wrath of God who must defend the honor of his great name.

A Gospel Relationship with God – the Prerequisite for Worship

And we all fall short of giving God the honor and glory that he deserves. We worship self as God and ignore the all-glorious Creator of all things. This is why a gospel relationship with God is the prerequisite for worship. We have brought shame and dishonor to God’s name and we cannot make that right. God had to take action himself to clear his character from the reproach that we his creatures caused. God sent his own Son to pay the infinite penalty we owe and to demonstrate his own righteousness (Rom.3:25-26). The cross was a display of just how infinitely evil our God-belittling God-dishonoring attitudes and actions are. The good news gospel message is that Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin” – our sin of dishonoring and disregarding God – “and live to righteousness” – the right valuation and regard for the infinite value and worth of our great God (1Pet.2:24). “All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Is.64:6) in God’s sight because our good works are intended to make us look good. Worship is designed to bringing honor and glory to God; to make God look good. To worship, we must turn away from our own righteousness and pursue God’s righteousness, which comes only through faith in the finished work of God for us. A gospel relationship of being “reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom.5:10) is a prerequisite for any kind of worship that is acceptable to God.

The Fear of the LORD – the Root of Worship

The author of Hebrews exhorts us to gratefulness that comes from receiving a gift; he says:

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Acceptable worship, coming out of a gospel relationship with God through the finished work of Jesus for us, is worship with reverence and awe. These terms, ‘reverence and awe’ and the reason given ‘for our God is a consuming fire’ point us to the fact that the fear of the Lord is the root of acceptable worship. If I understand the gospel – that I am saved from God’s wrath that I have earned by a costly gift that I did not deserve freely given to me – that should stimulate in me the proper awe and fear of God ‘the Consuming Fire’. We are told throughout the bible that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is also the beginning of all true worship.

In Revelation 14, the content of the eternal gospel proclaimed by the angel is:

Revelation 14:7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Fear God, give God glory, worship God. These three descriptions of our right response are also linked together in Revelation 15:

Revelation 15:4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Fear, glorify, worship God, because God is holy, because his acts are righteous. God passionately defends the honor of his great name. The question is rhetorical: who will not fear and glorify you? The answer: all nations will come and worship you. There is an attractive awesomeness about God that compels us to worship him when we see him for who he is in all his rugged power and blazing glory. This brings us to our next point; knowing God is the fuel for worship.

Knowing God – the Fuel for Worship

A child has no fear of falling because he is ignorant of the effects of gravity and the consequences of falling. That’s why parents hold their children’s hands tightly when visiting the Grand Canyon. As we grow in our understanding and experience of the power of gravity, we gain a healthy respect and fear of falling, and we hold on tightly. This is how it is with God. If we are ignorant of him, we have no fear of him, we don’t realize the danger, and we cannot worship him. Getting to know God is the fuel for worship. Is you passion for worship cooling off? Here is the diagnosis: you have turned your eyes away to look at other things. Here is the sure remedy: study God. We get to know God by listening to him tell us what he is like. He communicates to us through his word, the bible. Take up and read! Study! Meditate! Memorize! Scrutinize the text. Jesus said we must worship God in spirit and in truth (Jn.4:23). Pursue a deeper, more comprehensive, more intimate knowledge of God by listening carefully to what he has said. Spend your time and energy and money and attention pursuing God, and your affections will be stirred, and you will worship. To experience the exhilaration of standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, you have to get yourself there. That takes time and energy and money. You can read a book about it or look at pictures, but it’s not the same. That’s second-hand. If you want to enjoy the majestic precipice, you personally have to go. There are lots of good books that will point you in the right direction and give helpful advice. They are useful and I praise God for them, but they are not enough. You have to go. You cannot have a second-hand relationship with God. You have to get to know him yourself.

Let me say just one thing about corporate worship; worship as the church, the body of Christ. So easily we can slip into the mode of critics rather than participants. How was the worship today? Good? A little off? Disappointed? I wish they would… I like how they do it better… It is so easy to become a critic. Corporate worship is the sum of all the parts. Corporate worship is a gathering of believers who worship together. Worship is a verb. It is what we do. And it starts long before Sunday morning. If knowledge of God is the fuel for worship and corporate worship is the sum of all its parts, then in what way is my personal study of God, my understanding and awe and appreciation of God contributing to our corporate experience of worship? If I just couldn’t ‘get into worship’ today, then I need to go home and get on my knees and open my bible and let God open my eyes afresh to who he really is!

Prayer, Song and Drink – Expressions of Worship

This brings us to our final category, expressions of worship. We often think of and even refer to the singing that we do in church as ‘worship’, and it is. But worship is not limited to what we call ‘worship music’. The singing we do in church should be worship, and it can be a direct form of worship. The songs we choose to sing together are expressions of worship directed to God, or songs that declare awesome truths about God that we sing to each other and to ourselves to stimulate us to worship. This can be worship, but it can also be what Jesus condemned when he said:

Matthew 15:8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Is.29:13)

It matters that we choose doctrinally sound theologically rich gospel centered expressions of worship to sing together, but it also matters where our hearts are at when we sing them. In singing together we can choose to worship God, or we can offer lip service and allow our affections to drift to other things. When we see this, when we realize that worship goes beyond and behind the outward forms and is about what is in our heart, then we can see that worship extends to so many other areas of life. As we already saw, knowing God through bible study is fuel for worship. Hearing the bible preached can be an experience of worship, as we come to God expecting him to speak to us, giving him our time and attention with hearts eager to obey. As he unfolds to us new truths about himself, we find ourselves celebrating and glorifying him in our hearts. Prayer is another direct form of worship. When we talk to God, our conversation should be saturated with praise to him for who he is and what he has done for us. But even the asking part of prayer can be worship. When we come to him with our emptiness and our brokenness and our needs, we worship him as the all-satisfying one, the one who is able to fix us, the one who is able to do something about our situation, the one who hears, the one who cares deeply, the one who is wise and will do what is best for us. When we come to him with our questions and our frustrations, he is honored, because we come to him as the one who holds the answers. When we really get hold of this truth, we can begin to see that for the Christian all of life is worship.

I Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Even menial ordinary everyday repetitive tasks can be turned by the believing heart into worship. Eating, or drinking, or whatever else you do can be done to bring glory and honor and praise to our great Creator and Redeemer and Friend. Every moment of every day can be spent doing what we were created to do as we saturate our hearts with the truths of our gospel relationship with God, as we deepen our fear of the Lord, as we permeate our minds with a bible saturated intimacy and knowledge of God, we can acknowledge and honor him with grateful awe-filled worshipful hearts in all things. Eating, drinking, all of live as worship!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

01/01 Basics – Believe

Today is the first day of 2012. Happy new year! The changing of the calendar can be a time to reflect, refocus, re-center, renew, resolve; take stock of where we’ve been and where we are going, celebrate past victories, evaluate past failures and arm ourselves to fight the good fight of faith, take a deep breath, fix our eyes on the goal, and get a fresh start on life with a renewed sense of purpose and resolve.

To serve us as a fellowship of believers in refocusing our affections on what matters most, I would like to take the next few weeks and look at the essence of what it means to be a Christian. I asked myself this question: “if you were to choose just three words that would most accurately sum up what it means to be a Christian, what would they be and why?”

Let me say up front, this kind of question does not necessarily have a right and wrong answer. If I asked each of you to write down on a piece of paper how you would answer that question, I would expect to get a wide variety of answers. I might even like your way of articulating it better than mine. I’m envisioning these three words as if they were labels for buckets. Each word or ‘bucket’ carries in it content or meaning or truth. Although the labels on our buckets may be different, I hope that the contents of our buckets are roughly equivalent. On the other side, you could take my three words and fill them with a different meaning, and although the labels would look identical, the contents may not be Christian at all.

So here are my three buckets or words, and I will spend the next few weeks explaining what the buckets contain – what I mean be the words. Believe, Worship, Love. Today we will tackle the first – Believe.

You’ll notice I chose verbs. In my first draft, I used the word ‘faith’. But faith is usually used as the noun form of the concept; we talk about it as if it were a thing we possess. He or she has faith. I received a faith that was handed down to me. I chose the verb form ‘believe’ because it is an action word. It is something I do. In summing up what it means to be a Christian, I wanted to choose a word that portrays not something I have – in my pocket or in a drawer at home, but who I am – who I am as defined by what I do.

What the Word Means

The bible uses both the noun and verb form of the word. The New Testament word is [πιστις - pistis] in the noun form and [πιστευω - pisteuo] in the verb form. It means to be persuaded of, to be committed to, to trust in, to have confidence in. It has at its root the idea of faithfulness or trustworthiness. To believe is to entrust yourself to the faithfulness of another. A classic illustration of the biblical concept of belief comes from Charles Blondin, the great tight-rope walker. He walked a rope stretched 1,100 feet across the Grand Canyon, 160 feet above the water. He paused in the center to do a back somersault. He pushed a wheelbarrow across on the rope. He asked the cheering crowds if they believed he could carry a man across. Everyone shouted their approval. But then he asked ‘who will climb on my back?’ The crowd fell silent. Finally, his manager stepped forward and climbed on. That is what it means to believe. To entrust yourself to the faithfulness of another.

The Gospel: Believe in Jesus

This is the essence of the gospel message. This is the good news. Paul and Silas responded to the question

Acts 16:30 …“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Saved from what? I didn’t know I was in danger. Paul explains:

Acts 13:38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything 39 from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

The good news is forgiveness of sins. The one who believes in Jesus is set free from condemnation as a lawbreaker. We have rebelled against God and violated his law. All who entrust themselves to Jesus

are rescued from the just consequences of our sin. Jesus teaches the same message to a Pharisee named Nicodemus:

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. …35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Jesus draws contrast between perishing or being condemned or having God’s wrath remain on you; and being saved or escaping condemnation or having eternal life. All this hinges on believing in him or entrusting yourself to him.

But how? How can Jesus extract us out from under the just consequences of our sin? Jesus pointed Nicodemus to the giving of the Son by the Father, the lifting up of the Son. What does this mean?

Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Our record of debt with its legal demands stood against us. The wages of sin is death. God forgives by giving us his only Son, God himself in human flesh, who was lifted up, nailed to the cross. John, pointing to Jesus, said “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn.1:29). Peter said:

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…

We, guilty sinners, receive the gift of forgiveness, the gift of justification, the gift of God’s righteousness, as a result of what Jesus did for us on the cross. In Romans 3, Paul talks about:

Romans 3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith…

The death of Jesus as my perfect sin-bearing substitute satisfies the just demands of God’s wrath against my sin, and purchases for me the gift of righteousness that God freely gives to all who will receive it by faith, to all who simply believe, or entrust themselves to Jesus.

This is the Christian understanding of faith – coming to Jesus, believing in Jesus, entrusting yourself to Jesus. Come as a sinner, come to him as the Savior, climb on and let him carry you, hold on to him alone for eternal life. What must I do to be saved? Believe. Depend. Trust in the finished work of Jesus that he did for you on the cross. Embrace him with heart and soul and mind and strength. Entrust yourself to his care. And then we find out in Ephesians that even my faith, my trust, even my ability to come to Jesus and cling to him, is a gift given to me by God to prevent my boasting (Eph.2:8-9; Phil.1:29; 1Pet.1:21; Jn.6:44).

Believing the Opposite of Earning

The bible explains what it means to believe by drawing a clear distinction between believing and earning in order to preclude boasting.

Romans 4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Works result in wages that are due and entitle you to boast. Believing is not working but depending on the goodness of another to give a gift that I need but cannot earn.

Jesus speaks of believing as the opposite of working when he was asked a question about what God requires.

John 6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Do not attempt to earn God’s favor. Trust him when he says that he has paid the price in full. Believe him.

Believers

One of the more common names the bible gives to followers of Christ is ‘Believers’. In the New Testament, we are called ‘Believers’ at least four times more often than we are called ‘Christians’. This divides all humanity into two categories: believers and unbelievers. This title defines us – this is who we are; we are those who believe; those who entrust ourselves to Jesus. The bible talks about those who have believed – a past tense decisive action; but more often it refers to those who believe, those who are believing as a present continuing action. Paul urges Timothy to continue:

2 Timothy 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it

Paul defines the life of the believer this way in Galatians:

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is a decisive past action – I have been crucified with Christ. We who have believed in Jesus have been united with him in his death (Rom.6:1-6). God’s resurrection power is at work in us. We have been raised to a new life. We have experienced a rebirth. Now Christ lives in me. We have been given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee (Eph.1:13-14, 2Cor.1:22;5:5). We have been given an inheritance in heaven (Eph.1:11). We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph.1:3). These are our present possessions as believers. They are decisively and irrevocably ours. But Paul also tells us that there is a continuing present action. “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith”. Already in possession of forgiveness as a believer, I continue to live life “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” The Christian life is the life of a believer, a life defined by simple trust in Jesus, the Son of God. We continue to entrust ourselves to the one ‘who began a good work in you’; the one who will also ‘bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ’ (Phil.1:6).

2 Timothy 1:12 …But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

Our faith is in a person. I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded that he is able.

Hebrews 7:22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. … 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

The Christian life is a life of faith, a life characterized by belief. We live in continual dependence, reliance, trust in Jesus. We walk day by day in relationship with him. Jesus described this continued connection as ‘abiding’.

John 15:3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

We must believe in Jesus, abide in Jesus, draw strength from Jesus, follow Jesus. We are nothing and can do nothing apart from Jesus.

Belief in Jesus is the prerequisite to a relationship with God. Belief is the door through which we enter the kingdom of God. Belief is also the lifeblood of the Christian.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him…

Romans 14:23 …. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Are you a believer? Have you entrusted yourself to the faithfulness of Jesus? Are you living today in constant dependence, drawing your sustenance from Jesus? Is he carrying you?

Galatians 2:20 …the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

12/25 Christmas Day – Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

Today is Christmas day. We celebrate Jesus! I want to look today at some of the names given to Jesus in the scriptures, so that we can understand him better and worship him more fully. But to better appreciate these names, we need to back up and get a little bit of history and background.

Isaiah and the kings of Judah

The Prophet Isaiah prophesied about 740 – 700 BC; during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (Is.1:1). Uzziah (also called Azariah) was a good king who reigned for 52 years (2Ki.15:2). Isaiah chapter 6 records a vision given to Isaiah in the year that this great king died, a vision of God seated on his throne, still in control. He was succeeded by Jotham, who, like his father did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. Jotham reigned for 16 years (2Ki.15:33), and was succeeded by Ahaz. It says of Ahaz

2 Kings 16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

It was during the dark days of the reign of Ahaz that Israel conspired with Syria to attack Judah and Jerusalem. It was in this dark time for Jerusalem that Isaiah was sent to Ahaz in chapter 7 and following. He gave a message of warning and coming judgment, and called the people to turn from their evil ways and fear the LORD. He called them to return to God’s word. Those who will not speak according to this word are in darkness; they have no dawn.

Isaiah 8:22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

Words of Hope

It is into this dark and dismal backdrop that God brings words of hope.

Isaiah 9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Matthew quotes this passage and says it is fulfilled in Jesus (Matt.4:12-16). To the people dwelling in deep darkness Jesus is the great light that shines, bringing joy and gladness. Isaiah has already spoken in chapter 7 of a virgin whose son would be named Immanuel – God with us. Now he speaks of a child born and a son given, who will bring peace and righteousness, whose just rule will have no end. It says of this coming king that “his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Jesus was born at a dark time in history. Israel was under Roman occupation. The Emperor Caesar Augustus ordered that a census be taken, which put Mary and Joseph on the road away from home right at the time she was due to give birth. Herod was king over Judea. He was the cruel king who ordered the execution of all male children two years or younger, which drove the couple to take their young boy and seek refuge in Egypt.

It was into this dark context that Jesus was born.

Matthew 4:16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

John says

John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. …9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world

Into the darkness of sin and despair comes Jesus, the Light of the World, hope of the nations, the one whose “name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” As we take each of these names in turn, may our hearts be stirred to worship the God-man Jesus.

Jesus is Wonderful Counselor

His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Jesus is Wonderful. Have you lost the wonder of the season? Do you spent much energy trying to recapture that missing sense of wonder? You can regain that sense of wonder as we look to Jesus, the Wonderful One. He is a child born and a Son given. Jesus, Mighty God from all eternity, became a child. He was born of a virgin. He became human. A baby. A child born. But he was also a Son given. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Jesus, God from all eternity, very God of very God, co-eternal and equal with his Father, the only Son of God; God the Son, was given – the supreme gift to mankind. Wonder of wonders, the incarnation! Gift above all gifts! Look to Jesus in wonder, awe, and worship!

Jesus is Wonderful Counselor. Listen to what his followers said about him:

John 6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Listen to what the people said about him:

Mark 1:22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

Mark 6:2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Mark 7:37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Luke 4:22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth… 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

Listen to what even his enemies said about him:

Matthew 22:46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Luke 20:26 And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent. …39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

John 7:45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”

Jesus, Wonderful Counselor, full of grace and truth, spoke with a wisdom greater than Solomon’s (Mt.12:42; Lk.11:31).

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

The question for you today; is he your Counselor? Jesus said:

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

You cannot call him your Wonderful Counselor if you are not willing to listen to what he says and to do what he tells you to do.

Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Jesus is Mighty God

His name shall be called Mighty God. Jesus is Mighty God – God the Hero, God the mighty warrior, victorious in battle, conquering all enemies. Jesus is Mighty God, and he is to be feared. When Jesus controlled the raging sea with his word, his disciples:

Mark 4:41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

Peter, in response to Jesus’ power over his creation:

Luke 5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Thomas in response to the resurrected Lord:

John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

When John saw the risen Jesus in all his glory, he fell at his feet as though dead (Rev.1:17).

Isaiah speaks of Jesus this way:

Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Paul describes the end times and the ultimate enemy,

2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

Paul speaks of a time:

2 Thessalonians 1:7 … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Our Mighty God Jesus is to be feared. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Jesus is the perfect consummation of all the epic good guy heroes in the violent movies that we love to cheer on, except Jesus doesn’t lie or cheat or steal or use foul language to triumph over evil, bring justice and crush the bad guys.

Jesus is God, the Mighty God, he is to be worshiped and feared.

Jesus is Everlasting Father

His name shall be called Everlasting Father. Jesus is Everlasting Father. That may sound strange to our ears, but that is what the text says. This could be translated ‘the Father of Eternity’. Jesus is equal to and one with the Father, but distinct from the Father. In the Trinity, Jesus is not the Father. Jesus is the Son. But in relation to his creation, he is the one who brought all things into existence.

Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities––all things were created through him and for him.

All things that had a beginning began in him.

He is Everlasting Father. He is eternal, without beginning or end.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Jesus is consistent. He is provider. He loves. He disciplines. He trains and instructs. He keeps his promises. He is genuinely interested in us. Jesus fulfills the role of father perfectly. He is Father to the fatherless. His love will never fail.

Jesus is Prince of Peace

His name shall be called the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

The song of the angels was:

Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

But Jesus said:

Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter–in–law against her mother–in–law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, demands our allegiance above any other natural affection. The peace that Jesus brings is higher and deeper and richer than mere peace with other people. The peace that Jesus gives us is most importantly peace with God.

Romans 5:10 …while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son…

Jesus’ death on the cross conquers our rebellious hearts that are opposed to God, and restores our broken fellowship.

Colossians 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

The peace that Christ brings is first of all peace, a restored relationship, friendship with God. He satisfied on the cross the just wrath of the Father against our sin, so we can be reconciled, restored to right relationship with the Father. This right relationship is ours by faith – believing him; trusting him; depending on him.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friends, this is the good news of Christmas! Jesus came to deal with your sin problem so that your relationship with your Creator can be restored to what it was designed to be!

Acts 10:36 … preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),

Jesus, Prince of Peace brings first of all peace with God. No other peace matters if you are not at peace with the Judge of all the earth.

Jesus said:

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

First, peace with God. Then, with a right relationship with the King of the universe in place, peace in the midst of our circumstances. We can rejoice in our relationship with the Lord,

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We can face any circumstance with peace, knowing that the Prince of Peace, Jesus, holds us in his eternal omnipotent hands.

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Response

Today, let us worship Jesus, who is our Wonderful Counselor. Jesus, who is Mighty God. Jesus, who is Everlasting Father. Jesus, who is Prince of Peace. 

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

12/24 Christmas Eve – his name shall be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Jesus [Ihsouv] Greek translation of Hebrew name [ewvwhyyeh-ho-shoo'- ahor evwhyyeh - shoo'- ah] translated in our English bibles as Joshua; from [hwhyYHWH] The I AM, the self-existent one, and [evyyasha` yaw-shah'] to save or deliver – YHWH is salvation

Of all the names of Jesus; Immanuel – God with us; Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end; Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Wonderful Counselor, Son of Man, the Son of God, Lamb of God, the Christ, and so many more; of all his many names, we know him best as Jesus.

In Matthew 1:21, the angel told Joseph of his pregnant bride-to-be,

Matthew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Jesus. You shall call his name Jesus. Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Yeshua or Jehoshua; In the Old Testament of our English bibles it is translated as ‘Joshua’. It was a very common name in that day. There are several other men named ‘Jesus’ referred to in the New Testament. The name is a compound that comes from the Hebrew name of God YHWH, the I AM, the self-existent one; and the Hebrew word yasha – to save or deliver. Joshua, or Jesus, means YHWH is salvation. The angel told Joseph “You shall call his name Jesus” (YHWH is Salvation), because “he will save his people from their sins.” Listen to what Spurgeon has to say about this:

“It is a gracious but very startling fact that our Lord’s connection with His people lies in the direction of their sins. This is amazing condescension. He is called Savior in connection with His people, but it is in reference to their sins, because it is from their sins that they need to be saved. If they had never sinned, they would never have required a Savior, and there would have been no Name of Jesus known upon earth. That is a wonderful, text in Galatians 1:4, did you ever meditate upon it?. “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” It is true, as Martin Luther says, He never gave Himself for our righteousness, but He did give Himself for our sins. Sin is a horrible evil, a deadly poison, yet it is this which gives Jesus His title when He overcomes it. What a wonder this is! The first link between my soul and Christ is, not my goodness, but my badness; not my merit, but my misery; not my standing, but my falling; not my riches, but my need. He comes to visit His people, yet not to admire their beauties, but to remove their deformities; not to reward their virtues, but to forgive their sins. O ye sinners, I mean you real sinners, not you who call yourselves by that name simply because you are told that is what you are, but you who really feel yourselves to be guilty before God, here is good news for you! O you self condemned sinners, who feel that, if you are ever to get salvation, Jesus must bring it to you, and be the beginning and the end of it, I pray you to rejoice in this dear, this precious, this blessed Name, for Jesus has come to save you, even you! Go to Him as sinners, call Him “Jesus,” and say to Him, “O Lord Jesus, be Jesus to me, save me, for I need Thy salvation!” Doubt not that He will fulfill His own Name, and exhibit His saving power in you. Only confess to Him your sin, and He will save you from it. Only believe in Him, and He will be your salvation.” C.H. Spurgeon, Christ’s Incarnation, p.15-16

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

12/18 Advent – Immanuel – God With Us

Jesus is Immanuel – God With Us

Christmas is one week away! In this advent season, I want us to turn our eyes to Jesus. Today, I want to reflect on one of the names given to Jesus. That name is Immanuel. It comes from Isaiah 7:14

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Matthew quotes this prophecy as being fulfilled in Jesus.

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Jesus’ conception was supernatural. Jesus had no human father. Mary was a virgin. “That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” And Matthew tells us that the Hebrew name Immanuel means God with us. Jesus is Immanuel; God with us.

The implications of this stagger the imagination! God with us. God the Creator of the universe, born of a virgin. God in human flesh. Luke puts it this way:

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy––the Son of God.

Overshadowed by the power of the Most High – God the Father; and God the Holy Spirit – so that the child to be born will be the Son of God. John puts it this way:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

John tells us that ‘the Word’ was in the beginning. ‘The Word’ existed before all creation. ‘The Word was with God’ – distinct from God the Father – a perfect companion of the Father. ‘The Word’ was with God, and ‘The Word’ was God – fully divine, sharing all the attributes and characteristics of God. ‘The Word’ was distinct from the Father, and yet fully divine. John continues by saying that ‘the Word’ became something he was not before.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

‘The Word’ became flesh. ‘The Word’ became tissue, bone and blood. He who existed from eternity with God and as God, now took on a human body. God became flesh. God dwelt among us, or literally ‘pitched his tent with us’. Immanuel – God with us. John goes on to say:

No One Has Ever Seen God

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father‘s side, he has made him known.

This is an absolute statement. No one has ever seen God. Period. Paul tells us of the Father:

1 Timothy 6:15 …he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

No one has ever seen or can see God, because he dwells in unapproachable light. No one can see God the Father, because, as Jesus tells us, “God is Spirit” (Jn.4:24; cf. Jn.5:37, 6:46). No one can see the Father because, as Paul tells us in Colossians, God is invisible. But he says of Jesus, God the Son, that:

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Jesus, the only God who is at the Father’s side has made know to us the Father. The word John uses is interesting. Jesus has made known or literally exegeted the Father. We usually use this word exegete in reference to a biblical text. It is a Greek word that means ‘to lead out’. You take a biblical passage and study it carefully so that you can lead out to make known or put on display the truth that is in it. Jesus exegetes the Father. He puts on display what the invisible God is like. The author of Hebrews says that God’s fullest revelation of himself is in his Son, who is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb.1:3).

Jesus is God. He is fully God. He was with God and he was God. But Jesus is God with us. He became human so that he could make know to us what God is like. Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God.” He is the shining forth of the excellencies of God. He puts his Father on display. He is the exact imprint of the nature of the Father. Jesus tells us as much in John:

John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

John 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” …9 …Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father‘?

Jesus puts the Father’s nature on display so precisely that he can say “whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” To know Jesus is to know God.

So in the time we have left, let’s turn our eyes to our Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, to get a clearer picture of what God is like. Understand, that studying the gospels and the other New Testament documents to see Jesus, to get to know him, to deepen affection and admiration of him, to enjoy relationship with him, is a lifetime project. We will only be able barely to scratch the surface in a broad overview sort of way.

Triune

As we have seen in the verses we have looked at so far, Jesus reveals to us that God, in his very nature and essence, is triune. Jesus speaks of his Father, and the coming Holy Spirit. God is Father, Son, and Spirit, in eternal relationship and fellowship. Three distinct persons, each fully divine, constitute the one sovereign being we refer to as ‘God’.

Omnipotent

Mark 4:39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

One thing we learn about God through Jesus is that he is omnipotent, or all-powerful. He is the one who has absolute control over all things. He is the sovereign supreme ruler. All created things must obey him.

Omnipresent

John 1:48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

Another thing Jesus teaches us about God is that he is omnipresent, or everywhere present. He is not confined to be only in one place at a time. God, who is spirit, fills time and space. There is nowhere that he is not. This is how Jesus can say to twelve men and their followers who would scatter across the globe:

Matthew 28:20 … And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Omniscient

John 6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

Jesus teaches us that God is omniscient. He knows everything. He knows what will happen in the distant future. He knows what is in the hearts of men.

Eternal

John 10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Jesus teaches that God is the Living One. He is eternal. As we saw in the earlier verses, he eternally existed. He has no beginning and will have no end. He is. Jesus said “I AM” (Jn.8:24, 58).

Life Giver

John 5:21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

Not only is God the eternal Living One, he is the Life Giver. He gives life to whom he will. He is the fountain and source of life. All life comes from him.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Holy

Mark 1:24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are––the Holy One of God.”

Jesus taught that God is holy, distinct, separate, set apart, totally other, one-of-a-kind. Even the demons recognized in Jesus a uniqueness – he is in a category by himself.

Perfect

Mark 7:37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Jesus showed us that God is perfect. He lacks no good quality. He is not deficient in any way.

True

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus teaches us that God is truth. God is entirely trustworthy. He never lies. His word is true. He will keep his promises.

Jealous

John 2:15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money–changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Jesus demonstrates that God is passionate about his own glory. He zealously defends the honor of his own name. He will tolerate no rivals. For the good of his people, he will violently take action against those who misrepresent him.

Wrath

Mark 3:5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Jesus teaches us that God is a God of anger and wrath. But God is not capricious or volatile. He is slow to anger, and his anger is righteous anger, mixed with compassionate sorrow over the effects of sin.

In the well known passage describing the love of God, Jesus also warns of the wrath of God.

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

God intensely hates sin. God is to be feared, his wrath is terrifying, but his wrath can be escaped. He has provided a way.

Just

When the religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus for judgment,

John 8:7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Jesus taught that God is just. He does not show favoritism. His judgments are true and righteous.

Mercy

But he also taught that God is merciful and compassionate, eager to forgive. To this woman who was clearly guilty, he said:

John 8:11 …And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Love

John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Jesus taught us that God is love. Before the world was created, God, Father, Son and Spirit, lived in an eternal relationship of genuine love. Jesus also teaches us what love is.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God’s love is not a romantic feeling of attraction, but self-sacrificial action for the good of the one loved, regardless of how little they deserve it.

John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Jesus went to the cross to demonstrate God’s self-giving love.

Response:

We have merely scratched the surface of what God is like as revealed in the person of Jesus, or Immanuel, God with us. I invite you to make it your life-long pursuit to deepen your affection and devotion for God by becoming a disciple, a follower of Jesus

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

12/11 Advent – Enjoy God Today
Is the holiday season ever frustrating for you? Life is busy and the season snuck up on me once again. There were several projects I wanted to get done before the snow flew, and, well, here we are. The house is not as clean as it should be. I don’t have as many lights up as I would like to have, and the ones that are up are not as straight as I want them to be. And there must be one bad bulb somewhere that’s keeping half that string from lighting! I wanted to have all the shopping done by now. Half the kids have terrible coughs, and all the kids are half as obedient as they should be… For that matter, I’m not the person I wish I was. Things are not as they ought to be. Things are not the way I want them to be. Do you ever feel this way? Frustration. Dissatisfaction. Disappointment. Discouragement. Merry Christmas!

Is this what Christmas is really all about? For many of us, this is the unhappy reality. In a moment, we’ll turn to God’s word to see why this is such a common experience, and what to do about it. I want to pass along some very practical advice that has helped me out this week, and I pray it will be useful to you not just during the holiday season, but every day of your life.

[pray]

Our Problem

First, I want to ask the question ‘Why?’ Why is life so often not what we had hoped it would be? In the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts “Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” Why is life interspersed with frustration and disappointment?

The feeling we sometimes have that things are not the way they ought to be is one of the few times that your feelings are telling you the truth. In the beginning God created everything, and he said it was very good. And then he put us right in the middle of it, and we were quick to make a mess of it all. God said ‘I know what’s good for you. Follow my instructions and you will live.’ And before we had tasted a fraction of the pleasures of God’s good garden that he freely gave to us, we went after the one thing that was off-limits. We disregarded his instructions, as if we knew better. We disregarded him. We brought entropy and death into his perfect world, and we reap what we have sown every day. Things are indeed not as they ought to be. We were created as the image of the invisible God (Col.1:15), to reflect his glory to each other and to all creation, to bring him praise. We were created to enjoy his presence. Instead we dishonored him. We disobeyed.

Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

This is what is wrong with the world. We are. We were made for so much more. But we have opted for frustration and disappointment rather than finding fulfillment by living life as God designed it. We are without excuse. We did not honor God as God or give thanks to him (Rom.1:20-21). The whole world is accountable to God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom.3:19, 23).

God’s Solution

Now praise God, he did not leave us without hope in this desperate situation. He intervened to give hope where there was no hope. God the Father sent his one and only Son Jesus into this world to become a man, to take our place, to take our guilt on himself, to pay the price that justice demands, and to secure forgiveness for all who would come to him and trust in him. God justifies the ungodly by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom.4:5; 3:24). That is what Christmas is all about.

Our Frustration

But why is it that for us who are his, who have received his salvation and who are reconciled to God, who have our sins forgiven and are restored to a right relationship with God, life can still be so frustrating and discouraging? Why do we still experience dissatisfaction and disappointment?

The Bible tells us why. The Bible tells us that if we are followers of Jesus, our citizenship is in heaven (Phil.3:20, Eph.2:19). We are strangers and exiles on the earth (Heb.11:13, 1Pet.1:1,17), sojourners (1Pet.2:11). Paul said “indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim.3:12). Jesus said:

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are no longer of the world. You don’t belong. Your citizenship is in heaven. You are a stranger, an exile, a sojourner here on this planet. You will naturally feel out of place.

So part of our frustration comes from the fact that we don’t belong and we aren’t home yet. We should not be content here. We have an unfulfilled longing for our true home. Paul describes it this way:

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

And in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

The apostle John tells us:

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of our true home:

Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face…

Diagnosing the Problem

Part of our frustration and disappointment is because we don’t belong, because we aren’t home yet, because we are longing to see our King. But, at least in my experience, that is not my major source of discontent. I wish I could say it was. So much of my frustration is stupid and self-imposed. I choose to be frustrated when I don’t have to be. If I’m honest with myself, I would see that it is a self-centered discontent that things aren’t the way I wish they were. I get upset that the world doesn’t revolve around me. I’m failing to be content with what I have been given. Jesus warned us in his parable about the different soils that:

Mark 4:19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Desires and cares choke out the fruitfulness of the word like weeds. I love this world and its pleasures too much. I want something that I don’t have. I want things to go my way, and they seldom do. I am too self-centered to be truly happy. My affections are in the wrong place.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world––the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions––is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Paul warns Timothy of the deadly danger of dissatisfaction.

1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Here the severity of this issue – it is a snare, a trap. They never saw it coming. It is senseless and harmful. It plunges people into ruin and destruction. It has caused some to wander from the faith. It is a self-inflicted injury. Dissatisfaction is deceptive and deadly.

Taking it Even Deeper

Jesus said “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). But here is a more subtle danger. Even this can be twisted by my selfish heart. I can give in such a way that I am celebrating my own generosity, deriving enjoyment out of what a benevolent person I am. I get pleasure by my ability to give to others. I am giving ultimately to get. Which means that my joy is still dependent on my circumstances. I cannot be happy if I have nothing to give. I am frustrated if my gift is refused, or if the recipient of my gift does not respond the way I want them to. This is self-centered giving.

Choose Contentment

Let’s go back to 1 Timothy for help with a solution. In the context of warning against the danger of dissatisfaction, it says this:

1 Timothy 6:6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. …11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Here is the key: contentment. Godliness with contentment. Here we find a focus on character, not circumstances. If I am focused on circumstances going the way I would like them to go, I will be disappointed and frustrated most of the time. If I am focused on building character, I can look at any and every circumstance as an opportunity to deepen godly character. I can be content with whatever circumstance I am given as an essential step in the work God is doing in my life. This is how James can say:

James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Because trials produce character. Peter takes us behind this joy to its source.

1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

The joy is not in the trial itself. It is in this you rejoice. Peter has been recounting the treasures that we have in Christ: God’s mercy toward us in new birth, our living resurrection hope, our inheritance that God is keeping for us, God’s keeping and preserving power at work in us, our final salvation that will be put on display in the end. When circumstances go the way you don’t want them to, choose to rejoice in this – in all that God has done and is doing and will do in you and for you. Cultivate gratitude by recounting what God has done for you in Christ. I am Forgiven. Justified. Redeemed. I am being sanctified. I have been set free. Reconciled to God. Adopted. Loved with an everlasting love. Given eternal life. I am a recipient of God’s mercy.

God Does Not Change

Circumstances change. This is why it is frustrating when we make our joy dependent on our circumstances. But God never changes.

Malachi 3:6 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

If our joy comes from God alone, we will never be disappointed. In contrast to changing circumstances and fickle people,

Zephaniah 3:5 The LORD… is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail;

God Commands our Happiness Be in Him

This is why God commands us to seek our happiness in him

Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 40:16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

Psalm 64:10 Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!

Psalm 97:12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Psalm 105:3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

When we find our joy in the unchanging faithfulness of our great God, our happiness is totally independent of our circumstances. We can say with Habakkuk

Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

With Job we can respond to the most terrible circumstances:

Job 1:20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

We can say with Paul:

Romans 5:11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

We can sing with Isaiah

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Choose Joy

Frustration and enjoying are alternative choices. Remember Martha and Mary.

Luke 10:38 …Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her house. … 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

What is the one thing that is necessary? What was the good portion that Mary had chosen?

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.

Circumstances come. How will you choose to respond? Will you be ruled by your immediate circumstances? Or will you choose to enjoy the fact that you have been chosen by God, purchased with the blood of Jesus, your sins, all of them, were nailed to the cross, that this life is short and you will spend eternity in the presence of God with great joy? Will you choose to enjoy the presence of Jesus with you right now in the middle of your circumstances? Will you be irritated and irritable, or will you enjoy sweet fellowship with your Creator, Redeemer and Friend?

Choose to enjoy God today!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

12/04 Advent – God comes in judgment; prepare to meet your God

We are in the season of Advent, traditionally the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Advent is a Latin word that means ‘coming.’ This is a time for reflection, reflection on the First Advent, or the coming of God into the world in the person of Jesus, the baby born of the virgin. It is also a time for us to anticipate and prepare for the Second Advent, the second coming of Christ in power and glory when he returns to rule in righteousness. Last week, Tyrone served you well by turning your eyes toward Jesus in worship. For the next few weeks, I would like to continue to focus our attention on Jesus by looking at different aspects of who he is.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and martyr under Hitler’s regime, wrote as Christmastime of what he called an un-Christmas-like idea:

“When the old Christendom spoke of the coming again of the Lord Jesus, it always thought first of all of a great day of judgment. And as un-Christmas-like as this idea may appear to us, it comes from early Christianity and must be taken with utter seriousness. The coming of God is truly not only a joyous message but is, first, frightful news for anyone who has a conscience. And only when we have felt the frightfulness of the matter can we know the incomparable favor. God comes in the midst of evil, in the midst of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world, and in judging it he loves us, he purifies us, he sanctifies us, he comes to us with his grace and love. He makes us happy as only children can be happy. We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect: that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Coming of Jesus in our Midst(from God is in the Manger, week 1 day 4; audiobook MP3 track 5)]

In preparation for Christmas, I want to look soberly at this aspect of God’s Advent; the issue of our sin in the light of God’s presence. Christmas is all about Jesus, and Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us, but we are sinners and God is just, so God’s presence with us is a terrifying prospect. If what Bonhoeffer said is true, and I believe it is, that ‘only when we have felt the frightfulness of the matter can we know the incomparable favor’, then a serious look at the terrifying prospect of God’s presence will actually serve to increase our real joy this holiday season.

John and Malachi: Prepare to Meet Your God

Let’s start by looking at the ministry of John. It was prophesied to John’s father Zechariah that:

Luke 1:16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

John’s mission was to prepare people for the coming of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus pointed back to his cousin John as the fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy:

Luke 7:27 This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

John’s role is to prepare people for the coming of God. Jesus is quoting from Malachi 3, the last book of the Old Testament. Let’s look at that passage together to get the big picture:

Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. 6 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

The God of the Old Testament is speaking in the first person. He says “I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.” God is coming to visit his people. His people must be prepared. And he asks the question “who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears?” Then he says “I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against… [those who] do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.” John’s message was a message of repentance (Mt.3:2,8,11; Mr.1:4,15; Lk.3:3,8). ‘You are sinners and you need to turn away from your sin and turn back to the Lord.’ John said things like this:

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Those harsh words are about Jesus!

Amos: Prepare to Meet Your God!

As I was reading in Amos, these words caught my attention: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” I stopped to look back at the context, and I found God claiming to send famine and drought and blight and mildew with the repeated refrain “yet you did not return to me declares the LORD” He continues:

Amos 4:10 “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. 11 “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. 12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” 13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth–– the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!

Because Israel refused to pay attention to all of God’s warnings and refused to return to him, God would come to them in judgment. This is a terrible prospect: meeting the God who created all things, who has repeatedly threatened and warned and invited, yet you did not return to me; meeting this God in judgment is a terrifying thought.

Making Good News Good

This is what makes the good news so good! Jesus said:

Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus did not come for those who do not feel the weight of their sin. Those content with their own righteousness will meet the full force of God’s wrath against their arrogant self sufficient pride. Jesus came to bring hope to those who knew how desperately short they fall of God’s perfect standard. This is why the Bible talks about repentance as a gift (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2Tim.2:25). It is a gift for me to recognize my own self justifying self sufficient pride in my own goodness as sin that I need to repent of (Heb.6:1). It is God the Holy Spirit that convicts me of my sin (Jn.16:8; 1Thess.1:5) and my need for a Savior. When I come like the tax collector in Jesus’ story and cry ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner!’ then I am accepted.

Luke 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Beauty of the Cross – Justification

Justified. This sinner went down to his house justified. This is a legal declaration. God the judge declares this sinner not guilty. This is a problem – how can God justify the ungodly (Rom.4:5)? How can God justify by his grace as a gift (Rom.3:24); how can God justify apart from works of the law (Rom.3:28); how can God be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus (Rom.3:26)? This is what makes the cross so beautiful! We can be ‘justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood … to show God’s righteousness’ (Rom.3:24-25). Jesus’ death on the cross is my redemption – he paid the debt I owe in full. Jesus’ death on the cross is propitiation – he absorbed and satisfied the just wrath of God against my sin. Jesus’ death on the cross is a staggering display of the righteousness of God. God, who is holy, righteous and just, can be forgiving, merciful and kind to a sinner without compromising his own righteous character because Jesus satisfied all the demands of justice by taking my sin and giving me his righteousness. The sinner who humbles himself, acknowledges his sin before God and throws himself on God’s mercy is fully absolved of all his sin and credited with all of Christ’s righteousness. “Only when we have felt the frightfulness of the matter can we know the incomparable favor.”

Sanctification

But this is not all. It does not end here. It cannot end here. God does not justify sinners and leave us in our sins. God does not declare us righteous and leave us as we are. No. God’s love for us is a transforming love.

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

We who have been justified by grace are now being sanctified by God’s grace as a gift.

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

2 Corithians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. …17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Prepare to meet your God. Jesus has come. Jesus is coming again. Jesus told us to watch, to stay awake, to be ready (Mt.24:42-44; Lk.12:40; Rev.16:15), to invest what we have been given (Lk.19:23), to hold fast to the truth (Rev.3:11; 22:7). Prepare to meet your God!

1John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.