Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q28

Q.28. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?

A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from his love.  All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.

Monday

Everyone experiences difficulties and hardships.  Not long ago an investment of mine went very sour.  I lost money and in the midst of praying and asking God, “Why?”, these words kept coming to my mind: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.” Job spoke them after suffering great loss.  They are sobering words, but they are also comforting.  They allow us to meet difficult times knowing that God is still in control and that God’s plans and purposes for creation are not being violated but upheld.  Read Job 1:1-21 and gain an appreciation for Job’s words in the light of his great difficulty.

Free to Love and Serve - Galatians 5:13-26

Imagine with me a Palm tree.  The tall trunk wrapped in diamond scales.  The top bulging like a growth out of which shoots out the fronds, waving in the breeze.  Nestled between the leaves like a baby in her mother’s arms are the green coconuts.  They lie there invitingly calling to passers-by come drink my milk, and eat my flesh.  Let them nourish you and sustain you. Now what would you say if instead of coconuts, there were grapes, or olives, or heaven forbid brussel sprouts nestled in its leaves?

Wouldn’t you exclaim, ludicrous, outrageous, and absolutely uncanny.  That is not how it is to be, that is unnatural, unfathomable and completely backwards.  James 3:12 paints just such a picture, “My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”  These words create an image that is unfathomable in the minds of the hearers.  It tells us of things that should not be, things that are impossible like a man sprouting wings like a bird and flying or a fish reciting Shakespeare or a an elk walking about on 2 feet. 

These incongruencies are expressed in our passage this morning as well.  Galatians 5:13-26 paints an extended picture of the Christian life and those things that are inconsistent with it. 

Where's Jesus? Jacob blesses his sons (Genesis 49:1-28)

After blessing his grandsons, Jacob moves on to blessing his sons.  He takes them in order from Reuben to Benjamin.  Along the way he recounts the sins of his first three sons and essentially excludes them from leadership in the covenant people for self-exaltation and violence, but then he comes to Judah and this is where we get a glimpse of Jesus.  He is the one Jacob prophesies,

"The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his..."(Genesis 49:10)

This is Jesus, the psalmist prophesies later about him,

"The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One...'I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill...Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.  You will rule them..." (Psalm 2:2, 6, 8-9a)

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q27

Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?


A. Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty - all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand.

Monday
Providence could be simply defined as the protective care of God, or stated another way, God's rule throughout history.  There are some who believe that God is like an architect of a ship.  He designed the ship and saw it through construction, but the day it was finished and set into the sea, he withdrew and had no further interactions with the vessel.  Rather it was handed over to the captain to rule and govern as he saw fit.  But this is not so because God is concerned about his world.  Furthermore, he is so powerful that nothing came to exist without his word, and therefore nothing can continue to exist without his word.  he must preserve his creation, or it will cease to exist.  Read Hebrews 1:3.

Supreme Court says America practices "ceremonial Deism"

Ever wondered how "in God we trust" stays on our money or "one nation, under God" stays in the pledge of allegiance.  Well, Lincoln Steed, editor of Liberty Magazine has a great editorial on this and it turns out the Supreme Court considers it "ceremonial Deism".  Basically they are saying "dead religion"so it has no bearing on where we are or where we are going.  It is neutered.  How do you like that description of "religion?"

You can read about the 2 cases where the Court issued these rulings here.
I encourage you to read the editorial here.

How do we conceive of Worship?

I just finished reading an article by J.I. Packer entitled, The Puritan Approach to Worship.  It sparked a number of thoughts and questions in my mind that I want to share for your reflection and edification:

1. There are two approaches to worship in the Christian church: Liturgical study and "the lifting of one's eyes from man and his mistakes to contemplate God and his glory.  Are these two approaches at odds with one another?  Which do you resonate with more?  Are there other approaches?
2. How are the Scriptures to be used in Christian worship?  Luther advocated to allow traditional/secular things that were not contrary to Scripture but appeared helpful to the congregation, while Calvin admitted nothing that the Word of God did not directly prescribe.  Essentially the question can be boiled down to this: Does the Bible prescribe or proscribe how worship should occur?  Does it dictate or suggest?  Which rule do you lean to?  Why?

Where's Jesus? The blessing of Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 48)

As Jacob is dying, a remarkable thing happens, he blesses Joseph's children and considers them his own.  As we will see next week, Jacob continues this blessing to his own children and then he dies.  So,  in his days on the earth, as he stood at death's doorstep, Jacob passed on the blessing of God to others. These are sweet words,

"Your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine" (Genesis 48:5a).

This is a remarkable statement for at least two reasons:

1. Joseph's children are given a sort of primacy that they don't deserve in comparison with the other natural born sons of Jacob.
2. They are not full Israelites, at least not genetically.  If you recall, they are 1/2 Egyptian and 1/2 Hebrew (Genesis 41:45), yet they are considered full members of the family and inheritors of God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

McLaren and Liberation Theology

A friend pointed me to this article.  it is a great article on the dangers that some in the emergent church are propagating, with specific reference to Brian McLaren.  If you are interested in some of the current trajectories of the emergent church, you may enjoy this article alot.

Find it here.

Christ has set us free (Galatians 5;1-12)

When a man finishes his obligation to society and is released from jail.  He walks out a free man.  Arguably he was living within the bounds of the law when he was in jail.  He may have lived a very moral life, more moral than many people on the outside – free from drugs, alcohol; free from the ability to harm others or be harmed.  But was he free?  No, external constraints upon a person don’t make him free, living with walls and bars and external rule pushed upon him is the opposite of freedom, it is coercion.  But if that man, walks out of jail changed on the inside and never again acts poorly, not because of fear of returning to jail, not because the law says it is wrong, but because he is truly a new person who loves his neighbor as himself (Luke 10:27c).  Would you consider him to be free?  Absolutely.  In fact, he is probably more free than many of the people who have never been to jail, but who obey the law out of fear of reprisal and not out of a love of others.

When Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1), what is he saying?  What are we free from and what are we freed to? 

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q26

Q.26. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”?

A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my god and Father because of Christ his Son. 

I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he send me in this sad world.

He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

Monday

When most of us think of creation, we immediately think of the Genesis story and the first seven days that are recorded.  But there are many Scriptures that speak of God as the creator.  Read Psalm 33:6-9.  In this Psalm, God’s power is extolled as the one who created the world, but not like we create things.  Human beings are more in the assembly process, we take the things we see and arrange them into new configuration so that we can use them.  We are like children sitting down with a tub of Legos® and making a car or a plane or a spaceship.  But God is remarkably different, he didn’t sit down with already existing materials, he created the materials.  He spoke and the elements of our physical and spiritual world came into existence.  Nothing existed and then it all existed, not just in elemental form but in completed array.  There is nothing like it that we can compare in our physical world.  God is wholly different from us and that is why we must worship him.  Read Acts 14:15-18.

What the Death of Christ accomplished

When Christ died,

"The Father and his Son intended by the death of Christ to redeem, purge, sanctify, purify, deliver from death, Satan, the curse of the law, to quit of all sin, to make righteousness in Chrst, to bring nigh unto God, all those for whom he died...therefore, Christ died for all and only those in and towards whom all these things recounted are effected..." (The Death of Death, pg 99)

Below are a few Scriptures which support Owen's claim.  Many more can be found by reading the Scriptures:

• Redeem - Galatians 4:4-5, Titus 2:12-14
• Purge - Hebrews 9:12, 14; 
• Sanctify - Hebrews 1:3
• Purify - Titus 2:14
• Deliver from death - John 10:28, 2 Timothy 1:10, Romans 5:6-10
• Deliver from Satan - Romans 16:20
• Deliver from the curse of the law - Galatians 3:13
• Quit all sin - Hebrews 9:26, Revelation 5:9-10
• Make righteousness in Christ - Romans 3:21-22
• Bring unto God - Ephesians 2:13-16

Where's Jesus? The Land belongs to Pharaoh and the Priests are free (Genesis 47:13-31)

As we come to the last few chapters of Genesis we are beginning to see the conclusion to the Joseph stories and Jesus continues to remain a central figure in these narratives as we have seen him portrayed in the others stories as well.  For those new to this series of posts, my basic understanding is that all Scripture points to Christ and testifies to who he is and what he will do for his people.  Jesus testified about this particular way of reading the Scriptures in John 5:39 where he said, 

"You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me,"

A few months ago I started asking the question, "Where is Jesus in this story?"  I had been reading in Genesis and so I just started there, half way through the book.  The question has proved very fruitful for my  devotional life and my approach to the Scriptures and I hope to continue on this path at the beginning of Genesis when I finish and then throughout other books of the Bible as well.


So today we have the story of Joseph and how he brings all the land under Pharaoh's control, except the land of the priests.  The famine has been in full swing and the people are unable to provide for themselves any longer, their money has all been used up, they have exchanged their livestock for grain as well.  Now all that remains is their land and their bodies, which they gladly exchange for food to live by.  In fact it is this verse which I would like to quote and explore more fully.

"Why should we perish before your eyes - we and our land as well?  Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh.  Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate." (Genesis 47:19)

Is this not the cry of every believer at some point in their life.  We struggle to make ends meet and we struggle to find food that will nourish our souls and finally we come to the one who has all the resources in the universe.  We come and so often we beg for what will nourish our souls, for Jesus has said, 

"my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (John 6:55)

 We are willing to become slaves in order to eat this food and find peace against the storms and difficulties of life.  And in fact that is the bargain that Jesus is willing to make with each and every one of us, your life in exchange for mine, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39), bondage to me in exchange for release from bondage to death and the world.  


But there is another interesting group of people in this passage and that is the priests of Pharaoh.  Their land isn't confiscated because Pharaoh supplies them with all that they need in order to be free from the struggles of life.  The Word tells us, 

"they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them.  That is why they did not sell their land." (Genesis 47:22b)

Now an interesting thing happens in conversion.  When we come to God begging for life, he grants us salvation but he also changes our status to that of priests and we become beneficiaries of his goodness and not slaves without any rights.  For we are told by the apostle Peter,

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1Peter 2:9)

In fact, Jesus calls us brothers and not slaves at all, 

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15)

We become the heirs of all that the master has and owns.  We become his people, full of his blessings, able to serve in gratitude instead of out of duty. We are blessed.  This is the gift we find in coming to the Lord and seeking his salvation, we find life and life abundantly.  May you be encouraged for the land belongs to God and you are free priests in the land.  

On Theological illiteracy

"Our theological currency has been debased.  Our minds have been conditioned to think of the Cross as a redemption which does less than redeem, and of Christ as a Saviour who does less than save, and of God's love as a weak affection which cannot keep anyone from hell without help, and of faith as the human help which God needs for this purpose.  As a result, we are no longer free either to believe the biblical gospel or to preach it.  We cannot believe it, because our thoughts are caught in the toils of synergism.  We are haunted by the Arminian idea that if faith and unbelief are to be responsible acts, they must be independent acts; hence we are not free to believe that we are saved entirely by divine grace through a faith which is itself God's gift and flows to us from Calvary.  Instead, we involve ourselves in a bewildering kind of double-think about salvation, telling ourselves one moment that it all depends on god and next moment that it all depends on us.  the resultant mental muddle deprives God of much of the glory that we should give Him as author and finisher of salvation, and ourselves of much of the comfort we might draw from knowing that God is for us."

John Owen has a wonderful way of presenting things clearly.  And this was written in the 1700's.
From The Death of Death, pg. 13-14.

Are the prophetic books relevant today?

Frequently we pass over the prophetic books in search of more uplifting messages. This is even more true of the prophecies contained in the minor prophets, but while preparing for a sermon series later this year on Micah, I ran across this quotation that I wanted to share,

"prophecy is the Eternal's word and so continues to endure and live forever...our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles often cited the OT by using the present tense: "says" rather than "said." They reinforced its present relevance by the use of the pronouns "we" and "you" instead of "they" and "them." (Bruce Waltke, Micah IN The Minor Prophets, pg. 614-615)

For a listing of these present citations, we can look at Matthew 22:43, Luke 4:12, John 12:39, John 19:37, James 2:23, James 4:5-6, 1 Peter 2:6 for a few examples.

In another place, Waltke quotes Pusey,

"Every judgment is an earnest, a forerunner, a part, of the final judgment and an ensample of its principles. It is but 'the last great link in the chain,' which unites God's dealings in time with eternity.  God's judgments on one imply a judgment on all.  His judgments in time imply a Judgment beyond time." (ibid, pg. 620)

These quotes encourage me to look deeper into the prophets to see who they were testifying to and why sin is such a problem, and what its ultimate end will be.  I hope you will do the same.

A story of Pairs: Galatians 4:21-31

Pairs, not pears the fruit, but pairs or couples.  The animals went to the ark in pairs, two by two (Genesis 7:8).  Let’s talk about some pairs this morning.  When I say Abbott, you say “Costello”. When I say Adam, you say “Eve”.  When I say Moses, you say “Aaron”.  When I say Simon, you say “Garfunkel”. Pairs, duos.  Our minds have a wonderful way of remembering pairs, whether they are people, items, and concepts.  Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication and division, good and bad.

Pairings are memory aids that just stick with us. This morning, our passage is full of pairs:

2 Mothers	Hagar – Sarah
2 Sons	Ishmael – Isaac
2 Covenants	Works – grace
2 Cities	Jerusalem below – Jerusalem above
2 Mountains	Sinai – Calvary
2 Ways of Life	Slavery – freedom
2 Births	Natural - spiritual

These are wonderful pairs that Paul intends to shape our minds and our Christian life.  Pairs that God wants us to know and understand for they are descriptors of the life of people in and out of Christ.  God wants his people to remember, know and understand these pairs in the same way they remember Abbott and Costello or Scooby Doo and Shaggy too.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q25

Q.25. Since there is but one God, why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Aš Because that is how God has revealed himself in his Word: these three distinct persons are one, true, eternal God.

Monday

This weeks question addresses the doctrine of the Trinity.  The word trinity is a word that means tri-unity or three in one.  It is not a simple concept to explain, but it is one that Christians profess.  We believe that God is one, as the great passage from Deuteronomy 6:4 tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” But we also believe that God has revealed himself in three different persons in the Scriptures.  There is God the Father to whom Jesus prays, there is God the Son, with whom the Father is pleased and there is God the Spirit who is sent to take Christ’s place in the earth after his return to heaven.  Read Matthew 6:9, 4:16-17 and John 16:13-15.

Should you get married?

I started reading "The Godly Home" today by Richard Baxter.  Baxter was a 1700's puritan pastor in England and he wrote a tome on Christian living which is being republished in 4 parts.  I have read the volume on being a pastor, and when I saw this I had to read it.

Today I learned about the first direction that he gives to families and potential families.
1. Before rushing into marriage, each person must understand God's will for their life and whether He approves of them marrying or not.  Let me quote him directly,

"First, it is God whom you must serve in your married state, and therefore it is proper that you take his counsel before you rush upon it, for he knows best what belongs to his service."

In order to determine God's will and counsel on the issue, Baxter outlines a series of things to consider carefully:

1. Are your parents commanding you to marry, if so, that is God's will for you.
2. Are you unable to control your body and have you tried every means available in order to your sexual urges, including medical treatments (Yes, Baxter says that).  If the answer is yes to both questions, then you are probably called to marriage.
3. Will marriage allow you to be the most use to God and the public in glorifying him and working to save the souls of others?  If so, marry; if not, abstain.
4. Are you already married?  Then stay married, God has ordained it for you once you enter into the marriage covenant.

Then there are a few other guidelines he gives for those whose parents forbid them from marriage, those who have eloped, those who have promised themselves to others, etc. It was a very engaging section and one which our world would do well to consider carefully, especially since more marriages end in divorce than manage to last.

I look forward to sharing more of Baxter's thoughts as time progresses.

Where's Jesus? Jacob reunited to Joseph (Genesis 46:1-47:12)

A father and son reunited after many years.  A family relocated from the dust bowl to the fertile plains.  A son able to provide abundantly for the family in terms of land and food, when previously they have been living in great need.  This sounds like the synopsis to a great novel, and it is.  It is the synopsis to the greatest story ever told in human history.  The story of God's love for humanity.  God the Father, Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Christian church all star in this story in many ways similar to the story relayed in our reading in Genesis this week.

In Genesis 46:4, God tells Jacob,

"I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again."

This promise from God to be with Jacob and never to leave him, is reiterated by the author of Hebrews as,

 "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 

Jesus himself promised, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18).  Wherever we go, wether it is to the darkest hour of our trial, as the nation of Israel faced as the entered Egypt only to become its slaves later on, or in receiving the blessing of God as the nation leaves captivity entering into a land flowing with milk and honey, God is there.  He goes with his people by the presence of his Holy Spirit who lives in us.  We are not alone, just as God promised Jacob that he would not be alone.

But the next beautiful promises of Christ comes to us in the reaction of Jacob.  Jacob takes all his wealth and all his children and follows the Lord's leading.  So it is with Christ, he takes his entire church with him into the grave and out again.  He takes his entire church with him into suffering and then into glory.  he takes his entire church into his glorious reign and ensures that they are safe and sound in the fold of his garments of holiness.  The Scriptures for this would be way to numerous to show, but even a cursory reading of Romans will reveal that this is true.

Next, Joseph acts as a mediator in verse 31 between Pharaoh and the brothers.  He says,

"I will go and speak to Pharaoh..."

In his mediation he seeks the best land in Egypt for the family and he secures it, just as Christ is the sole mediator between God and man (1Timothy 2:5) and seeks our best interest.  He prays for us, he asks for the best land in the promised kingdom for each of us and he brings us into the Promised Land, making sure that we have all we need to thrive just as Joseph did for Jacob and his family.  

This is such a wonderful passage which directs us toward Jesus and his ministry.  May you always be encouraged as you see Christ in the writings that testify to him.  Amen.

Restating the Gospel - Galatians 4:8-20

Who has ever used “Cliff’s Notes”?  I remember using Cliff’s Notes to get through my high school English class, particularly the sections on Shakespeare.  You have to understand that I hated reading books.  I was a numbers guy.  I could work math problems over and over and over.  I could read dictionaries or encyclopedias and never get bored, but I just couldn’t make it through a novel, much less a Shakespearian play. 

Our passage of Scripture today is kind of like picking up a Cliff’s Notes.  What I mean by that is these 12 verses give us a good overview of the book of Galatians, just like my handy English book gave me a good overview of what happened in Romeo and Juliet, or Hamlet.  There are a number of themes, which Paul retouches on briefly at this point in the letter.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q24

Q.24. How are these articles divided?

A. Into three parts: God the Father and our creation; God the Son and our deliverance; God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Monday

Have you ever tried to memorize a series of facts?  It can be difficult, but if you can arrange them into some sequence that makes sense, and points you to the next item, it is much easier. So it is with the Apostles’ Creed.  It is divided into 3 sections related to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  Furthermore, each section attributes an action to that particular person of God: Creation, salvation and the making of our present lives holy.

This does not mean the others persons of the godhead have nothing to do with the other processes.  They most certainly do, for “God is one.” But like all memory aids, it helps us to understand what God has done, is doing and will continue to do through his one divine nature. 

Read Psalms 33.  Did you notice that the one Lord creates, saves and is our hope for holiness?  The first two are easy to spot; but the last one is expressed in the final verse, “May your unfailing love rest upon us.”  If God’s love is to rest on us, we must be made holy.  Thank the Lord for these three wonderful acts at work in the world.