The Best Teacher

I was looking through the Psalms this morning and the Spirit brought several verses to my attention. Let’s see if you can detect the theme:

“Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior and my hope is in You all day long” (25:4-5).

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way” (v. 9).

“Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him” (v. 12).

“Teach me Your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path” (27:11).

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you” (32:8).

“Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth . . .” (86:11)

The Christian faith is first and foremost about salvation – about bringing sinful men and women to repentance and cleansing and eternal life through Jesus Christ, God’s Son. But He doesn’t save us and then leave us to figure it out on our own. He teaches us how to live this different life. He teaches us to walk in the straight way, in His ways which are holy and righteous. He teaches us by His Word and His Spirit. He teaches us by the example of His Son who lived a perfect life of love and grace and holiness. He teaches us through people who preach, teach, mentor, and live their faith out loud every day. And I am living proof that He teaches us by the mistakes and missteps we make. I will have my Doctorate soon in the school of hard knocks.

I have always loved to learn. I used to sit on the floor next to our family’s bookshelves and read the encyclopedias. And then I discovered the Bible and my heart and mind exploded. I also discovered that God loves to teach, it’s a match literally made in heaven. But you don’t have to be a nerd or a scholar to learn what God wants to teach you. He tailors the courses to each person, but the student learning outcome is always the same: that you and I would look like Jesus. Beloved, come join me in this divine class. I’ll save a seat for you.

God Loves You

She looked at my t-shirt and snorted. “Yeah, I know, ‘God loves me.’ But He’s way up in heaven and I am down here on this miserable earth. He’s too far away to care about me or do anything for me.” She walked away before I could answer, but she left me thinking about what I would have said.

I would tell her about Psalm 107. The Psalmist starts by saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever” (v. 1). Then he sets up several examples: People with no place to go, wandering hungry and thirsty; but when “they cried out to the Lord, He delivered them” and brought them to a place to call home (vs. 4-9). Prisoners who were suffering for their sin and rejection of God, who cried out to the Lord, and “He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains” (vs 10-16). People whose foolishness and rebellion brought them great affliction to the point of death, still, when they cried out to the Lord, “He sent for His Word and healed them; He rescued them from the grave (vs. 17-22).

Then there were the ones who were in grave danger in a storm at sea and “at their wits’ end” (can you relate?). You know the next line, when they cried out the Lord stilled the storm and hushed the waves and brought them safely to shore (vs. 23-32). He caused rivers and springs to appear in the desert, created a lush and fruitful land, and blessed and multiplied His people. And when they rebelled, He disciplined them. But then He “lifted the needy out of their affliction” – affliction they brought on themselves – and blessed them again (vs. 33-42).

With every situation, the Psalmist punctuates his story with the words: “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men” (vs. 8, 15, 21, and 31).  I wish I could tell her that God’s love is not a far-flung concept, but a reality that is seen and felt in the lives of those who trust and cry out to Him. I would share the Psalmist’s last words: “consider the great love of the Lord” (v. 43), and then I would tell her about Jesus. Maybe you are the one who doubts the love and care of God. Oh, Beloved, His eye is on you and He is as near as a whispered prayer.

I Want to See You, Lord

I sang with the congregation: “Open the eyes of our heart, Lord; open the eyes of our heart, we want to see You; we want to see You.” In the breath between the first and second stanzas, I sensed God say, “Do you, really? Then why are your eyes closed?”

“Well, I’m offering this to You as my own prayer.”

“Then open your eyes.”

In that brief moment, I was impressed with the thought that the church asks God to give us a vision of Himself, but we close our eyes so that we cannot see.

As I am writing this, God has directed me to Isaiah’s encounter with the Lord. The prophet wrote, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Is 6:1). He was surrounded by seraphs, unlike anything man had ever seen. Now that’s a vision!

Isaiah’s response to the awesome vision of God was conviction, repentance, and surrender to the Lord’s call. But there’s another time when God revealed Himself to men. In Exodus 24, after Moses received the Law, God issued an extraordinary invitation: “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel” (Ex 24:1). And they did. “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel . . . they saw God, and they ate and drank” (v. 9, 11). They. Saw. God. How did it affect them? A few chapters over we have these same elders urging Aaron to make an idol for the people to worship. And he did. In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu are put to death by God for disobeying Him.

The seraphs in Isaiah’s vision declared, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory” (v. 3). Do you see it? “The whole earth is full of His glory.” John Calvin, the 16^th-century theologian said, “There is not an atom of the universe in which you cannot see some brilliant spark, at least, of His glory.” Now, I’m not preaching a naturalistic theology. We worship the Creator, not the creation. But we can see Him everywhere – if we open our eyes.

Jeremiah 29:13 says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you . . .” Do you want to see God? Are your eyes open? Are you looking for Him? And when you see Him, Beloved, what will you do?

Acts: Tell them the Gospel

What is the most powerful message you’ve ever heard? How did it affect you and how did you respond? Peter had just declared the gospel to the awestruck crowd. He spoke of God’s purpose in the death of Jesus and the prophecies that He fulfilled. He talked of the Lord’s resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then he proclaimed that “God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:14-36). And the people believed him. “They were cut to the heart . . .” meaning they felt pain and deep sorrow because they had rejected – and even crucified – God’s Son, the Messiah they had long awaited.

But here’s the important part, [they] said . . . ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” (v. 37). The message convicted them and moved them to respond. Peter answered with the essential elements of conversion: “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” (v. 38). Repentance, baptism, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit.  

There’s an important lesson for the church here. When the gospel is proclaimed simply and clearly, people will respond to it. Peter didn’t add theatrics – he just told them the truth. They were sinners and deserved God’s wrath, but in love, He sent His Son to bear the punishment for their sins. He died and rose to life for their forgiveness and eternal life. If they will believe this, repent of their sins, and submit to baptism they will be saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.  Respond they did: “about three thousand were added to their number” (v. 41).

There is one more important point to Peter’s message. Luke said that He “warned and pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’” (v. 40). Charles Spurgeon said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” Beloved, you and I live among a corrupt generation and we need to warn and plead with the lost to repent and come to Jesus. We can’t afford to soft-pedal the gospel. We must tell them the truth. Their eternal destiny hangs in the balance.

Acts: The Door is Open

We return in Acts to the scene in an upper room in Jerusalem. Amid the wind and flames of the Holy Spirit and the languages declaring the mighty works of God, there was awe and wonder. There was also confusion and derision. One group asked, “What does this mean?” while another group mocked and said, “They have had too much wine.” Before chaos could take over Peter stood up.

This is a beautiful fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. When He declared that Satan had permission to sift Peter He also assured Peter that he would not fail his Lord. He said “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). Because He knew Peter would. And here the disciple stands with his brothers to encourage and strengthen them.

Peter explained that this was Joel’s prophecy come to life when every nation and every gender and every age would declare the Word of the Lord. Judaism was an exclusive religion. Jesus came to break down every barrier to God. Joel’s words were the promise that the Spirit of God would no longer be reserved for Israel but would be a universal gift to all believers of every nation, gender, and age. Even Gentiles. And women. And men young and old.

“In those days,” gives way to apocalyptic imagery of wonders and signs and blood, fire, and smoke. This is generally believed to refer to the final cosmic events preceding the return of Christ, which Peter assumed was very near. There’s a whole lot here that we don’t have time to unpack because the point of Peter’s message was not the impending return – it was the wide open door to heaven.

When God called Abraham and established the Jewish nation, he drew a distinctive line between those who were “in” and those who were “out.” Now, because of Jesus, everyone was welcome to come in. When the curtain in the temple was torn in two at Jesus’ death, the rip started at the top (Matt 27:51). Now all nations and all genders and all ages were invited to the house of God. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).

That means you, Beloved. God gave His one and only Son to save you. To welcome you to His family and His house and His eternal heaven. No matter your family or your gender or your age. God won’t even hold your past sins and mistakes against you. Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me I will not drive away” (John 6:37). The only thing you have to be is willing.

The Chasm

As this year comes to a close, I find myself wondering how much longer the human race can survive. With wars and violence and hatred and abuse all across the globe, and the rise of sexual perversion taking firm root in the culture. It seems we’ve turned right and wrong upside-down. But if you study the Bible you are not completely shocked. Isaiah prophesied a day when evil will be called good and good evil (Is 5:20).  Unless you’re living under a rock, you know we’re there – even in the church. Paul warned “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim 4:3). We’ve seen this sad reality as every kind of sin has been welcomed and celebrated by the “church” in recent years. But where the line between “right and wrong” has been so blurred, it must become more clearly defined. The fence is getting to hot to sit on much longer.

Scripture tells us that the chasm between the people of God and the people of wickedness will get wider as the day draws near. And how does a chasm grow? Quakes and tremors deep in the earth. The same is true for the church. We are experiencing the “birth pains” of that chasm growing as faithful Christians are separating themselves from those on the side of wickedness. Again, if you know the Scriptures, you are not surprised. Daniel 12:10 says – “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked.” And Jesus said, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” (Rev. 22:11).

So what does that mean for you and me? We are the church. We are the Body of Christ. We must make a stand for what is right and true – but it must come from the conviction of our own hearts. It’s not enough to rant about the sin in the church or the world if we’re not ready to confess the sin in our lives.  Beloved, you and I must separate ourselves from sin and wickedness. The quakes and tremors have to start here. May we be a generation of faithful, holy people.

In God’s Hands

Have you noticed that the Scriptures call us “sheep?” I’ve heard people say that sheep are dumb, and I don’t think that is entirely fair. Sheep just get focused on one thing – filling their bellies – and don’t pay attention to what they are doing or where they are going. A sheep will put his head down to graze and keep it down as he moves from one succulent tuft of grass to another. He doesn’t look up to see where he’s headed or how far he has gone from the shepherd or how close he is to the edge of a river bank. One more step and he is tumbling down, down, down, and into serious trouble. If the shepherd doesn’t find him soon he’ll fall prey to a predator and sheep are helpless in a fight.

If all this sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve wandered. Or maybe you know and love a wanderer. I’ve shared before that I have a prodigal – a wanderer. He grew up in the church and a godly home. But he’s grazing out in the world with his head down. I’ve prayed for him for many, many years: “God, please don’t let him fall away from You.” One morning the Spirit impressed on me to sing “He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands.” “Mama,” He said to my heart, “If I have room for the whole world in my hands then you can be sure my hands a big enough for him to roam far and wide without falling off.”

David said, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (Ps 139:7-10). Re-read that last sentence. Your right hand will hold me fast. God loves you too much to let you go. He loves your wanderer more than you do.

If you have wandered from the shepherd, just call out His name from wherever you are. He will leave the ninety-nine and come rescue you and bring you back to the flock. If you are praying for a wanderer, don’t give up. God’s got them, even while they roam. Jesus said the Father is not willing that any of his sheep should be lost (Matt 18:10-14). Beloved, He’s a big God with big hands.

Sin No More

When I read the Gospels, I marvel at Jesus’ patience and understanding with sinful people. No, He was not (is not) gentle with sin – He called it out for what it was. He didn’t excuse it or call it a disease or disorder. He didn’t accept it or tolerate it or celebrate it. Sin was and is appalling. It needs to be confronted – and Jesus did. Yet even while correcting sin, was always gracious to those lost souls caught in the devil’s snare. “He had compassion on them because He saw that they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:6).

While walking through Jerusalem one day, Jesus passed by a pool that was believed to have healing properties when the waters were stirred by “an angel.” A helpless invalid had laid by the side of the pool for thirty-eight years, waiting and hoping for his chance to slip into the waters at just the right moment. But he was alone and never managed to get there. Along came Jesus who healed Him. At a later encounter, Jesus told the man, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you” (John 5:1-14). He healed first, then corrected. We need to take notes.

On another occasion, Jesus was teaching in the temple and the religious leaders brought to him a woman caught in adultery. But just the woman – isn’t that interesting? He defended her against her accusers – but he did not defend her actions. When Jesus confronted the men with their hypocrisy they left in shame.  After assuring her that He did not condemn her, Jesus told the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11). I have no doubt that she did. Grace and correction always work hand in hand.

I often look up words to build a devotional and that is what I was doing as I was developing a different point when God turned this in a whole other direction. When I looked up “sin no more” I found these two stories – and something else. Those same words appear again in the Scriptures when the writer of Hebrews talked about the new covenant in Christ. The Lord said, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Heb 8:12). No more. No more guilt. No more shame. No more condemnation. Because all your sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. The affair. The abortion. The sexual immorality. The lies. That sin you don’t want to remember? You won’t have to Beloved, because in Christ your sins are “no more.”

Hebrews: Outside the Camp

“We’re New Testament Christians, why are we studying the Old Testament? This stuff doesn’t apply to us anymore.” “One reason,” I answered “is because the New Testament writers used it quite a bit in their books and letters.  If we want to understand what they were saying, we need to understand their references.” That’s what we’re going to do in today’s passage.

“The high priest carried the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp” (Heb 13:11). It was Yom Kippur, the most holy day of the Jewish year. The day when the sins of the nation were atoned for. It was a day for fasting and prayer and confession. It was the day that the slate was wiped clean and the people were declared righteous – at least until they sinned again.  The high priest took the blood of the slaughtered animal into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle/Temple as a sin offering and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the Lord. The carcass of the animal would be carried outside of the camp/city to be burned because it represented the sin of the people. Sin must not be allowed to remain among God’s holy nation.

The writer makes the new covenant connection in verse 12: “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood.” Jesus was the sacrificial animal. Jesus’ blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Lord. And Jesus was crucified and buried outside of the city of Jerusalem because He bore the sin of all humanity. And by His blood, those who believe and receive His atonement are made holy.

An interesting aside here is that the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus and had Him crucified at Golgotha because of His radical message. But by putting Him outside of the city proper they were unknowingly confirming that He was indeed the sacrifice for the sins of the people. Because his original audience was believing Jews, the writer urged them to “go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore,” symbolically rejecting the old ways of Judaism (v. 13).

As believers in Christ, you and I will often have to “go outside the camp” of popular opinion and cultural relevance, even within the church, to live in holiness. But we’re in good company. We’re out there with Jesus. Remember what He said: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18).

Oh, and there’s one more reason why we need to study the Old Testament, even as New Testament Christians – because Jesus is all over it and all in it. It’s worth digging into the early texts to know Him better. All of history, including the entire Bible, is His story. It’s the greatest story ever told.

Consider it All Joy (part 2)

Yesterday’s devotional started a conversation about God’s purposes in our suffering. We’re going to continue today in part two. I’ll post a link to part one in the comments.

Sometimes trials are a means of discipline in our lives – I know this one well.  The psalmist declared, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your Word” (Psalm 119:67).  Hebrews adds, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).  Trials that come as a consequence of our sinful and foolish behavior are meant to teach us valuable life lessons.  Or as my mother said, “Bought lessons stay with you longer than taught lessons.”  If you can connect your trial to your actions, take that as a means of discipline and training. The writer of Hebrews also said that discipline identifies us as God’s true children. “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” (See Hebrews 12:5-10). Discipline means that God is being a good Father to you.

Our trials reveal God to the world.  When Jesus and His disciples encountered a man who had been blind from birth, He said, “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3). When the Lord healed this man everyone knew it, and he became a living testimony to the power of God.  You and I are the canvas on which God paints His own portrait for the world to see.  Just as silver and gold show up most brilliantly against a dark backdrop, the power and glory of God are on vivid display in our trials.  Our difficulties become the means by which God shows up and shows off.

Beloved, I don’t know what trial you are facing today, but I know that God has brought you to it for a good purpose.  He is at work in your life, stretching your faith, moving you into His will, preparing you to minister to someone else, teaching you discipline, and making your life a display of His glory.  Every trial is an opportunity for you and me to draw closer to our Father, to walk by faith, and to point others to Him.  Yes, we can count it all Joy when trials come, because we know God has a purpose and a plan – and we will be the richer for it.

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).