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Bible Thought - Growing As A Christian - WOW Word 20

WOW Word - Growing as a Christian~

Galatians 5:16-26 - "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

What is the response of a Christian to be to these words of Jesus? Come, listen and discover!

 

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Glimpses Into The Bible Part 5

Abrahamic Covenant

G'day and welcome to Partakers! We are now on day 5 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days, from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption! Lets read together:

Genesis 12v1-9 The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth-his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran-and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your descendants." And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.

A Theocratic Covenant

Whilst the Edenic, Adamic and Noahic Covenants were universal covenants, this fourth Covenant is the first covenant which is theocratic, or relating to the rule of God. It is dependent on God alone! A God, who through grace in the "I will..." statements promises to bestow blessings! This covenant with Abraham, or the Abrahamic Covenant, is also the basis for all theocratic covenants to come and provides blessings on three levels:

• Personal level to Abraham: "I will make your name great; and you will be a blessing" (Genesis 12v2)
• National level: "I will make you into a great nation" (Genesis 12v2)
• Universal level:  "all peoples on the earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12v3)

Initially here in Genesis 12, this covenant can be seen in broad outline, but God later confirms it to Abraham in greater detail as we shall see. The Abrahamic covenant is a link to all of God's activities and programs until the end of time.

Personal Aspects

The personal aspects of the Covenant, particular to Abraham are:

• Abraham will be a father of a great nation (Genesis 12v1)
• Abraham will receive personal blessing (Genesis 12v2)
• Abraham will receive personal honour and reputation (Genesis 12v2)
• He, Abraham, will be a source of blessing to others. (Genesis 12v3)

Universal Aspects

The aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant, pertinent universally are:

• God will bless those who bless Abraham and the nation of Israel which comes from him (Genesis 12v3)
• curses on those who curse Abraham and Israel (Genesis 12v3)
• blessings on all the earth through Abraham (Genesis 12v1-3)

This was the first time God made this promise to Abraham, but not the only time as Abraham received it another 5 times as God gives great detail to it (Genesis 13:14-18, Genesis 15:4-5, 13-18, Genesis 17:1-8, Genesis 18:17-19 and  Genesis 22:15-18.

All Change!

Abram, as Abraham was originally known, was weaned away from his native land by God, into a journey of the unknown! It was in this way that Abraham would develop his faith in God and use it like a muscle. In fact, when God reiterated the covenant in Genesis 17 to Abram, God changed his name from Abram meaning "glorious father", to Abraham, which means "father of many nations!" (Genesis 17v5)

Reminded and renewed!

So important was this covenant that God renewed it with:

• Isaac, the "only begotten son" of Abraham twice: Genesis 26:4 and Genesis 26:23-24
• Jacob twice as well Genesis 28:14-15 and Genesis 35:9-12

This covenant gives yet further glimpses of God's essential character of grace and mercy, as well as hinting at somebody who is to come as a messiah or saviour! Can you tell how and where these glimpses are? Tomorrow our story continues! Do you know where to next?

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Bible Thought - Christian Commitment

A Christians' Commitment

Matthew 7:21-29

Matthew 7:21-29 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?' Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.' Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell-and great was its fall." It happened, when Jesus had finished saying these things, that the multitudes were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes.

A Radical Choice

1. The danger of a merely spoken profession (v21-23)

2. The danger of a merely intellectual knowledge (v 24-27)

3. What is our response?

4. Jesus the Great Teacher

Go and be different from those around you

The claims of Jesus were spoken so naturally, modestly and indirectly that many people never even notice them. But they are there, and we cannot ignore them. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, we have seen the Jesus is teacher, the Christ, the Lord, the Saviour, the Judge, the Son of God and also God.. Either all these things are true, or he was a power seeking maniac suffering with insanity. But the Sermon on the Mount could never be the product of someone who was either insane or a seeker of power, because it would go against what was taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Our only alternative then, is to take Jesus at his word, and his claims for all that they are worth. The Sermon on the Mount contains the picture for God's alternative society, with the standards, values and priorities of the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man. Too often throughout history, the church has conformed to the pattern set by the world, and ignored the pattern required by God and by Jesus. Sometimes, there is no difference, with the Church having lost its saltiness, and its light put out. It is only as we the church, live the truths in the Sermon of the Mount that a true Christian community will be attractive to those outside in the world, and let God be glorified. Jesus therefore, when he calls us, calls us to be the unique Christian culture in a world full of lost culture.

So here is a challenge for you.  Are you, as a Christian heeding Jesus' words and being obedient to them and therefore living a life worthy of being called Christian?  Are you being salt and light amidst those who are in darkness and in a lost culture?

Finally, if you would not call yourself a Christian today, and this Jesus appeals to you, this Jesus who speaks with authority, and you want to become a Christian there are three simple steps to follow.  Firstly, admit that you have done wrong against God and His ways.  Secondly, believe and trust in Jesus.  Call on Him, receive, trust, obey and worship Him, recognizing Him for who He is and what He has done.  Lastly, confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.   Once sin has been confessed, and Jesus is believed in and trusted as Saviour, then you are a Christian. Now you are ready as Peter writes in the Bible, "to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).  Welcome to the family of God. God has chosen you; Jesus has paid for you and has put His mark within you through His Spirit (Ephesians 1:1-13).

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Glimpses Into The Bible Part 4

Noahic Covenant

G'day and welcome to Partake! We are now on day 4 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days, from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption!

Reading from Genesis 9v1-17: Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it. "And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person's life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person's life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth." Then God told Noah and his sons, "I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you-the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals-every living creature on earth.

Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth." Then God said, "I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth." Then God said to Noah, "Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth."

This, the Noahic Covenant, is the third covenant between God and man given after the flood had wiped out earth's population, apart from Noah and his family.  The increase of humanity's wickedness and disobedience against God, was so great that God repented of His decision to create humanity. Genesis 6v6 "So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart."  As a result of humanity's sin, the whole earth was to be destroyed! But, one man and his family was found to be in fellowship with God - Noah!  Because they are in fellowship with each other (Genesis 6v9), God gives Noah a plan of rescue!  After the rain and flood, God makes another covenant with humanity and also all note, all living creatures of the earth -  through Noah! Wow! The terms of the Noahic covenant are

• Populate the earth is reaffirmed (Genesis 9v1).
• Subjection of the animals to humans is reaffirmed (Genesis 9v2).
• Humans are allowed to eat animal flesh but are to refrain from drinking/eating the blood  (Genesis 9vv3, 4)
• Human life's sanctity is established. (Genesis 9vv5, 6).
• God promises to never to destroy the earth again by flood (Genesis 9v11).
• The covenant is a binding Covenant for all time (9v12) and with all creatures on earth!
• The rainbow is given as a symbol of this covenant and its existence (Genesis 9v12-17)
• God will sustain all life on earth(Genesis 9v17)

Here again, God gives humanity the opportunity to live rightly with Him.  Whereas before, there was the hint of the sacrifice, about which Martin Luther, commenting on this story, wrote: Here there is mentioned for the first time the burnt offering of Noah, which he made according to the example of his pious ancestors So even before Noah, there must have been some type of sacrifice made to God although we don't know what kind they were! Sacrifices, in order to somehow appease God, who had received painful hurt inflicted by human disobedience.

But this story, and the Covenant, while telling about God's rightful rule of Judge also shows his desire for intimacy with humanity. The Almighty God wants to have fellowship with humanity, but it has to be on God's terms. God has never broken His promise or covenant with humanity, but both times so far, humanity has contravened the covenant by actively disobeying God and therefore breaking the Covenant made - whether the Edenic or Adamic!  God in saving Noah, shows also hints of a God of grace!

What God wants humanity to do, He will provide the means in which for them to do it!  He is concerned for every aspect of humanity's life, from birth to death and the food they eat. As a symbol of this covenant, there are to be rainbows! This covenant as we have seen is a binding contract between humanity and God! But the story doesn't end there - it continues tomorrow with God revealing just a bit more of those things we have seen glimpses of: true fellowship between God and humanity being restored through grace and sacrifice.

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Thursday with Tabitha - Hosea

Thursday with Tabitha

4. Hosea by Tabitha Smith

If you have ever felt that God is distant, disinterested, and aloof from his creation, or you’ve thought that God is a cruel, heartless God who punishes his creation harshly, then the book of Hosea has truth for you. This short prophetic book contains heartrending descriptions of God’s feelings for wayward Israel. It is one of the parts of the Bible that most vividly demonstrates the intensity of feeling and the depth of emotion in the heart of God.

 

Hosea prophesied during the latter half of the eighth century BC. This was one of the most turbulent and difficult times in Israel’s history, just before the captivity to Assyria. The nation of Israel went through six kings in about 30 years. There was violence, political intrigue and great instability.

 

Hosea primarily writes to the people of Israel, whom he sometimes refers to as Ephraim. His main concern is the way that the Israelites have turned away from worshipping God and instead started to worship Baal.

 

Baal was a false god of the region of Syria and Palestine. He was thought to control agriculture, rainfall and fertility. Practices involved in the worship of Baal included human sacrifice and mutilation of the body; incest, sex with animals, the use of shrine prostitutes and drinking alcohol in excess.

 

At the start of the book of Hosea the prophet is called to do something extraordinary. God asks him to marry an unfaithful wife. The events that unfold in Hosea’s family will become a vivid image of the events occurring in Israel. Hosea marries a woman called Gomer and she bears him a son.

 

After this she has a daughter and another son but the wording of the text suggests that these two children do not belong to Hosea. Gomer has been unfaithful to him. The children are given names that mean “not loved” and “not my people”.  In this way, Hosea’s illegitimate children become a picture of Israel, a child that will not be shown mercy and does not belong to its father. However, even at this tragic point, there is a promise of the mercy and love that the Father will show. God declares that in spite of this terrible unfaithfulness, he will show mercy and love again to Israel and Judah.

 

In chapter 2 God expands on the image of the unfaithful wife that was introduced in chapter 1. Israel has strayed from God, turning to worship Baal. She has taken part in pagan worship ceremonies and she has not acknowledged the way that God’s hand has graciously provided all of her crops, wine, oil, silver and gold, which she now uses in the worship of Baal. God declares that he will punish Israel and expose her adultery.

 

But even in the next breath he expresses his desire to heal her, and restore her and draw her back into a loving relationship with himself:

In verses 19-20 God says:

I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.

And in verse 23 he says:

I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one'. I will say to those called 'Not my people', 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.' "

The language God uses is tender, affectionate and merciful. Israel will be his beloved bride again.

 

To complete the real-life metaphor, Hosea is instructed to go and love his wife again, even though she has been unfaithful to him. The fact that he has to buy her back suggests that she may have fallen into slavery. It costs Hosea to take Gomer back into his house. Hosea promises his faithfulness to Gomer and asks her to be faithful to him in return. This is powerful picture of love in action. It is love that is not based on warm glowing feelings but on commitment, intention, and faithfulness. This is love that hurts.

 

In the remaining 11 chapters of the book, Hosea continues his prophecy from God with a series of vivid pictures about unfaithful Israel. She is described as an adulterous wife, a disinterested mother, an illegitimate child, an ungrateful son, a stubborn heifer, a silly dove and a half-baked cake that is unfit for eating.

Hosea also paints a picture of Israel as a luxuriant grapevine that looked very promising at the start but then went bad. Another image likens Israel to grapes or new figs found in the desert – a wonderful discovery that then turned rotten.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking and tender passage comes in the first part of chapter 11. God describes Israel as a small child, a little son, who God himself called out of Egypt. God taught his child to walk, comforted him, kissed his wounds better and led him with kindness and love. But the child did not recognise the Father’s love and care and rejected the Father in favour of idols.

 

In spite of this painful rejection, God cannot abandon his child. In verse 8 God exclaims, ‘how can I give you up, O Ephraim?’

 

The book closes with an impassioned plea for Israel to turn back to the Lord and enjoy the blessing that this change of heart would bring.

 

As I’ve read Hosea, I’ve been drawn to the image of Israel as God’s bride. God pledged his covenant faithfulness to his bride but she was unfaithful. As we move into the New Testament we discover a new image of the church, the new covenant people of God, as the bride of Christ. This image culminates in the glorious wedding feast of the Lamb in the book of Revelation. The church, now perfected and redeemed by Jesus, is presented to him for eternal union in the new heaven and new earth. Jesus has loved his bride, the church with the same complete commitment and devotion that God showed his original covenant people.

In the last days of his earthly life, Jesus had to experience the pain of loving those who would betray, desert and deny him. John’s gospel poignantly says, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (John 13:1).

 

Jesus demonstrated the kind of resolute, faithful, steadfast love that would hurt so badly it would cost him his life.

 

So what do we take away from the book of Hosea? I think primarily it is a powerful reminder of the intensity of the love of God for his people. That includes us. If we are unfaithful to him and put other things in a higher place of importance in our hearts, this hurts God. The human emotion of having been cheated on by someone we love is only dim shadow of the effect of our unfaithfulness on God’s perfect heart.

 

I think Hosea can also draw us into deeper wonder at what Jesus did for us on the cross. If we marvel at the love Hosea showed to Gomer, and what it cost him to buy her back whilst she was still a slave, how much more should we be floored by the love that Jesus showed for each one of us on the cross, giving everything he had to buy us back for God, whilst we were still dead in sin!

 

Last Friday was Good Friday and Christians around the world remembered the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. After the grief comes joy and on Sunday we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection. Each Sunday is a commemoration of Jesus’ rising on the first day of the week. Each time we celebrate the Lord’s supper, the breaking of bread and the sharing of wine, we commemorate what happened on Friday.

 

Easter week may be over for another year, and of course we continue to celebrate each Sunday, but I think it is good to spend regular time thinking about the trial and the suffering of Friday. In doing so we remember what our freedom cost our Father, as we gather at the feet of our broken bridegroom, who loved us to the very end. 

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Glimpses Into The Bible Part 3

Adamic Covenant

G'day and welcome to Partakers! We are now on day 3 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days, from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption!

Reading from Genesis 3v14-21 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." Then he said to the woman, "I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you." And to the man he said, "Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return." Then the man-Adam-named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

Disaster and Curse!

After the blessing of the Edenic Covenant between God and humanity, disaster and curse strike! God walked with Adam and Eve and enjoyed fellowship together.  However as we read in Genesis 3v1-13, humanity broke their part of the covenant made with God!  What was once idyllic is now chaos! They failed to trust God at His word and actively disobeyed Him. Under the terms of the Edenic Covenant, they had to be punished. Where they once trusted God implicitly and explicitly, now was guilt to be found and this is evidenced in that they endeavoured to hide from God. Irenaeus, writes: When Adam fell, he lost the likeness, but the image remained fully intact. Humanity as humanity was still complete, but the good and holy being was spoiled. Augustine, another of the early Church Fathers developed this further: Human nature was certainly originally created blameless and without any fault; but the human nature by which each one of us is now born of Adam requires a physician, because it is not healthy. All the good things, which it has by its conception, life, senses, and mind, it has from God... But the weakness which darkens and disables these good natural qualities, as a result of which that nature needs enlightenment and healing, did not come from the blameless maker but from original sin, which was committed by free will. For this reason our guilty nature is liable to a just penalty.

Adamic Covenant

This second covenant between God and humanity, is also titled the covenant with all of mankind, as it lays down the terms and conditions which hold until sin's curse is lifted (Isaiah 11v6-10; Romans 8v18-23).  As elucidated by Irenaeus and Augustine, because of Adam's sin, we are all born under the curse of sin. The terms and conditions of this covenant include:

• The snake, or Satan, although enjoying limited & temporal success (Genesis 3v15), will ultimately be judged (Genesis 3v15).
• The first hint or notion of a saviour or messiah is given in Genesis 3v15
• Childbirth now involves pain and the woman is made subject to her husband (Genesis 3v16)
• The ground is cursed and weeds will grow amongst the food (Genesis 3vv17 - 19)
• Physical changes occur and now people sweat when they work (Genesis 3v19)
• Because of their sin and disobedience, people die spiritually and inevitably physically.  (Genesis 3v19).

So the Edenic Covenant was broken by humanity, and God puts in place a new covenant!  But this Adamic covenant, with the hint of a promise attached that one day true fellowship between God and humanity will be restored in full and out of death, new life will come. So the story continues! Tomorrow we look at another step in the story.

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Glimpses Into The Bible Part 2

Edenic Covenant

G'day and welcome to Partake! We are now on day 2 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days, from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption!

Genesis 1v27-31 So God created human beings in his own image.In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground." Then God said, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground-everything that has life." And that is what happened. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Genesis 2v15-17. The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden- except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die." Irenaeus, one of the Church Fathers, said this about humanity being made in the image of God: "The image was the human's natural resemblance to God, the power of reason and will. The likeness was a divine gift added to basic human nature. This likeness consisted of the moral qualities of God, whereas the image involved the natural attributes of God." Origen, another of the Church Fathers, goes further and commenting on Genesis 1v26-27, says "In v26, while the word ‘image' is repeated in v27, the word ‘likeness' is not. This indicates that in his first creation man received the dignity of the image of God, but fulfilment of the likeness is reserved for the final consummation, that is, the he himself should obtain it by his own effort, through the imitation of God. The possibility of perfection given to him at the beginning by the dignity of the image, and then in the end, through the fulfilment of his works, should bring to perfect consummation the likeness of God." God spoke with His creation and gave what is the first covenant between God and humanity.  Humanity is commanded in this Edenic Covenant to:

• Populate the earth (Genesis 1v28)
• Subjugate the earth (Genesis 1v28)
• Exercise dominion over animals (Genesis 1v28)
• Tend and enjoy the garden of Eden (Genesis 1v29; 2v15)
• Refrain from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2v16-17).

So in essence, humanity, being the pinnacle of God's creation, was to populate the planet, enjoy all of creation and to exercise concern and care over it: the environment, animals, plants etc.  One thing they were not to do was to eat "the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Yet some time after they did do just that! When they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Edenic Covenant was terminated, because they had broken their side of the Covenant. The consequence of this resulted in their spiritual and physical deaths.  This failure, required God to make a new covenant with Adam and we will look at that next time!

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Bible Thought - Strategy to Cope - Hebrews 3

Developing A Strategy to Cope

How can we, as 21^st century Christians, keep from falling away.  I would call it the COPE strategy: Consider, Persevere and Encourage.

Keep Considering! (Hebrews 3:1-6)

The first thing we do is to consider Jesus or as the NIV here puts it "fix our thoughts".  Now remember, that these are Hebrew believers.  I guess we would call them Messianic Jews today. They believed that Jesus was their Messiah, Saviour and Lord.   They were obviously coming under pressure from their Jewish friends and leaders to deny this Jesus and return to the fold.   They would have been told how great Moses was.  In the previous chapter we read how Jesus is greater than the angels, because He is God, but was made a little lower than the angels when he became a man.

Moses was cool

In this chapter, we read a comparison between Jesus and Moses. Moses to the Jews was like a super-hero. Moses was revered because it was to him that God revealed His will.  Moses was the key figure in the establishment of Israel as a nation - God's chosen people!  Moses suffered persecution and rejection from the rest of the family of Israel. He had great zeal for God and was willing to sacrifice everything for God. He had fellowship with God. Yet all this is merely a shadow and a prophetic sign of what was to come in Jesus. Moses, we read in Numbers 12:7, was faithful to God's house, God's people. The house of God is the people of God. It was this Moses who was held in such high regard by the Jews, that some might well have been tempted to renounce Jesus and go back to the old ways. God's Messiah would need to be greater than Moses, and Jesus is and was this Messiah. Later on in the book of Hebrews, we discover that Jesus is greater than Aaron through whom the law was ministered; but here we see that Jesus is greater than Moses, the lawgiver, the servant of the house of God. Moses and Aaron represented God's house in Israel; Moses was the Apostle or Prophet and Aaron was the High Priest. Jesus, an Apostle and Prophet as well as being the High Priest, joined the two together.

By Apostle, I mean as a Messenger - that's what an apostle is - a messenger or representative. As the Apostle of our faith, Jesus was faithful. Jesus was God's representative for us, making God known to us.  Jesus was totally faithful, means to be both trusting and to be capable of being trusted. Moses was the one to whom the Law was given - the Mosaic covenant under which the Jewish people lived.   This covenant with Moses commenced with the stipulation "Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me." (Exodus 19v5).  This covenant was to Israel in order that those who believed God's promise to Abraham, could know how to live rightly in accordance with how God wanted them to live. This covenant with Moses covered the three areas of life:

• The commandments were given so they would know how to relate socially to God (Exodus 20v1-6)
• The judgments were given in order that they could relate socially to each other (Exodus 21v1 - 24v11)
• The decrees dictated their religious life so that God could be approached by humanity on His terms (Exodus 24v12 - 31v18).

This covenant that God made with Moses and the ancient nation of Israel was never meant to be as a means for providing salvation.  It was given so that they could realize the helplessness and futility of their own efforts and their need of God's help.  It was to serve only as a protective fence until the promised Messiah came; the long waited for Saviour of all humanity, so that the whole world, Jew and Gentile, could be made right with God through faith and faith alone.

In Comes Jesus

And that is where Jesus comes in.  As their Messiah and Saviour, Jesus ushered in the New Covenant, which was promised by God through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. What are the features of this New Covenant or promise? Four features of this covenant are:

• Regeneration -God will write His law on the hearts of people.
• Restoration - God will be their God, and they will be His people.
• Promised Holy Spirit - God will indwell people and they will be led by Him
• Justification - Sins will be forgiven and removed eternally

This new covenant is sealed only through the perfect sacrifice of the God-Man Jesus on the cross.  His blood ensures the truth of this New Covenant.  His death pays the penalty for the sins of all people who say yes to God and are ready to run the race and travel the course. This New Covenant finalizes what the Mosaic Covenant could only point to: the follower of God living in a relationship with God conforming to God's holy character.  That is one very specific way of Jesus being superior to Moses! The original readers of this letter being God-fearing Jews would be aware of all this. They would also be aware that it is sin, which separates humans from God and as a consequence leads to both a spiritual and physical death (Romans 3v23, Romans 6v23, Isaiah 59v2). In the Old Testament, sins were dealt with by blood sacrifices of atonement as coverings for sin (Leviticus 17v11), for without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin (Hebrews 9v22). A blood sacrifice is God's way of dealing with sin. These blood sacrifices of the Old Testament signified several things:

• It provided a covering for sin.
• It showed the great cost of sin.
• It was an exchange or substitution.
• It was only always going to be a temporary measure, as it pointed forward to Jesus' death and it needed to be done over and over again.

So how is Jesus better than Moses? The answer lies in the solution to sin. The ultimate solution to sin lies not in the continual animal sacrifice under the Covenant with Moses, because as the writer later in Hebrews 10v4 stipulates the blood of animals cannot take away sin but was only ever going to be a veneer or a covering. That was why it was necessary to repeat time and time again! It is only through the victorious death of Jesus, that sin is permanently taken away (Hebrews 9:v11-15, 26-28), because Jesus is the permanent sacrificial substitute!  It is as if the writer is saying give up on Jesus, stop considering Him and you would still be in your sins - that's the way the original readers would have understood it!

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And as for us?

As followers of Jesus Christ we are built together so that the Spirit of God may join us together in love. Both individually and as a group, we are the house of God. Jesus said, "We will come and make our home in you". We know Jesus has been faithful as a Son over God's people. We celebrate His faithfulness at Easter, when we acknowledge and rejoice at the sacrifice He made for us. We remember it in the act of Communion, which we will have later. Jesus suffered persecution and rejection from his peers. We know Jesus was godly and full of zeal for God, and was willing to sacrifice everything for God and his people. We are the house of God. And yet, do we not reject Jesus sometimes, or do we keep on considering? Do we give Him and trust in His faithfulness to complete the good work he has started in us? This NIV translation has "fix your thoughts". 

Here is how the New King James Version puts verse 1 "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus".  I personally think that that is a better way of putting it. And not only because it has the word partakers in there! To "consider" has a much broader meaning than just "fixing your thoughts" as the NIV puts it.  It means to seek, to fully understand or comprehend as well as fixing thoughtfully.  To consider means to contemplate, to think about, to persevere with, to concentrate on and to fix eyes and thoughts upon. We have to allow Jesus Christ to permeate every aspect of our life, if we are to be partakers of Him. To consider not just how Jesus would do something, but how Jesus would think.  What attitude would Jesus take?  What would Jesus not do?

Just as the Hebrews receiving this letter were told to do, in their race of the life following Jesus, we too are to hold fast to our courage, but only by considering Jesus and trusting in Him relying on the Holy Spirit to help us as we ask Him.

This phrase "to consider" is perhaps the central theme of the book of Hebrews. We are to consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Jesus was faithful to the purpose of His Coming to be among people. His purpose in coming to earth, as a mere man, was to die for sins and be raised up on the third day so as to be victorious over death and sin. This Jesus perfected our human nature in His life of simplicity, suffering, devotion and obedience. He now lives at the right hand of the Father in heaven, to communicate to us His life and blessedness through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We must therefore consider Jesus in everything we do, every thought we think and in every attitude.  

This is the aim of the writer to persuade these Hebrew Christians that if they knew Jesus to be the faithful, compassionate Almighty apostle and priest in Heaven, then they would find everything in Him that they needed for life.  Moses couldn't help them, but Jesus could! Moses had died, they could perhaps visit his tomb if they wanted to. But Jesus, well, Jesus' tomb was empty! Jesus is alive!  The life of these Hebrew Christians would be united with their faith, and united with the life of Jesus whom their faith would glorify God.  To these Hebrew Christians their salvation was based on Jesus, but to renounce Jesus and go back to following Moses was apostasy.

Moses couldn't offer salvation because the Law was not meant as a means of salvation!  But what about you?  Are you trusting in this Jesus for salvation or are you even subconsciously relying on your own good works or something else? That was what these believing Hebrews were to do - consider how vastly superior Jesus is to Moses.  We also are to consider how superior Jesus is to all other things that would try to entangle us and allure us away with false promises.

Keep Persevering!

(Hebrews 3:7-12, 15-19)

And then after considering Jesus, these Hebrew Christians were to do something! They were to persevere in believing.  The writer now warns these Hebrew believers against the sin of unbelief, which is the hardening of their hearts. The writer quoting from Psalm 95 reminds them of the way Israel rebelled against God in the desert. He warns them not to be like their forefathers, who did not trust fully in the Lord their God. From Psalm 95, he proceeds to remind them of their ancestors' deeds of unbelief. 

The privilege of the house of God is in hearing God's voice. By choosing not to listen to God's voice, peoples' hearts grew hard and cold. These words are of course written to believing Christian Hebrews, not unbelieving Jews, and are as appropriate for us today, as it was for them when they received it. As the people of God today, the Church, we need to be ready to listen to God's voice. As we see God working in us, our trust and belief in Him grows. If we do not believe in Him to help us, then of course our hearts will harden against him. As we grow and run the race, willingly sacrificing what needs to be sacrificed, we realize the glory and majesty of God, His holiness and perfection, His love and tenderness, and gladly listen to hear what He says to us, and willingly receive what He gives us.

When you pray, do you have your Bible open? When you read your Bible, do you do so prayerfully and considerately? Bible reading and prayer go together! Unbelief stops a person from holding fellowship with God. Our God is alive, not a dead idol on the shelf or in the bank. This church of Hebrew believers, for all their Christian profession and religious exercises, were in danger of falling away from God, due to their not believing totally in Him.  God would not abandon them, but they would abandon God! We need to take care, in case we also fall into unbelief. Unbelief and falling away act upon and react to each other. If we have any unbelief in our hearts tonight, then let us ask God to give us a heart that believes in Him so that we may not fall away from Him.  And what is one of the main ways we can stop from falling away or letting others fall away into unbelief?

Keep encouraging!

Hebrews 3:12-14

So we keep on considering Jesus. We persevere in our believing in Him. Now thirdly, to show we are considering Jesus and are persevering in our believing Him, we are to encourage and be encouraged!   In verse 12, we read, "See to it, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God". This means, that we are not only to take care of our own hearts, but as verse 13 goes on to say, we are to encourage and ensure no one is in danger of falling away.

We who are believers, have to make sure that each one of us is staying on the path that leads to life, that is, the race towards Jesus. This group of Hebrew Christians were to help and encourage each other! And so are we!  For us, maybe it is by phoning somebody you haven't seen in a while or to phone somebody you get a random thought about! If we see a brother or sister that we know is starting to fall out of the race, we need to do all we can to stop them falling away.

We need to encourage them, to continue considering Jesus and believing in Him. We all know of people who are new believers, full of joy and zeal for God, that end up falling back into unbelief, unable to hold fast to the end. To some degree, it is because the Church body has failed to encourage them to continue on in the race. It is our duty, and our daily responsibility to encourage people on in the race or the journey. However, to encourage is not just these easy things. To encourage can also mean to rebuke, to correct in love. 

I look back at my tutor, during my first stint of Bible College back in the 1980s. His name was Ed.  Ed the head we called him.  We had weekly tutorials then.  Every week he would get me to read a chapter of Knowing God by JI Packer and a chapter of Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.  Then during our tutorial I would have to try and explain what I learnt from both those chapters. It was a slog at times I tell you. But it gave me a good grounding for my Christian thinking and life of discipleship to Jesus.

Or I think back to my dear friend Rose, a kind and dear elderly lady from the church I used to attend back in the 80s.  She would have us young adults back to her house overlooking the ocean for coffee after church on a Sunday evening. She would always be showing love, caring and encouraging to all people - ready to lift them when they were down and eager to cheer from the sidelines.  She was also a tough cookie at times and if we got out of line, she would say so in no uncertain terms!  

When we see somebody sinning or contemplating Therefore in considering Jesus, believe in Him and encourage others to do the same. That is the purpose of encouragement mentioned here. Let all of us give ourselves to the service of Jesus to watch over other people: let all the fresh grace and deeper knowledge of Jesus we see, be for the service of those around us. Where will you and I be spiritually next year, in 10 years' time, in 25 years' time? Will you be able to honestly say to yourself at that time, I have grown spiritually and haven't fallen away? If you  would call yourself a Christian, and you are unsure where you are, then do this.  Look back and remember what Jesus has done for you.  Consider Him as you look back to your first profession of faith in Him. 

Consider that just as He died, you died in the waters of baptism.  Consider that just as He rose to physical life, you rose from the waters of baptism and will also rise again when you physically die.  Consider that just as Jesus will be glorified, so too will you be glorified before the Father - if you hold out until the end. Be assured of who you are - you are a child of the living God - hold out to the end. He has a firm grip on you, so maintain your grip on Him! Remember who you are! The way to cope with the rigours of 21^st century life as a Christian believer, is to keep considering, keep persevering and keep encouraging.

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Bible Thought - God of Love - WOW Word 33

WOW Word 33

God of Love

 

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

We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16

We live in a world that is in love with love. Love, according to some people, is what makes the world go around. In the Bible, God’s love is revealed. The Apostle John in 1 John 4 does not simply say that God loves, but rather that God is love.

How is God love? How is God's love revealed today? How is that relevant to you?

Play or download the audio below to hear  more and how this affects you as a Christian in the 21st century!

 

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Bible Thought - Luke Looks Back Part 30

Study 30 - Luke 24: 13-End

The Appearances and Ascension of Jesus.

We need to take an overview of all the major events that appear in this passage: the life and ministry of Jesus, the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension; and consider their inter-relations.

Question 1: Why is it absolutely essential that the crucifixion and the resurrection did not happen until after the earthly ministry of Jesus was completed?

Jesus was the representative and completely faithful Israelite who was also identified as God by the nature of the works he did, Messiah, Son of Man, Son of God – all this had to be firmly established before he could enter into his work of redemption. This is what the difficult phrase at the end of Rom 4: 25 means. Jesus was resurrected, therefore he was the Messiah, therefore he justifies us – brings us in Him into the Abrahamic family of God’s true people. Furthermore the Kingdom of God had to be announced, inaugurated and its establishment commence – a work that would not be completed until after the end of this age.

Question 2: What did the resurrection add to the crucifixion?

Two things. First proof. Dying on a Cross was easy! All you had to do was upset the Romans. So the resurrection looked back validating the crucifixion showing that it was not just another death but THE death, fundamentally important for everybody on this earth. Secondly it looked forward indicating that Jesus had inaugurated the days of the New Life possibility Rom 6:4–11. Now we can be truly alive: slaves to righteousness and to God, no longer slaves to sin. Luke may well have been getting near the end of his scroll by now so he tells us about just two carefully chosen accounts of appearances. The first of these (v13–35 which we now read) is particularly full of theological and practical significance.

Question 3: Why did Jesus apparently threaten to move on? What does that say to us?

Not all the movement towards faith had to come from Jesus. The two disciples had to do something however slight to show that they were moving in heart and mind towards him. Exactly the same is true of us. We need to do something to show that faith is beginning to grow in our lives. It was only when Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, presumably using the same words and gestures he had used in the upper room, that they recognized him. But even as they saw who it was - were their mouths still wide open with shock - He disappeared.

Question 4: Why? Not why did they recognize him, that is pretty obvious, but why did he disappear at just that moment? Again, how does that translate into our experience, our lives?

John reported that Jesus said to Thomas “because you have seen me you have believed.; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus was following the principle behind that statement: faith is a matter of the will and conviction, without the simplicity of certain knowledge. Jesus constructed a situation that speaks directly to us many centuries later. We are to say “my Lord and my God” as Thomas did and will be even more blessed than he was.

Now we read Luke 24:36–49.

Question 5: What is the main thing Jesus stresses in both these appearances, and that Luke is careful to stress in his accounts? He is obviously giving us the strongest possible hint as to how the church is to act through the ages? How well do we apply this to our context?

Jesus explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself on the road to Emmaus and he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures as they sat and ate in the upper room. This website is full of teaching about the scriptures. That is totally deliberate – this is what we were instructed to do in these verses. The old book of Common Prayer says of the scriptures we are: to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. I can’t say it better than that!

Finally we read Luke 24:50–53.

Question 6: Why was the ascension important – couldn’t Jesus have just stopped appearing any more?

Jesus had to be seen to ascend to heaven where he would take his rightful place at the right hand of God, begin his rule as the Lord of all, and start his work of interceding for us as we struggle on here on earth. The Holy Spirit will come as Jesus said when he told them to “stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” He will have the power to enable us, you and me, to live the true life of the ages. Also this is the end of one great episode in the story of Redemption, the mission of Jesus, and the beginning of another, the mission of the Church.

Question 7: Why did Jesus leave them in the middle of blessing them? Can you see any long-term significance in that?

There is unfinished business to be done which they had to do from Jerusalem to the ends of their world and we have to do in our world! And so we come to the end of our long journey through this fascinating Gospel. May you have received as much joy and blessing in hearing and reading and thinking about these things as we have had in the preparation of these notes. We hope to do the same thing with the second volume of Luke’s – the Acts of the Apostles – we hope you will join us on our journey through that fascinating book. But before we sign off at the end of these notes here is a final question for you: we finished the last study with a challenge to you, particularly if you are not already a follower of Jesus, to think deeply about what you have heard. What conclusion did you come to? If, perhaps, you have decided to start following Jesus from this time on we would like to encourage you to tell someone else, probably another follower of Jesus, about your decision. Doing that will help to fix the decision firmly in its place – in your mind, the mind of others and above all in the mind of the Lord God. Another way of doing that would be through this website, but that is a weaker way because we are not close to you seeing you living day by day. Whatever you have decided and whatever happens from now on – may Jesus, the Lord, be with you and bless you. Amen.

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