1 Corinthians 10:13–Escaping Sin's Temptations

1 Corinthians 10:13–"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

At the onset two observations must be made.  First off, we should remember the beginning of this verse that there are no unique or new temptations.  We should, then, not spend too much effort focusing on the nature of our temptations, and we certainly should not allow ourselves to fall prey to the lie that no one else can "know what we're going through."  In truth, this sort of isolation will only end in our demise and the temptation's victory.

The second observation to be made about this verse is a simple, three-word phrase: God is faithful.  So much can be solved if we would only remember the reality of this statement.  If we would only place this at the centre of our lives we may find that it is true and provable not merely as a theological assertion but, much more so, it would proven true in our very own lives.

In addition to these, it would be lacking for me not to also point out one too-oft overlooked truth: temptation is not the same as sin.  Just because we are tempted should not dissuade our certainty about Christ's grace or God's justice.  There is purpose in temptation, namely that through temptation our righteousness, which is found solely in Christ, will be refined and made more sure.  The point is not that we are tempted but how we will handle those temptations when they arise.

But through all this, let us remember this:

God is faithful.

Amen.

Gal. 6:9–Let Us Not Cease in Doing Good

Galatians 6:9–"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

O how easy it is to grow weary in doing good!  But this weariness is a sufficient reason to cease in doing good. How often do we cease in writing a letter simply because our hands may feel sore, or do we easily stop comforting a friend because we may need a drink of water? No!  The test of our resolve, the crucible of our convictions is the lengths we will go to protect our faith when it is under fire.  Would a good gardener stop watering the seedlings because they do not sprout in day?  In the same way, we must persist in doing good, understanding that it is in our persistence that our conviction is refined and proven.

But praise be to God who does not let us alone in the process of doing good though we may grow weary!

Matthew 22:37–Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:37–"He said to them, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind."

Although I have written on this verse before, because it is such a foundational text I am going to look at it still.  But like an overflowing well we can go back to it again and again.  I only want to ask a simple albeit direct question today:

Why does God command this?

God does not need anything, and He most certainly does not need our love.  Furthermore, even in commanding it, He, being omniscient, had to have known that we would be unable or, at the very least, unwilling.  This leads to one logical conclusion:

God knew that we would need to love Him.

Consider that today, ponder it as you live life, thinking about how God created us needing to love Him. There is so much more to say about this but suffice for now to acknowledge that He did this by His good pleasure and will.  Therefore, let us strive to love God, not just because He commanded it but also because to love Him is, after all, the essence of our being.  To not love Him, then, would be like denying who we are in our core.  Let us simply turn to Him in love and adoration so as to keep our focus and our input right and in line with what God intended for us from the beginning.

God Unchanging

God unchanging.  Think about the reality of those two words.  In truth, none of us can accurately comprehend the truth of this, that God is, ultimately, immutable.  He does not bend or modify or shift or change.  He has no moods, no whims, no fancies, and most certainly no needs. This is so miraculously different than anything in ourselves that it is more than profound, it is devastating.

God unchanging.  This is not merely a statement about God's identity and character, but it also refers to everything that flows from Him and is revealed to us.  In other terms, the Truth of God is as eternal as the God from whom they flow.  The Word is as unchanging as the One who spoke it into being.

God unchanging.  At this point we run into the Incarnate God, Christ Jesus.  He is described as developing in the human sense (Luke 1:80; 2:40, 52).  But does this mean that Jesus is changeable how we might think of change?  Certainly not!  Christ Jesus, the Incarnate God, grew and developed as a man, but not as God.  The very fact of the incarnation meant that God emptied Himself as certain aspects of His divinity in order to take on the form of man and go through the natural processes of being a man in physical/mental/emotional growth and development–all while maintaining His essential God-ness.

God unchanging.  Considering how quickly each of us will change our minds from moment to moment, worshiping a God who is immovable and unchanging is not only a terrifying thought; it is an outright offensive necessity.  We need God to be unchanging because we are so not. In order for Him to be our Rock and our Fortress He has to be utterly and infinitely stable.

So: Praise be to God for He is unchanging!

Ex. 3:14; 1 Sam 15:29, Mal 3:6, Rom 11:29, Titus 1:2, Heb 6:18, Jas 1:17

1 Cor. 15:17-19–If Christ Has Not Been Raised

1 Corinthians 15:17-19–"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  In in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied."

Christianity is based supremely upon Christ's resurrection.  And when we speak of His resurrection, we do not mean His resurrection in a spiritual sense but His bodily, historical resurrection.  It is thus of extreme importance that we would always remember that our faith is based on the reality of Christ's resurrection, and our assuredness arises out of the event's historical veracity.  This is why Paul can speak so candidly about the necessity of Christ's resurrection being a real, historic event.  For if Christ has not raised from the dead then we are hopeless but, even more than that, we are the most to be pitied!

But praise be to God who raised His Son from the grave, saving us from our sin!

Glory to God

Without getting too deep today, let us take a moment to speak of the glory of God.  The glory of God is one of the central figures in Holy Scripture.  But it is also one the most misconceived theological concepts.  In the the most plain terms, the glory of God is the functionining processes of His holiness.  Or, with less flourish, God's glory is the representation of His holiness.  Every aspect and attribute of God exudes from His holiness and His infinitude.  

God is holy.  This means, among many things, that God is perfectly pure and entirely other; or, in other words, He is unlike us.  And it is from his Divine Otherness that He creates and sustains by the power of His Word.  This 'active step,' so to speak, is His glory; it is the evidence of His holiness.  Because He is holy, His glory comes out.  In a sense, His glory derives from God from His holiness, and it is from seeing His glory that we can assess and recognize His holiness.

There is a direct correlation between His infinite holiness and his glory much as the connection between the bulb and the light that pours forth from it: the light is evidence is the affect of the bulb's being just as the bulb's being as a giver of light is reflected in whether light comes from it or not.  Therefore, God's glory must properly begin with Hos holiness, otherwise we run risk of naturally supplanting His holiness with our own in the presence of His glory.  Needless to say, this is a counterfeit understanding of God just as it is a simple case of odplatry of self, and neither are acceptable in worship before the holy Lord.

Let us, then, always bow in penitent reverence before God when we encounter His glory, understanding that it is ultimately before His holiness that we fall prostrate.  And amen that it should be so!

Matt. 5:34-35–Love Your Enemy

Matthew 5:34-35–"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

This is one of the many offensive statements Jesus makes, exhorting us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.  It would seem that Jesus expects a totally different sort of ethic for Christians, an altogether other way to live life and relate to those around us.  Needless to say, to love your enemy is hard enough but to pray for those who would persecute us–well, that is just plain ridiculous.  However, Jesus doesn't end there: He follows that statement up with another bomb–so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  In a real sense, Jesus is indicating that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us in order that we may be sons of our heavenly Father; as in, it is through our love that our parentage is proven or made secure.  Let us, then, take this exhortation as seriously as it is given so as to make our election and our inheritance sure.