“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” ~ 1 Peter 1:18-19
“Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.” ~ 1 Corinthians 7:23
Of the many things we can learn from our text, here are two brief points to ponder:
First, we can’t return something bought with blood. Salvation was bought for us by the precious Blood of Christ: Jesus died to save us. If someone dies to give you a gift, then you can’t take that gift back to the ‘store’ and ask for the cash value.
Therefore, if we have truly accepted God’s Gift of Salvation, bought by The Blood of The Lamb, then it is ours forever.
Second, If traditions can’t save us, then traditions can’t keep us saved. We don’t gain Salvation by cultural practices: by following traditions. Therefore, we don’t have to worry about keeping up appearances, we don’t have to do things simply because that is how they were always done.
Our only concern is our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ and how that relationship guides how we treat others.
For example, if we go to church merely out of tradition then it is meaningless. If church attendance doesn’t save us then church attendance won’t keep us saved. If tithing doesn’t save us, then tithing won’t keep us saved. Whatever we do then must be done because of our relationship with God and NOT because of tradition.
“Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” ~ Matthew 5:42
“Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.” ~ Luke 6:30
One of the hallmarks of a Believer is his/her attitude to giving. Our normal, human tendency is to focus on getting/receiving for ourselves, our families and/or our communities. Therefore, we often make decisions based on what we can get out of the outcome. Even in the church, many preachments today center on what we can get from God rather than on what we should give to God.
In contrast, Jesus teaches us to concentrate our efforts on giving. And, in giving, not to be concerned about the qualities of the receiver: “Give to EVERY man that asketh of thee”.
Notice in our text that the qualities of the receiver are not mentioned. Jesus never said give to every ‘good’ man or every ‘worthy’ man or even every ‘poor’ man. And that is because giving is never about the receiver; rather, giving is about the giver.
Giving to others, especially when you don’t have much for yourself, requires faith. As Jesus pointed out, the widow had great faith because she gave out of her poverty, while others just gave out of their wealth (Luke 21:1-5).
Giving, sharing with others the little we have, requires us to depend on God to supply our needs. It means that we have placed our security, our future well being in His hands. It means that we truly believe Him when he says He will take care of all our needs (Matthew 6:9-34).
In addition to our attitude to God, giving also reveals our attitude to our brothers/sisters. Giving shows that we value their well being even more than our own. It is the characteristic sign of selflessness. Giving when we don’t even have much to give means that we are willing to secure someone else’s future before we secure our own; that we will put them in the lifeboat, while we stand on the sinking ship.
There my friends are the real challenges; despite our many excuses the real reasons that we have so much trouble giving is that our faith in God is weak. We are not so sure He will see us through the storms of life, so we accumulate the biggest safety nets our consciences afford us. Likewise, we are often not convinced that our brother/sister deserves to be honored above us. Why should we be concerned enough about his security to risk our own?
So when Jesus challenged us to give freely, He was also challenging us to grow in faith in God and to grow in love for our brethren.
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” ~ Galatians 6:2
“Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” ~ Ecclesiastes 11:1
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” ~ Galatians 6:2
Picture taken from ArtBible
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
These words speak as loudly today as they did to the church at Corinth. The fallen nature of man runs counter to the love of God. It is only when we receive the love of God through the shed blood of Jesus that we can even begin to comprehend love.
God’s love is transforming and pure. It is the kind of love that strips itself of its own rights, bends low and washes the feet of those who are to be served. This love, in honor, prefers others before self.
It is patient in all circumstances and doesn’t take offence when slighted either intentionally or unintentionally. Oh, that this kind of love would transform out hearts today!
Let us, the church, demonstrate this kind of love at large.
Love out loud!
Speak loving words followed up with acts of kindness. Let the God kind of love pour out into all our relationships so that the world may know the love of God.
LORD, let Your love be our heart’s song today for Your glory in Christ Jesus, Your love letter sent to us. Amen!
“The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” ~ Lamentations 3:25-26
As a species, we do not enjoy waiting. The term “waiting room” evokes images of tense, bored, uneasy strangers drinking bad coffee, waiting in silence for some dreaded news. We dislike waiting in lines, waiting for our food to be cooked, waiting for our colds to go away.
In response to this, clever entrepreneurs are forever inventing new ways of reducing our waiting times and pandering to our need for speed: faster internet, faster food, faster cars, faster remedies for ailments of all kinds.
“I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.” ~ Psalms 69:3
The result: we are more anxious, more busy, and more unhappy with each passing year.
It’s no surprise to me that playing in to our desire for instant gratification leads to no lasting satisfaction, because waiting is invariably a part of the world that God created. In the cold of winter, we have no choice but to wait for spring. The time of harvest can only come after the planting, weeding, and waiting of summer.
Anyone who has ever lost patience and pulled an unripe apple off the tree knows firsthand the price of being too hasty. All things have been appointed a time to begin, a time to grow, and a time to be fruitful. This is an inescapable reality of our world, regardless of how inventive we get with altering our environments or distracting our minds.
“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.” ~ Psalm 123:2
So when it comes to our minds and hearts, this truth carries still. We were designed with waiting in mind; it is part of the discipline of surrendering our will to His, of trusting Him even when He works outside of our expectations. And because waiting is a part of the world God created, it will inevitably be a part of our relationship with him.
“Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” ~ Psalm 25:5
The word “wait” is found over a hundred times in the Bible, and the concept of waiting on the Lord is consistently woven into it from Genesis to Revelation. Even when God offers a standing promise, there is invariably a wait of some kind in store before the promise is realized.
Noah worked on his boat for a century before the rain began to fall.
Moses had to wander with the faithless Israelites in the desert for 40 years.
Prophets foretold the coming Messiah for hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth;
…and 2000 years later we are waiting again for His return. The world has no patience for this kind of thing; and even though God’s Word assures us that waiting is part of His plan, it can be hard to stand by while the world races ahead without us.
“Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.” ~ Proverbs 20:22
“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:5
But there is something that happens during the waiting that is of inestimable value to God. We learn that He is always with us, even when we can’t see Him; not as a Sunday School maxim, but in a way that is real and meaningful to each individual. We learn that waiting actually won’t kill us, that there is strength and peace and growth during the slow times, though we most often don’t realize this until hindsight lends its perspective.
There is a quality to waiting that is very much a part of God’s nature; and no other method can help us to recognize, appreciate, and cultivate that quality in our own lives.
“And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” ~ Isaiah 30:18
Another often overlooked quality of waiting is in how it relates to prayer. In church we are taught to pray for our needs and wants. We know that faith is an important factor (Matthew 9:29, 13:58), as well as persistence (Luke 18:4-6), but we’ve all learned that wanting something really badly or asking repetitively is not a sure-fire way of getting what we’ve requested.
What is often not taught these days is that once the prayer has been made, the next step is simply to wait. God may answer “Yes,” or He may answer “No;” but He rarely answers in a hurry.
Sometimes the answer is found in the wait itself; the desire or need may fade or change as you wait on God, and a new provision you could not have anticipated may arise – just in time to meet a need you didn’t know you had! Sometimes it simply takes a while to be sure we are hearing God’s voice.
God promises that He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:4-6), and He often does so with a quiet voice (I Kings 19:11-13, Isaiah 30:21). How can we hear that voice if we’re so busy clamoring for attention, or distracting ourselves from the problems?
“Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” ~ Micah 7:7
And then there are the times in life where it seems God is not hearing us. Troubles come, and our ever-loving Father seems nowhere to be found. The pressures and fears of life build and build until we reach our breaking point – and keep on building! We hear no directions, we feel no peace, and our souls grow weary of watching and waiting for a salvation that never reaches us, even when perfect opportunities for release tantalize and taunt us like mirages in the desert.
All of God’s children experience them, to some degree or another. Deserts are the ultimate lesson in waiting, because the waiting is the entire point. No amount of hoping, praying, enduring, or trying on our part will shorten the duration; it will only end when God’s will in us is accomplished. And the purpose of the desert is to take us beyond ourselves, to dry up our every resource and and strength within ourselves, to root out every bit of pride and self-sufficiency until we are left with none but Him.
Our stubbornness in this area cannot be underestimated; when faced with adversity, we will hold on to the hope that we can “get through it” for an unbelievably long time. God is more than willing to wait us out, because He knows we cannot truly grow in Him so long as we are trusting in ourselves. Time for Him is a useful tool through which we learn lessons that cannot be learned effectively otherwise.
“Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.” ~ Psalm 37:34
“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.” ~ Psalms 130:5-6
Since waiting is such an essential element of our walk with God, it is no surprise that the Bible is full of the subject. What amazes me is how much encouragement it seeks to instill in us. Over and over we are told that waiting is a good thing, that it is rewarded by a patient Father who sees all we go through and is conscientious enough not to forget our pains and struggles.
He knows we do not like to wait, and He delights in making it a fruitful blessing. He is a master at turning the evil designs of the enemy into an opportunity for eventual victory for His children and glory for Himself. And no one is better at exacting justice than He (Romans 12:19). In all of this, the glory is given to God, not to our own stick-to-it attitude; and we are once again blessed in being the vehicle through which God’s glory is recognized.
Waiting is a wonderful thing!
“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” ~ Isaiah 64:4
Nothing impresses me more than the book of Lamentations. To understand the conquering of Jerusalem and the captivity of Israel is not hard to imagine in a post-9/11 world: the degradation and humiliation would be similar to having one’s home nation overrun and decimated by enemies.
The few brief chapters of Lamentations captures the agony of such a defeat, as well as the bitterness of knowing that they are being treated according to their faithlessness towards God.
But, interspersed through the wailing voice of loss, there are passages that remind us of God’s goodness, faithfulness, and patience. While He is not above using a rod to chastise His children, He is also willing and eager to heal and restore. God never allows evil to come into our lives without also planning ahead for the blessing and richness He will restore to us when His purpose is fulfilled. All we have to do is trust; and leave room for waiting.
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” ~ Psalm 27:14
“M” is for the million things she gave me,
“O” means only that she’s growing old,
“T” is for the tears she shed to save me,
“H” is for her heart of purest gold;
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER”… A word that means the world to me.
~Anonymous
“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.” ~ Proverbs 31:10, 27-28
“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” ~ Luke 9:23-24
“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” ~ Galatians 5:24
Today’s text is a well-known passage of Scripture. Yet, it bears some re-examination because there is always more we can learn from God’s Word.
Perhaps the most stark/bracing section of Jesus’ words, in the text, are the requirements for discipleship. Specifically, a disciple must do three (somewhat) sequential steps:
Deny self
Take up his/her cross daily
Follow Jesus
For whatever reason, our minds usually ‘zero in’ on the third step, which by itself is quite a challenge. However, before we can even get to following Jesus we must start with the first two steps.
DENY SELF
This FIRST step is, in our modern society, is both profound and counter-instinctive. Self denial means a refusal to give in to one’s desires. It means that when personal desires, wants, ambitions, aspirations present themselves that we we ‘look the other way’; it means a refusal to focus on self at all.
This concept is sometimes applied by individuals today, for example: the student who studies instead of partying; the dieter who forgoes pastries; the parent who attends to a child’s needs instead of their own.
However, the self-denial of a disciple differs in that there is no TANGIBLE reward.
The student’s self-denial produces a MEASURABLE gain in knowledge. The dieter’s self-denial produces a MEASURABLE loss of pounds/flesh. The parent’s self-denial produces a MEASURABLE gain in their child’s well-being/happiness.
In contrast, a disciple’s self-denial will NOT produce a humanly MEASURABLE gain in his/her lifetime. For example, at the end of John’s life he was an exile in the small prison island of Patmos; at the end of Paul’s life he was a repeat offender with multiple convictions, for some of which he received beatings. Indeed, as Scripture tells us:
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
The disciple is challenged to deny him/herself for an unseen, intangible reward given posthumously.
Nevertheless, (despite its challenges) the emphasis is on the act of denying self. The disciple cannot follow Jesus without first denying his/her self. If we are preoccupied with our wants or needs we cannot follow Jesus. If we are fulfilling our ambitions, we cannot follow Jesus. If we are driven in any way by SELF-fulfillment or SELF-actualization we cannot follow Jesus. if we are ‘taking care of number one’ we cannot follow Jesus. The first step of the disciple is becoming not about the disciple.
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY
The SECOND step is perhaps even more incredulous than the first. Let us remind ourselves that carrying The Cross was a means of torture. It was part of the crucifixion process. Carrying the heavy cross was a means of exhausting the victim so that he would die more quickly after, later, being nailed to it and hoisted on it.
Jesus, therefore, is instructing those who want to be His disciples to accept the difficulties, God lays out for them, even as Jesus Himself accepted The Cross that God chose for Him to bear on our behalf.
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” ~ Isaiah 40:31
There are difficulties and challenges, trials and tests, that God puts in our lives; and we are instructed not to run away from them, not to complain about them (not to focus on self), but rather to take them on. Yes, He wants us to shoulder those burdens even though they EXHAUST us.
Ask Paul, beatings and imprisonings are exhausting (2 Corinthians 11).
Training your children in the WORD is exhausting. Living by faith is exhausting.
Taking care of aging/sick parents is exhausting.
Taking care of a disabled child is exhausting.
Living within your means is exhausting.
Making hard choices is exhausting.
Resisting temptation is exhausting.
Gracefully, sharing the Gospel with unbelievers is exhausting.
Always, standing up for what is right is exhausting.
Forgiving those who have wronged us, over and over and over again, is EXHAUSTING.
Admitting our own wrongdoing and asking for forgiveness is EXHAUSTING!
And you have to do it EVERY LIVING day! Everyday, everyday, the disciple is required to accept the challenges, the difficulties, the tests and the trials God presents to him/her.
Why? Why? WHY?
Because it is God’s intent to KILL us, to put us to death! So that Christ can live in and through us!
As Scripture reminds us:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” ~ Galatians 2:20
The trials we face, the cross we must carry daily, are meant to free us from the vestiges of the sinful nature that so often entraps us. And so the trials, if we face them–the cross, if we carry it daily–give us hope; hope that that new life in Christ will become ever more a reality for us.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” ~ James 1:2-4
FOLLOW JESUS
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” ~ 1 Peter 2:21
This is the final step. Much has been and will be written/said about following Jesus. However, here we want to focus on the fact that it is the third step for anyone who wants to be Jesus’ disciple. It is a crucial inescapable step, but it comes after two preceding steps.
The point is this: we struggle with following Jesus because we try to put this step first; indeed we often try to ignore the other steps altogether. But we cannot follow Jesus if we are preoccupied with our selves, our own agendas. Likewise we cannot follow Jesus if we fail to accept the challenges/trials God puts in our lives.
The extent to which we focus on Jesus exclusively and the extent to which we accept the road God has set before us, will determine the extent to which we are able to follow Jesus.
Runners in a race (e.g., at the Olympics) first focus on the goal, they empty their minds of everything else. They accept the course they have to run, for they have no other way to reach their goal. THEN, ONLY THEN, are they ready to run the race.
If we intend to be disciples of Jesus, we must do the same.
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” ~ 1 Peter 2:24
This verse makes the crucial point that salvation is not an end in itself. That is, the point of salvation is not just that we are saved. Rather, the point of salvation is that we should “live unto righteousness”.
When Jesus bore our sins on The Cross, He was making a way for us to LIVE (walk) in a right relationship with God our Father. Jesus didn’t die just to give us ‘safety’ for the future. Jesus died to died to give us life in the now.
Let us note also that the verse does NOT say ‘exist in’ righteousness. Hence, to “live unto righteousness” requires deliberation; it requires effort; it is expressed in our choices; it means seeking out THE better way; it is more than a state of being; it is action.
Therefore, Salvation is so much more than a “get out of hell free card”. Salvation is so much more than “fire insurance”. Salvation is EMPOWERMENT!!!
Lastly, our text makes a curious link between salvation and “health”. Note the use of the colon after righteousness. The last clause (“by whose stripes ye were healed”) is, therefore, an explanation of the preceding statement.
In other words, the healing Scripture talks about is the healing that comes from righteousness. Before salvation we are broken, diseased, sin-sick. We were so debilitated by sin that it was impossible to serve God. Salvation heals our sin-sickness: it makes us whole, so that we can “live unto righteousness”.
Therefore, the great message of Salvation is the call to healing/wholeness, not of body but of spirit. Give your lives to Jesus, He wants to heal your broken spirit, He wants to make you whole, SO that you can serve God, so that you can “live unto righteousness”. Hallelujah!!!
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” ~ Romans 6:23
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” ~ John 3:16-17
Paul presents vivid contrasts in this short little verse:
Two masters – sin and God.
Two methods – wages and free gift.
Two results – death and eternal life.
We know from Scripture that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Now God could have just left us in this terrible predicament of being lost and on our way to hell, He was under no obligation whatsoever to rescue us.
But, out of His great love and mercy, God The Father sent Jesus The Son to this earth to shed His blood for our sins. So that by simply placing our faith in Christ and His blood for the forgiveness of our sins we are saved eternally!
There is no work we can do for our salvation, Jesus did the only work that God will ever accept on the cross at Calvary. Scripture tells us
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” ~ Ephesians 2:8-9
And
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” ~ Romans 5:8-9
Eternal life is IN the person of Jesus Christ, all who are in Him are saved eternally. It is as simple as that!
God has not made it complicated, only mankind has tried to do that by attaching works to salvation. That was not God’s doing, but humans and their own ideas of what it takes to be saved and in Christ.
The entirety of Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus did it all, nothing needs to be added to it, His grace is sufficient for ALL!
Thank You my wonderful Lord Jesus for coming to this earth and dying for my sin. You are such a loving Master and full of mercy, grace, and love. I love You so my Redeemer and give You all praise this day, Amen!
‘Ye that love the LORD, hate evil BECAUSE He preserveth the souls of His saint, BECAUSE He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.’
In short, God is actively protecting us from the influence and consequence of evil in the world around us. Therefore, if we love anything that is evil we are striving against God’s work in our lives. That is, we are holding on to evil instead of allowing God to eliminate its influence from our lives.
This is a crucial point for Believers to grasp and understand. Our love for things of the world stunts our growth.
Why do we mature so slowly?
Why are we covering the same ground without making much progress?
Why are we struggling with the same issues year after year?
Our text gives us the answer: we love ungodly things and so we are working against God, instead of *with* God.
In closing, here are some Biblical examples to consider:
David’s spiritual growth was limited by lust.
Solomon’s spiritual growth was frustrated by fear (he acquired many of his wives as part of peace treaties with neraby nations, despite God’s promise to protect him).
Jacob’s spiritual growth was abated by his ambition: his willingness to accomplish his goals by trickery/deception.
Jonah’s spiritual growth was held back by his hate of the Ninevites.
Let us learn from these examples. Let us examine ourselves in the Light of God’s Word to see what evil thing we might be holding onto. Let us learn to hate everything, every attitude, every mindset that is against God. For we must reject evil before we can work WITH God on becoming the BEST we can be. God wants to take the influence of evil away from our lives so that we can flourish, let’s work WITH Him.
Reflections in The WORD 