The Firsts: I Peter 1 – Application

Posted on March 27, 2019 | Leave a comment

NLT 1 Peter 1:1 This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.  I am writing to God’s chosen people… who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.  2…May God give you more and more grace and peace…3… Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay…8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls… 10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you…12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

I’ve learned these first chapters of Bible are like pieces of a patchwork quilt for “God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners.”  Chapters that are separate and often unique somehow fit together to become an image of Christ so “you love him even though you have never seen him.  Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”  

Each of these chapters are pieces of a quilt meant to become a beautiful and useful part of your “priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” The author’s “messages were not for themselves, but for you” spoken by “those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven” 

These first chapters are their God-given record of their relationship to God through Jesus.  That record is their application; exactly what God intended His book should teach us.  Application is where the power of the Bible lies.  Our personal application is pieced together from each of these individual chapters God has given us to complete our transformation.  “The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”

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The Firsts: James 1 – Words as Worship

Posted on March 24, 2019 | Leave a comment

NIV 1:26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Not all words are reliable evidence of truth.  What is true is that our words as believers count as evidence of our relationship to Jesus and that requires we “keep a tight rein on [our] tongues.”  James was writing to people just like us who struggle with the temptation to waste our words as weapons to wound or masks to hide behind.

Weaponized words to hide behind are everywhere today.  They’re one of the easiest ways we can be “polluted by the world.” This is James urgent reminder to us that our words are part of our worship.  The words we speak every day have an impact on Jesus’s reputation as as surely as those we speak in church on Sunday.  William Barclay says it this way “…worship is empty and idle unless it sends a man out to love God by loving his fellow-men and to walk more purely in the tempting ways of the world.”

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” [NLT Micah 6:8].  

Those are God’s words.  Amen.

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The Firsts: Hebrews 1 – Inheritance

Posted on March 20, 2019 | Leave a comment

NLT Hebrews 1:1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.  And now in these final days…he has spoken to us through his Son.”  This is it folks, the absolute truth that has lasted through such a long history that it’s beyond our calculation of time.  Christ is “the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised.” [Hebrews 9:15]  

God has promised you a changed life for today and an inheritance for all eternity.  We have this inheritance because “in these final days, he [God] has spoken to us through his Son” not because of all the do’s, dont’s, could’s and should’s we cling to.  “When he [Christ] “cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven” to celebrate your inheritance with you…got it?

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The Firsts: Philemon 1 – Grace and Freedom

Posted on March 17, 2019 | Leave a comment

NASB Philemon 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake.9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,
16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Philemon is clearly the wronged party in this story of slavery and freedom.  The slave Onesimus has effectively stolen his “property” simply by running away from him.  Onesimus ran away hoping to find freedom in the crowded city of Rome. God had a different plan to teach him about a different kind of freedom from a man “now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”  The Apostle Paul writes of “my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment.” Onesimus found his freedom in the faith of Christ from a man in chains.

God led Onesimus to Paul in that crowded city.  It was receiving grace and freedom that made it possible for him to return to the master he’d run away from.  It was receiving grace and freedom that made it possible for Philemon to accept Paul’s word that Onesimus has become part of the fellowship of faith and “more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.  

What began as a story of slavery and freedom God turned into a blessing of grace and freedom for both Philemon and Onesimus.  

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The Firsts: Titus 1 – Practice Purity

Posted on March 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,…15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.  In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. [NIV]

The life in which Jesus has chosen to live again for the world to see is ours!      “The hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” is critical to our life today because “to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.”  The conscious need of those who love Jesus to practice purity in their daily life is the hope of a transformed world view!

We live in a world where we are bombarded on almost every front by impurity and yet the Apostle calls us “to be pure.”  Life in Christ as William Barclay says, is “the offer of God’s power for our frustration, of God’s serenity for our dispeace, of God’s truth for our guessing, of God’s goodness for our moral failure, of God’s joy for our sorrow…we can do nothing except receive.”  

“Now at his appointed season he [God] has brought to light” the reality of our need for purity. Mark 7:15 says “It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.[NLT]”  Isolation isn’t the answer to fighting the impurity of the world around us; choosing to live in Christ and practice purity in it is!  We have Jesus, we have the wisdom of the Scripture, we have the promises of God, and most practical of all we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us practice purity.  Practice makes perfect.

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The Firsts: II Timothy 1 – Fly!

Posted on March 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,… 3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day…. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you… 13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Long before I recognized Jesus as “Savior” I believed he was the Son of God.  Those two things are very different but even in those early days I knew enough to ask: “how can you overcome that life teaches you to build a protective shell around yourself?”  That reminded me of this short video.  It’s a visual picture of what’s at the heart of evangelism; the desire to nurture the vulnerability of new life with “the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.“ It’s also a lesson about what the heart of an evangelist looks like; prepared, persistent and present.

Do you remember when you were freed from your protective shell you were stuck in?  Do you remember how helpless and exposed you felt? Was there an “evangelist” who maybe looked like a neighbor or friend who was prepared to nourish you with their “prayers night and day…by the will of God…according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus?”  Maybe today, you’ll have the chance to be an evangelist for someone longing to break out of their shell. This is your reminder: “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you… Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard…” Fly!

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The Firsts: I Timothy 1 – Victory

Posted on March 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

MSG 8-11 It’s true that moral guidance and counsel need to be given, but the way you say it and to whom you say it are as important as what you say. It’s obvious, isn’t it, that the law code isn’t primarily for people who live responsibly, but for the irresponsible, who defy all authority, riding roughshod over God, lif, sex, truth, whatever! They are contemptuous of this great Message I’ve been put in charge of by this great God.

This is probably the toughest “first” chapter so far for me.  I struggle with the use of the law.  I want to understand the law as a standard for correction that results in the victory of restoration not a cattle-prod of control but when push comes to shove that’s pretty hard to live out. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “hate the sin but love the sinner.”  That’s the ideal.  That’s easy to believe but that’s also where all the confusion about the use of the law comes into play.   

I found this quote in a commentary: “The demands of the law exceed our ability, and the knowledge of our sin that comes from these demands leads us to repentance.”  That quote revealed some truth to me about my use of the law.  My limited ability to understand the use of the law is as big an issue for me as it is for that sinner.  The reality is the sin the law reveals in someone else has an impact on me.  My response to the law and that sinner makes their sin my issue.  God has planned for the law to correct the sinner, but wait…there’s more.  The revelation of their sin that’s meant to lead their sinful heart to repentance and the use of “that moral guidance and counsel needed” that  “exceeds” my ability…is meant to change my heart too.  The law is not “us versus them.”  Repentance for the inability of my heart to empathize with the needs of another heart is the victory God desires from His law.  Lord, work that victory out in me too please.

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The Firsts: II Thessalonians 1 – Simple Addition

Posted on March 3, 2019 | Leave a comment

TLB 
11 And so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you the kind of children he wants to have—will make you as good as you wish you could be!—rewarding your faith with his power.

MSG
11 …we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something.

NIV 
11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.

God + Prayer = You
– as good as you wish you could be 
– fit for what he’s called you to be 
– made worthy of his calling
– with faith rewarded with his power
– with good ideas and acts of faith filled with his own energy
– with every desire for goodness and deeds prompted by faith brought to fruition

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The Firsts: I Thessalonians 1 – Following the Footnotes

Posted on February 27, 2019 | Leave a comment

Grace to you and peace.
V3 constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and [perseverance]steadfastness of hope [of]in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4 knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; 
V5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we [became]proved to be among you for your sake. 
V9 For they themselves report about us what kind of a [entrance]reception we had [to]with you, and how you turned to God from [the]idols to serve [the]a living and true God, 
V10 and to wait for His Son from [the heavens]heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

Footnotes are used to by translators to give more definition to a translated word or phrase.  There are eight footnotes listed in this short chapter of 10 verses. That was an emphasis that interested me so I read them substituting the dictionary definitions of the translators [footnotes].  They did just what the translators had hoped.

MY THOUGHTS: 
V3 Look at how our persistence to find hope is changed by that small change of the preposition from in to [of].  It’s Jesus’ own hope for us and his presence with God that makes our persistence and hope real and of value.
V5 ends with the footnote explanation of the reality that even the great Apostle Paul was a work in process.  Everywhere he went was still another beginning to be the person God had created him to be among the people God has placed him with.  Isn’t that the reality of what God expects of us: to “become” together? 
V9 We might believe circumstance is just a random force that life throws at us but in reality circumstance is the new access God provides to reveal to us the reality of the difference between the true God and the idols that constantly distract us.
V10 God knows about access!  He speaks with a power only he possesses from his own center of sovereignty to resurrect us from an ordinary life to new access..

There’s a theme here you may have picked up on; the movement of life and circumstance.  It could go either way.  It can be the very opportunity of new growth or it can be the dismal sense that change is just all about loss.  I’m late in posting this Wednesday because we’ve just moved.  You talk about a change in circumstance.  Everything about moving is like putting your faith in what you can’t possibly know but you’re filled with hope.  That’s followed by arriving at the new plaoce and discovering chaos has followed you and all your efforts at control and organization are overcome by the reality of all that “new.”  New chaos is just as exhausting as old chaos but now you’re in a place where you are reminded that God really has resurrected you from what you thought was a normal life to the access of new…again.

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The Firsts: Colossians 1 – Sacramental Personality

Posted on February 24, 2019 | Leave a comment

📌 NIV 9…We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives…
📌 NLT 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.
📌 NLT 28…perfect [or mature] in [your] relationship to Christ.  

It’s interesting that Paul’s long ago words are prayers of encouragement from an old friend I’ve never even met.  There’s another complete stranger who’s become a friend over the years too: Oswald Chambers.  His book My Utmost for His Highest has been a meaningful companion to my life of faith for almost 40 years now.  That’s pretty notable considering it’s “just” a 365-day devotional.  It’s online, free and most importantly a searchable resource.  [https://utmost.org]

Here are two perspectives from Chamber’s writing on Colossians 1 that directed my own thoughts.
📌 [9/30] sacramental personality.
📌 [11/9] If we preach the effects of Redemption in human life instead of the revelation regarding Jesus, the result in those who listen is not new birth, but refined spiritual culture

Jesus is our redemption. Our salvation is the revelation of him and that changes our heart and mind about many things. In my own experience as dramatic as that revelation is it doesn’t automatically change the habits of personality.  I think what Oswald Chambers calls sacramental personality is exactly what Paul is addressing here. Sacramental personality is letting the transformation of that revelation to your heart and mind reveal itself in your personality too.  That’s why Paul prays for “God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.”

Sacramental personality is our post-redemption challenge. It’s pretty easy to get comfortable with the assurance of your salvation and end up finding you’re only part of the “refined spiritual culture.”  It’s very easy to excuse personality issues as “it’s just the way I am.” Jesus has done his part, he’s changed your heart and mind. You now belong to him but your personality is where you begin to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” That’s why Paul reminds us “we also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need” to be ”perfect [or mature] in [your] relationship to Christ.

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