Do Not Fear, Only Believe

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Pete

They were the words he had hoped he would never hear. The words he had done everything he could think of to avoid. He would give up everything, even his good standing among the religious elite, if could only find something that would prevent those words from being spoken. And so, this elder in the local synagogue publicly broke with the scribes and the Pharisees and fell at the feet of Jesus and begged Him for help.

“My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”

(Mark 5:23b ESV)

But despite his desperation, despite his best efforts, despite risking his reputation among those who wielded power in his religious world, he still heard the words, “Your daughter is dead” (Mark 5:35).

And I’m chewing on what was going through the mind of Jairus, one of the rulers in the synagogue, as he processed those words. As he took in what he heard and tried to make sense of them in light of what he had just seen.

Jairus was quickly leading Jesus, along with the crowd that thronged around Jesus, to his house to save his daughter. And then Jesus stopped. Just stopped. As in, He wasn’t advancing toward the sick little girl anymore. Instead, the Man who was his last hope turned about in the crowd and asked, “Who touched My garments?”

What? He couldn’t be serious! With all the people pressing around Him who was He looking for? And how long would He delay in order to find that person?

And then she stepped forward. The women who had touched Jesus’s garment. The woman who had suffered with a chronic condition for over 12 years. The woman who had heard about Jesus. The woman who believed that if she could just touch the hem of His garment it would be enough to heal her and do what scores of physicians had failed to do. The woman who ultimately delayed Jesus from rushing to the side of Jairus’ daughter.

And Jairus had seen her come forward. He had heard her testimony of being made well by just reaching out her hand to touch Jesus. And had heard Jesus say to her, “Daughter, your faith had made you well; go in peace . . . ” (5:34).

Jairus had seen a miracle. But then, he heard those words he never wanted to hear, “Your daughter is dead.”

Overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

(Mark 5:36 ESV)

Jairus had seen the Master’s power in the woman healed. But he had also heard the dreaded words from his daughter’s bedside. “Why trouble the Teacher any further?” the bearers of bad news asked. Good question. And I can imagine Jairus being uncertain what to do. Rend his garments, fall in the dust, and try and deal with his broken heart right there and then, or keep going with Jesus? The fear of failure could have been paralyzing.

Isn’t that how fear works? The unknown has a way of making things unsure. The dread of confronting what we sought to avoid can cause us to curl up in a corner. But Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.” Believe in Me. Believe that I’ve got this, regardless of how it turns out. The faith you had when you came running to Me is the faith that will sustain you as you follow Me. For I AM the antidote for fear.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

(1John 4:18 ESV)

Jairus heard those words he worked so hard to avoid hearing. But he believed and kept going with Jesus. He walked by faith and found that fear became less of a factor.

And after hearing words he never wanted to hear, he went home and saw something he never thought he’d see, and heard other words he could never have imagined hearing, “Little girl, arise” (5:41).

Because of God’s grace. All for God’s glory.

Posted in Mark | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mouths Wide Open

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Pete

Like an old, familiar friend it jumps off the page this morning. That’s the beauty of God’s enabling to read through the Bible each year — you’re never more than 365 days away from old friends. From familiar passages made familiar again. From truths, subject to fading memory, brought back into focus. From admonitions which have a way of keeping things on track. From encouragement desperately needed to stay in the game and keep running the race. From life-giving promises connecting you anew to the life-giving Promise Giver.

Like encountering an old friend, a promise and I pick up from where we left off last year. No small talk. Just getting down to the heart of things. My soul revived as my lack of faith is rebuked. My weakness shored up by His power. Experiencing a peace that passes understanding because of a God who continually makes Himself known. Lips, naturally pursed because of life’s stresses, supernaturally loosened as they give way to a mouth wide open.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

(Psalm 81:10 ESV)

The songwriter had just warned his listeners about looking for love in all the wrong places (81:8-9). He had admonished God’s people to keep their distance from “strange gods”; to beware of bowing down to “foreign gods.” Whatever itch they thought they had that only idols could scratch was a lie. A gaze-averting, life-draining, soul-starving lie.

The God of their deliverance from slavery was the God who could amply supply all their needs. The God who had shown His might by breaking the chains of bondage was the God who had the power to deliver water from the rock and bread from heaven. The God who promised to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey was the God who also promised to sustain them as they sojourned in the desert.

All that they needed to bring to the table was a mouth wide open.

Their head’s tilted toward heaven, directed to things above and not things of this earth. Their gazed fixed on the Sovereign who is seen only with the eye of faith, fully convinced that God is able to do what He has promised. Their pursed lips loosening as a belief response to the reminder that if God is for us, who, or what, can be against us? Their mouths coming wide open knowing again that if the God who did not spare His own Son gave His own Son up for us all, “how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).

Read that again: He is ready to “graciously give us all things!” Believe it again!  And assume the position. Mouths wide open!

No one can fill us like the Father. Nothing satisfies like the Savior. No spring quenches the thirst like the Spirit.

Ours is to stop looking for love in all the wrong places. To stop seeking our identity and our satisfaction in inanimate idols. To stop desiring bread that can never fill us and stop drinking from fountains that will always end up creating more thirst.

Instead, we need to sit down with old friends, like this promise, and believe. And then receive . . . with mouths wide open.

By His grace. For His glory.

Posted in Psalms | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A “How Long O Lord” Song

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pete

It’s not a happy song. Not gonna set your toe to tapping. It’s a sad song. A lament.

I’m guessing it was written after the Babylonian invasion. Also referred to as the Chaldeans, these nation conquerors had added Israel to their list. They had encroached for years. Took their time as they laid siege to God’s great city. Even taking over the throne in advance of taking over the land with their puppet kings. But eventually, they had “come into” God’s inheritance, had defiled His holy temple, and had laid Jerusalem in ruins. All the while they had poured out blood and taken life, feeding the bodies of God’s people to the birds and their flesh to the beasts. So many dead that there was no one to bury them (Ps. 79:1-3). And to add insult to injury, insult was added to injury:

We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.  

(Psalm 79:4 ESV)

It had been hard, really hard. And it had been going on for a long time, a really long time. And there was no apparent end in sight. So, the songwriter pens a song — a “how long O Lord song.”

How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?  

(Psalm 79:5 ESV)

It’s not the first “how long O Lord” song in the Psalter. David had penned a couple:

How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?  

(Psalm 13:1 ESV)

How long, O Lord, will You look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!  

(Psalm 35:17 ESV)

And a guy by the name of Ethan the Ezrahite would write another:

How long, O LORD? Will You hide yourself forever? How long will Your wrath burn like fire?  

(Psalm 89:46 ESV)

And as I chew on it, I’m guessing we’ve all sung a “how long O Lord” song at one point or another. Finding ourselves in a trial that just keeps on trying us. Enduring hard stuff that never seems to get easier. Waiting on God to step in. And yet, heaven seems disinterested. No apparent resolution in sight. Not quite sure what to do, but also not quite sure how long we can keep going the way we’re going. How long O Lord?

Sometimes, as in this song, there’s a direct correlation between our sin and our suffering. Asaph & Co. had been warned repeatedly by a myriad of prophets that Israel’s spiritual infidelity would not be left unjudged if they refused to repent and return to their first love. But they refused . . . and continued to rebel . . . and the walls came tumbling down, literally.

But other times there doesn’t appear to be a cause and effect connection. Nothing that clearly says you’re here because you did that. Instead, life sometimes is just hard. Sometimes God’s permits stuff in our world for purposes that only He understands. And though we may not know why we’re in the fire, nor have any indication of when things will cool down, something I remember from Hebrews reminds me of what good can come of it.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

(Hebrews 12:7, 10 ESV)

God disciplines, or trains, those He loves. It’s in the “how long O Lord” seasons of life that, if nothing else, we learn to lean into Him, His power, and His promise. It’s then that we realize how powerless our self-sufficient strength really is and, in our weakness, know experientially the almost tangible power of His sustaining grace.

If nothing else, it’s when we learn to trust to the next level–internalizing what it means to lean not to our own understanding, to acknowledge Him in all our ways, and to somehow rest, with a supernatural rest, that He will, in fact, direct our paths (Prov. 3:5-6).

Nobody likes to sing a “how long O Lord” song. But everybody’s sung it . . . or will some day.

Father, use the song in Your people to draw them to Yourself. To trust in Your steadfast love, and to, even in the storm, rejoice in Your salvation (Ps. 13:5).

By Your grace. For Your glory.

Posted in Psalms | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Subdued, Divided, But Not Settled

Posted on April 2, 2019 by Pete

Continuing to read in Joshua . . . the less exciting part . . . the mapping out the land part. The big battles are done. For the most part the desert wanderers delivered from Egyptian bondage have moved in. What’s left is the housekeeping: who’s gonna sleep where.

Two statements of fact caught my attention this morning:

Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.

These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel distributed by lot at Shiloh before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

(Joshua 18:1, 19:51 ESV)

There’ a certain ring of finality. The land lay subdued and they finished dividing it.

Battles had been fought and the LORD had been faithful and the promised land was now subject to the people of promise. They had dominated and now it was under their control.

The surveying had been done, the borders set, and the deeds handed out. The plan was finished. The cities and territories allotted. All that was left was to move in.

But if you know the rest of the story you know that, though the land had been subdued and the land had been divided, the land was not yet settled. Getting to the promised land was just the beginning of learning to live in the promised land. There was still work to be done — hard work. There would be traps to navigate, battles to be fought, temptations to resist, and trials to encounter, endure, and overcome. While in one sense the work might have been finished, in another, it was just beginning.

But they wouldn’t have to navigate this foreign terrain on their own. It’s not like God delivered them on the doorstep and said, “See ya’ later!” In fact, there was still a ton to learn about the dynamics of living with a holy God in their midst, of living as His redeemed inheritance, and of living ever to make His name known.

And I can’t help but think that’s not unlike where we’re at today as His people.

To be sure, the work is finished and the victory won. We’ll remind ourselves of that increasingly over the next couple of weeks as we focus on the passion of Christ and the empty tomb. And to be equally sure, all God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ, He is our Yes and Amen, and there’s a sense in which we have already arrived–having received life and life abundantly. So, we too, have subdued the land and divided it–possessors of every spiritual blessing and already seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3, 2:6). But isn’t there still a lot of settling in to do?

While the work is finished there’s still a lot of work to do. Though we are more than conquerors there are still battles to be won as we figure out how to walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and wage war against the old nature with the Spirit. Though we are infused with heavenly power we still struggle with earthly weakness. Though we have been made whole in Christ we still suffer in the flesh. Subdued, divided, but not settled.

And then, we’re trying to working through what it means to live in community with others who are also just settling in. Strangers we now call brothers and sisters as we try and do family together. Not necessarily brought together by natural affinity or interests,  but woven together in common life–life wrought through the gospel.

Made righteous in Christ, but so aware of each other’s unrighteousness. Declared holy, but rubbing shoulders together as we are being made holy. Perfect in Christ, but works in progress until perfection comes. Subdued, divided, but not settled.

In the kingdom. Navigating the kingdom. Still appropriating the kingdom.

By His grace. For His glory.

Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Little Leaven

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Pete

When you know how the story’s going to turn out, the first time you encounter this in Joshua you can’t help but cringe. And then, every subsequent time it happens there seems to ring an ominous bell tolling a warning that this just won’t turn out well.

And my combination of readings this morning remind me that was true way, way back then, when Joshua was leading the people into the land, and what was true way back then, when Paul was writing to the Corinth church, is true today as well. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

The first cringe worthy encounter during this morning’s ready occurred in Joshua 13.

Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

(Joshua 13:13 ESV)

And it’ll happen again in chapters 15, 16, and 17. For whatever reason, God’s people are not able to rid the land of the old ways. God had told them through Moses to “devote to destruction” all that breathed in the cities the LORD was giving them, “that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God” (Deut. 20:16-18).

And that’s how things started with conquering the land–a clean sweep. But then, for whatever reason, complete victories became partial victories and increasingly the people and practices of the land took root in their midst.

And, if you know the rest of the story, it just didn’t turn out well. The remnant which should have been dispossessed became thorns in the sides of God’s people. Their gods becoming a snare entrapping them in spiritual infidelity. And, within a generation, everyone ended up doing what was right in their own eyes. (Judges 2:3, 17:6)

Fast forward centuries to Corinth and the thorns and snares continue to compromise the people of God.

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

(1Corinthians 5:7-8 ESV)

The Corinthian Community Church, while have a lot going for it, apparently put up with some stuff they shouldn’t have. While boasting of it’s loving tolerance, it ended up tolerating the wrong thing. Something that, left unchecked, would spread. Something that, if not addressed, would bring increasing compromise.

Though they were a “new lump”, a body of new creations in Christ, if the old leaven of malice and evil was not dealt with it would spread and choke out the new way of walking in sincerity and truth. And, just as it had with God’s ancient people, if they refused to eradicate the ways of the world that encroached from without they would, without doubt, eventually crumble from within.

How come?

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

(1Corinthians 5:6b ESV)

How we as the church today need to be aware of this eroding dynamic.

In an age where the pressure has never been greater to bow to the world’s subjective, untethered views of truth, and when the terms tolerance and endorsement have become synonymous, we need great discernment as to how to love the world but not be infected by the world.

And part of that discernment is protecting the purity of the body of Christ. To deal with the old leaven of malice and evil when it’s detected. To lovingly, yet firmly, call brothers and sisters to repentance. To engage in other’s lives with a view of being used in their restoration. That we might celebrate together Christ our Passover “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  To promote the healthy, life-giving, fruit-producing leaven of being who we are in God’s Son and of standing firm for what we believe on the authority of God’s word.

By His grace. For His glory.

Posted in 1Corinthians, Joshua | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Compassion of Christ

Posted on March 29, 2019 by Pete

He knew it would blow His cover. After all, He knew everything.

He knew that healing this leper would change the very nature of His ministry–that He would no longer be able to “openly enter a town” but would have to hang out in “desolate places” and have the people come to Him. He knew it. But He did it anyway.

In the past, my primary observation when reading of the cleansing of the leper in Mark 1 has been that Jesus touched the leper. He could have just commanded the leper’s healing, but instead the Christ chose to touch him. The perfect skin of the Son of God coming in contact with the diseased skin of a man marred by sin. The touch of the Creator come in holy flesh felt by the creation on his destroyed flesh.

And then I ask myself of this observation, “How come?” Why did Jesus touch the man rather than just speak his healing into being? Answer: because Jesus was “moved with pity” (Mk. 1:41). And I invariable end up in awe afresh at the compassion of the Savior.

Literally His “bowels were moved.” At His deepest core Jesus was moved by the sinner’s plight. The uncleanness. The loneliness. The hopelessness. And so the Divine reached out His hand and and made contact with the defiled. Oh the depths to which Jesus would reach compelled by love, compassion, pity, and mercy.

But this morning I’m struck by the fact that more than just making a leper clean, more than risking being viewed as defiled Himself by touching him, that Jesus, for the sake of the compassion he felt for the man, was willing to also, in a sense, compromise His ministry.

And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to Him from every quarter.

(Mark 1:43-45 ESV)

By my nature, I’m a risk mitigator. I tend to try and look down the road, anticipate pitfalls or areas of sub-optimization, and make decisions that will avoid the risk or minimize the impact of something going wrong. If I had been Jesus, knowing full well that the guy who stood before me wanting to be healed had a reputation around town as Loose-Lips Louie, I might have taken a pass. Might have left him in his miserable condition. Might have rationalized that for the sake of the greater good, for the sake of protecting the ministry, for the sake of continued ease of access for the many, that leaving this one in bondage to his disease was a pretty good cost/benefit decision. Thank God I’m not Jesus!

Jesus was moved with pity (ESV). He was filled with compassion (NIV). Deeply moved (MSG) He looked at the carnage sin had wrought on the man before Him and was willing to respond . . . even if it meant touching his dirty skin . . . even if it meant adding fuel to the fire for His detractors . . . even it meant altering His approach to ministry and having to hang out more in desolate places. Even if it meant hanging on a Roman cross — and it did.

Oh, the compassion of Christ! Oh, the love of God! Oh, the depths of grace!

That we too would experience the touch of His hand.

And that He would come not to be served, nor to minister at His convenience or in a manner that would benefit Him most, but that He would come to serve and serve out of deep compassion for the sinner. Come to serve, even giving His life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45).

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

What wondrous grace! To Him be the glory!

Amen?

Posted in Mark | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

No Line for Me

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Pete

In San Diego for ten days hanging out with my newest grandson born March 14. Doesn’t get much better. Walked off the plane on Tuesday, got into the car with my daughter, son-in-law, and their TWO boys and off we went to the zoo. What else do you do in San Diego? (There’s some back story to all of this, but really, that’s what we did! . . . Straight from the airport to the zoo).

When we were done (we as in the adults and the baby . . . not necessarily the two year old) we thought rather than walk back to the exit we’d use the sky tram which was nearby. But when we got to the sky tram and saw the long line waiting to board it, we went to plan B. We turned around and walked back. Better that than waiting in line.

Honestly, I don’t like waiting in line. Call me impatient, but whether it’s at the zoo waiting to ride back to the exit, or at Costco waiting to buy my groceries, or at the DMV waiting to get some paperwork done, it’s the last thing I want to do, stand in line. In fact, it takes a conscious effort on my part to chill out, settle in, and deal with this part of real life.

This morning I’m reading in Joshua and I’m envisioning another line and how much I wouldn’t want to be in that line either.

Less than $30,000. That’s what I figure was the current day value of the “devoted things” that went missing after Jericho was razed. Less than $30,000 that took the wind out Israel’s sail after the victory at Jericho and led to their defeat at Ai. Less than $30,000 that cost about 36 men their lives. Less than $30,000 that caused Joshua to walk into the midst of the tribe of Judah and tell the 76,000+ men of Judah to line up.

I’m guessing everybody knew why they were getting in line. They had heard what the LORD had commanded Joshua. They knew the plan.

“Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the LORD takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households. And the household that the LORD takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.'”

(Joshua 7:13-15 ESV)

What was it to stand in that line? To wait as one of the three clans of Judah (or maybe five, not sure how to read Numbers 26:19-15) was chosen . And then to still be in line when your family line is chosen. And then to come before Joshua, man by man, until the lot finds you out and you’re standing alone. And all for less than $30,000.

Can’t help but think that I deserve to be standing in such a line one day. That my transgression and rebellion before a holy God deserves to be exposed and judged. That just as God knew where the forbidden treasure was hidden in the camp of Israel, He also knows all my hidden sin–past, present, and future–and would be justified to demand an accounting for it.

But for me there’s no line. Because Jesus stood in the line in my place. He invited the lot of judgment to fall upon Him so that it would not have to fall upon me. He bore the wrath of God for my sin so that I wouldn’t have to. And He gave His life up as a ransom for my rebellion so that I would not have to pay a debt I could never pay.

No line for me because Jesus took my place. No price to be paid because Jesus paid it all. No wrath to fear because His perfect love casts out fear.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

(Romans 8:1 ESV)

No standing in line because I’m resting in a finished work. Jesus’s work of atonement on the cross.

No waiting in line in dread. Instead, waiting with eager anticipation for the day when I am in His presence, beholding Him face to face, praising the Lamb who gave Himself for me.

No line for me.

By His grace. For His glory.

Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Work In Progress

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Pete

You read the opening verses of 1Corinthians and, if you’ve read the letter before and you’re at all familiar with this rag tag, dysfunctional group of believers (check out 5:1-6 and 11:17-22), you can’t help but ask yourself, “Is Paul just being really nice up front because he knows he’s going to lower the boom on them later? Or, does he really believe the stuff he’s saying about them?” I’m thinkin’ he really believes it.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge — even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .

(1 Corinthians 1:4-7 ESV)

Really Paul? Give thanks for God’s grace to them in enriched speech and knowledge even though you know that for many the knowledge just caused their egos to swell (8:1)? Commend them for not “lacking in any gift” while you know very well you’re going to correct them for childishly using the gifts to promote and elevate themselves (14:20)? Acknowledge that Christ is made known through them despite the din of noisy gongs and clanging cymbals emitting from their loveless motivation (13:1)? What’s going on?

Work in progress. That’s what was going on. That’s what Paul believed, truly believed, about “those sanctified in Christ, Jesus, called to be saints” (1:2). They were a work in progress. There weren’t there yet.

Sure, it might seem that on most days the flesh was winning the daily skirmishes over the Spirit, but while the battle was still being fought, Paul would be in their corner, encouraging them, admonishing them, rebuking them, and thanking God for them. For he saw them as those in whom a good work had begun–a work God was determined to bring “to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Php. 1:6). An on-going work confirming the power of the gospel to save, and to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25).

. . . Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(1 Corinthians 1:8 ESV)

That’s the thought that I’m chewing on this morning. God will sustain to the end. God will present His people to Himself guiltless in the day of Christ. And so, whatever we see today in other believers, or in ourselves, is to be put in the context of a work of grace which is still very much a work in progress.

The gospel not validated in our perfection, but in God’s patience towards us. The power to save not evidenced by any current state of victory, but in the on-going willingness to keep on keepin’ on despite our trips and falls and failures along the way. The reality of our redemption founded not in displays of self-righteousness but in the emerging reality that we, sometimes slowly but surely, are being transformed increasingly because of His righteousness given to us. The power confirmed not because we can be strong, but manifested gloriously as His Spirit sustains us in our weakness.

And so, even knowing all Paul knew about the Corinth church, he would thank God knowing God was working through them to confirm the testimony of Christ. Even as God was working in them to conform them more to His Son’s likeness and to present them to Himself guiltless.

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

(1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV)

Our God is faithful. Having called us into the fellowship of His Son, the fellowship of believers, He will establish us through the fellowship of His Son. He will use the church to build the church. Enable the body to build up the body. Encourage and correct the family through the family. Not that we might be exalted, but that His Son would be lifted up. That the testimony of Christ would be confirmed.

And this, through a work in progress.

Displaying His grace. Declaring His glory.

Posted in 1Corinthians | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sated with Favor

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Pete

Nothing too deep this morning, just something that brings a certain measure of delight. No new insight, but a familiar infusion of well-being. A short three-word phrase written to another but I sense preserved for me. Three words taken out of context, nevertheless true.

A reminder that I am sated with favor.

And of Naphtali he said, “O Naphtali, sated with favor, and full of the blessing of the LORD, possess the lake and the south.”

(Deuteronomy 33:23 ESV)

Sated with favor. True of this tribe of Jacob. True of the people who had been delivered from Egypt, who had wandered for 40 years through the desert, and who were ready to enter the promised land. And true of this guy in this chair.

Sated with favor. Not just abounding in God’s delight and goodwill, but satisfied with it as well. That’s the difference between being full and being sated, satisfaction.

You can be full and yet dissatisfied. Full and yet want more. Full, but not happy with what your full with.

You can be full and yet your stomach hurts. Full and the pain robs you of potential pleasure. Full and focused on desired ease rather than on all that God’s determined you possess.

Moses’s last words to the twelve tribes must certainly have been bittersweet. All the possibility of the land before them, yet knowing the propensity to grumble still active within them.

Oh, that they would know afresh and forever whose they were. That they would see that, regardless of present circumstance or of what tomorrow might bring, they were brimming with blessing because they were God’s redeemed people.

“Yes, He loved His people, all His holy ones were in His hand . . .”

(Deuteronomy 33:3a ESV)

And if this people of the old covenant were sated with favor, how much more those of us who have known the blessings of the new covenant.

Forgiven of our sin. Justified through His atoning sacrifice. Given the Spirit of adoption so that we can cry, “Abba, Father!” Forever sealed. Continually sanctified. His grace always sufficient. His love ever abounding.

Sated with favor! Ya’ think?!?

Nothing too deep . . . save the deep testimony of His Spirit with mine. Beloved of God. Sated with favor.

It is well with my soul.

Because of grace. For His glory.

Posted in Deuteronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Seeing Ain’t Necessarily Believing

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Pete

How could they? How could they have walked out of Egypt after witnessing the mighty arm of God throughout his ten round showdown with Pharaoh, and yet complained so rebelliously about being delivered in order to die in the desert? How could they have walked through the Red Sea, gazed up at the walls of water about them as they were held back by the very hand of God with them, yet doubted that God could provide water during their journey to sustain them? How could they have gathered bread provided freely and faithfully from heaven, day after day after day, yet doubted that the God of heaven was prepared and able to give them the land He had promised?

And how could they, when after possessing the land–the physical, tangible, surrounding evidence of God’s power to provide what God has promised–how could they then turn away from God, forsaking Him in order to serve and worship the non-gods of the nations who had been dispossessed? How could they?

That’s the question that echoes again and again as you read through Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. How could they?

Why weren’t they ready, willing, and able to do what God had asked? What prevented them from following His commandments? What kept them from obeying His word? After all they had experienced, after all they had witnessed, why didn’t it take? Well, based on something that caught my eye as I read this morning, apparently seeing ain’t necessarily believing.

And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”

(Deuteronomy 29:2-4 ESV)

So, when it comes to encountering God it’s possible to see but not see. To hear yet not hear. To take in all the facts and data and evidence and still have no understanding. I know that. Been there.

So, apart from God’s intervention, there can be no fruit from our perception. The secret sauce for knowing God, and fearing God, and obeying God is something only God can do.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

(Ezekiel 36:25-27 ESV)

Unless God gives us eyes to see, we can see but not see. Unless He gives us ears to hear, we can hear but won’t hear. Unless He gives us a heart to understand, we can do all the math we want and still come up with the wrong answer.

And so I sit hear this morning, with whatever understanding I have, reflecting on whatever I have seen through the eyes of faith and whatever I have heard through the word of God, and I’m grateful.

Reminded that it’s not about me. Not about how bright I may or may not be. Not about whether I’m prone to be a student or not. Not even about how faithful I think I might have tried to be. Instead, it’s only because God, in His abundant goodness and through His Holy Spirit, has given this sinner saved by grace eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to, in some measure, understand.

And seeing that is believing. And believing that is to worship.

By His grace. For His glory.

Posted in Deuteronomy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment