The Prototype

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Pete

I might not be saying this quite right . . . I may be overstating it or over emphasizing it . . . but I’m thinking that, in a sense, the church is the prototype for how the promises of God to His ancient people will play out.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah . . .   (Jeremiah 31:31 ESV)

Though the perfect fulfillment of that new covenant is yet to be seen, since Pentecost God has been demonstrating the dynamic He has promised through the church. On that day when the church was born, Peter cited the utterance of the prophet Joel as explanation for what was happening. Though the full extent of Joel’s prophecy is yet to be fulfilled, it began on that day. So too, the dynamics associated with a new covenant, declared by God through the prophet Jeremiah, is at play today within all those who, by faith, have owned Jesus as Savior and Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.   (Jeremiah 31:33-34 ESV)

That I, as part of the church, am, in a sense, a proving ground for the dynamics of God’s promises has captured my heart afresh this morning.

He has put His law within me . . . having written it on my heart. Spiritual DNA that was once dead to the God of all creation has been resurrected and made alive to the things of heaven. Having been made alive in Christ, I am now able to interact with God through the Holy Spirit. He who has been given as a seal . . . sent as a teacher . . . ever present as a guide . . . tasked with inscribing on my heart the written word, and the Living Word, of God. Not something I could do on my own . . . but solely a work of divine grace. Not something that could be done under the old covenant of law and my best efforts, but a dynamic unleashed through the new covenant of grace and God’s all sufficient provision.

I am part of a “proof of concept” that mere humans can know the Divine. That, through God’s perfect provision, any can know the LORD. And that all can grow in grace and truth because, in and through Christ, I have been given the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation, having the eyes of my heart enlightened (Eph. 1:17-18). The people of God are the demonstration of the reality of what it looks like for men and women, boys and girls, to have a living and personal relationship with the God of eternity. That’s a bit mind-stretching!

All made possible because God determined to satisfy the claim against men and women resulting from sin.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 ESV)

God the Son paid the price fully on Calvary’s cross for sin and rebellion so that God the Father could justly fulfill His promise to “forgive their iniquity” and “remember their sin no more.”

And so, sinners saved by grace are privileged to model the dynamics of the new covenant. Hearts inscribed with the law of freedom . . . brought into the dynamics of relationship with the living God . . . given the mind of Christ that we might know Him. How amazing is that? Pretty!

To Him be all praise! Amen?

 

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The Friend of the Bridegroom (re-run)

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Pete

Running behind schedule this morning . . . so, after finishing up my readings, rather than write I went back over some of my previous musings on these passages.  Given the number of weddings I’ve attended this summer, thought re-posting this one from 2011 might be appropriate . . .

You gotta love John the Baptizer. Sure, maybe his dress was a little unorthodox . . . not sure I would run out and buy a new breakfast cereal that he created with his very own “secret ingredients” . . . but spend just a little bit of time considering him, and he’s pretty inspirational. And maybe the reason I don’t often take note of him is because that was his whole purpose . . . not to draw attention to himself but to Someone else . . . not to be in the limelight but to shine the spotlight on Another. But I think there’s some value to noodling on this guy a bit . . . after all, Jesus said of him, ” I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John” (Luke 7:28). Here’s what caught my attention this morning . . .

John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegrooms voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”    (John 3:27-30 ESV)

Context? Some of John’s disciples come to him with a problem they’re picking up on. John’s losing his following as they go to Jesus to be baptized and follow Him. The ministry’s coming to an end . . . the flash mobs have stopped centering around John . . . they are going to another. “What are we going to do about that?” they ask. John’s response? In essence, “Rejoice!”

When it came to Christ becoming the focus, John was more than content to step to the side. After all, he says, the wedding isn’t about the wedding party, it’s about the bride and groom. The wedding attendants stand aside as witnesses of “those two crazy kids” coming together to unite their lives . . . the friends are on the sidelines . . . lost to themselves . . . completely focused on the union about to be formed. The friend of the bridegroom knows that he’s not really the “best man” . . . but that the guy next to him offering the ring to his blushing bride is really the best man. The friend doesn’t want to do anything to attract attention to himself but instead do everything he can to ensure that the focus is duly placed on the one whose voice people need to hear.

John was thrilled to be part of the wedding party . . . to be able to get close enough to stand next to the Bridegroom. He rejoiced just to be near enough to hear the Bridegroom’s voice . . . and seeing people flock to Jesus, even if it meant that John’s “day job” was drying up, made John’s joy complete.

How often do I fall into thinking that the wedding is about me? Oh, maybe it is to some degree if I consider myself as the bride . . . but even then, my blessed place “at the altar” is all about the price He paid for my sin as the Lamb of God and about His persistent pursuit of me, a wayward sheep, as the Great Shepherd who came to seek and save the lost. I might do well from time to time to think of myself more as the friend of the bridegroom . . . there because of Him . . . there for Him . . . fully prepared to fade into the background . . . not desiring to draw attention to myself but asking only to be a magnifying glass through which Jesus is brought into clearer view by those who need to “come.”

Instead of my joy being dependent on how much recognition I get . . . or the amount of blessing I perceive to receive by being at the wedding . . . my joy, instead, should be made complete when Jesus is exalted . . . when Jesus becomes the object of attention . . . when people, as it were, turn their back on me because they instead see the glorious Bridegroom.

Truly, He must increase . . . I must decrease . . . if only in my own eyes . . . if only as part of my own agenda. It should be enough to just be standing there with Him . . . my eyes fixed on Him alone . . . doing nothing that would distract others from setting their gaze upon Him . . . a friend of the Bridegroom . . . by His grace . . . and for His glory. Amen.

 

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The Right Umbrella

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Pete

It’s a good reminder. Every time I come across it when reading James, it causes me to pause and reflect, and remember, and relive the truth that we “do not know what tomorrow will bring.” And so, says James, it’s so important to put our plans under the right umbrella.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”   (James 4:13-15 ESV)

The problem isn’t that we have plans . . . it’s that we lose perspective. We set our course but forget that God establishes our steps (Prov. 16:9). And so we’re surprised when things don’t turn out as we thought they would . . . or they take a turn we never anticipated . . . or we find ourselves out-of-balance because “our will be done” has become our de factor operating mode.

But if we were to heed . . . if I were to heed James’ exhortation more consistently, how much would that help in putting the right things in their right place?

If all my plans . . . all my ambitions . . . all my desires were under the umbrella of “If the Lord wills” . . . how much freedom and balance would that create?

First, I’m recognizing that, when all is said and done, it’s all about the Lord’s will. It’s about His plans . . . His purposes . . . what He seeks to accomplish . . . all about His glory. My plans are placed within the context of all that I know He has purposed. I don’t want anything on my “to do” list that isn’t on His. I don’t want any of my priorities to trump that which He has already let me know are on His “top ten.” And then, when my plans play out . . . because it was in His will . . . He gets all the glory and praise.

Second, my life is lived under the great “IF.” I don’t know what tomorrow will bring . . . I am but a mist that appears for a little time . . . thus I am to hold things loosely . . . and live, by His grace, in such a way that at the end of the day, if there be no tomorrow, there is a contentment and a confidence (not an arrogance) that I have done my day under the umbrella of His will.

Four simple words that I would do well to add to the end of more of my sentences. Four single-syllable words that place my life on earth within the grander scheme of His work in heaven.

“If the Lord wills.” That’s the right umbrella.

Living under His grace . . . living for His glory.

Time to get ready and go to work . . . if the Lord wills.

 

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The Side Roads

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Pete

I’m reading in James this morning and it’s kind of stopped me in my tracks. I’ve read these verses before. I’ve received teaching on this passage a number of times. But as I paused after reading the first ten verses of chapter four, I asked myself the most fundamental of questions, “Is James writing to Christians or to non-Christians?” I’m pretty sure he’s talking to blood-bought, born again, believers. But good night! What went wrong?

Looking back on my reading from yesterday in chapter three, within this body of believers “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” were at play with disastrous results (3:14-16). Chapter four continues describing the climate amongst these brothers and sisters . . . quarrels . . . fights among themselves . . . driven by covetousness, the level of animosity in their midst rising to murderous levels. It’s so bad that James is moved by the Spirit to exclaim, “You adulterous people!”

“You adulterous people” . . . sounds like language I’ve been reading in the prophets. So how does this happen? I can’t imagine it being a conscious decision among a group of God’s people to one day pass a resolution that “in our family we are going to tear at one another’s throats.” No . . . you know that getting to this point has to happen gradually. Something I read in Jeremiah this morning I think gets to the heart of such a dynamic.

But My people have forgotten Me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway . . . (Jeremiah 18:15 ESV)

God’s covenant people of the Old Testament had drifted off into spiritual adultery because they had ceased to care for the things of God . . . and had set up for themselves other objects of worship.  And so, they staggered onto other paths . . . straying from the ancient roads of God’s leading . . . wandering from the highway of God’s perfect will . . . choosing instead to trudge down the muddy paths of fleshly pursuit. They chose the side roads.

Just as ancient Israel had drifted off course down the side roads, I’m thinking these New Testament believers had fallen into the same waywardness.

James says it starts with ceding the battle to our passions and pleasures which war within us (4:1). Rather than pursue the things of heaven, we instead pursue the things of having. We covet and so we avert our gaze to a lesser prize. We desire and so determine to acquire . . . whatever the cost . . . be it relationships with God . . . be it relationships with friends and family. That’s the entrance to the side road.

And the side road doesn’t eventually lead us back to God. In fact it only leads us further away. Once on the road, our pursuit of the worldly things then draws our affection to the ways of this world. That which we were saved out of, now becomes our friend. And, says James, “friendship with the world is enmity with God” and “whoever wishes to a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (4:4).

Ouch! Maybe that’s why it sounds like James is talking to unbelievers. Loved the world . . . forgotten their God. Pursuing “the dream” . . . replacing the prize of heaven with idols. Wandering from the narrow way . . . sucked into the mire of the side roads.

How I need to beware of the side roads. Those rabbit trails that turn the affections of my heart from seeking Him to seeking other stuff . . . and draw me into a love relationship with the world that severely impacts my relationship with my God and with His people.

And when I do find myself going down such side roads, I need to remember that God’s grace is sufficient to restore me to the highway. That He gives grace to the humble (4:6). That, if I will draw near to God, He will draw near to me (4:8). That, if I humble myself before the LORD, He will lift me up (4:10). His grace is sufficient even for wanderers down the side roads.

Beware the side roads . . . by His grace . . . for His glory.

 

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A Cameo Appearance

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Pete

Reading in the latter part of John 2 this morning. And I encountered a phrase that caught my eye the first time I read it and then really jumped off the page when it occurred again only a couple of verses later. And the impression it’s leaving on me is that of a cameo appearance. The sort of thing you might encounter in a movie or play where, unexpectedly, the author of the story appears briefly in some non-speaking bit part. They might show up in the background cast of people walking down a street . . . or, as the camera pans a crowd of people in a room, there they are . . . or, they quickly walk into the scene from the left, perform some minor action like serving a tray of hors d’oeuvres and then exit, stage left. As I was reading John this morning, I think the Holy Spirit might have made a cameo appearance . . .

The stage is the temple in Jerusalem. The backdrop is the making ready for Passover. And the scene? Well, Jesus is making a scene! He finds an unholy commerce occurring within the temple walls and is moved to action. Making a whip of cords, he drives out those turning a profit by selling animals for sacrifice. In addition, turning over their tables, He puts a stop to the money-changers charging exorbitant mark-up rates to exchange foreign currency brought by pilgrims wanting to pay the temple tax. “Take these things away,” Jesus says, “do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” Cue cameo appearance one . . .

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume Me.” (John 2:17 ESV)

The Jews, referring to the Jewish leaders I think, don’t take well to this and challenge Jesus’ outlandish actions. They demand some sign from Jesus as to His credentials to exercise such authority over the temple court. Jesus replies, “Destroy the temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They thought he was talking about the physical temple they stood in . . . ludicrous! But Jesus was talking about “the temple of His body.” Cue cameo appearance number two . . .

When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:22 ESV)

Did you see Him? The Author of God’s inspired Word briefly, almost imperceptibly, showing up in His own work? I think He’s there in the repeated phrase, “His disciples remembered.”

Sure the disciples were trained in the Scriptures, as were all Jewish young men. But at that moment when Jesus is literally turning the place upside down, a light bulb goes on connecting His actions and His words with the words of a king recorded in Psalm 69. Later, after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, these same disciples would have another “aha moment” as they recalled Jesus’ promise that day to raise up the temple of His body three days after it was destroyed and left lifeless. And though it was they who heard the words, I’m thinking it was Another who again connected the dots. Isn’t that the ministry of God through His manifestation in the Person of the Holy Spirit?

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26 ESV)

That’s why we continue to take in the Word. That’s why we ask for ears to hear and eyes to see. So that, perhaps when least expected, we have a encounter of the divine kind. The Spirit of God bringing to remembrance something concerning the Son so that we might glorify the Father. Not “aha moments” of our own making, nor dependent on our own intellect, but of His gracious determination, visitation, and illumination.

O’ that I might notice Him more in the background. By His grace . . . for His glory.

Amen?

 

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He Manifested His Glory

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Pete

Jesus was pretty selective about His audience. I think if I was going on the “Know that I Am Messiah” road tour, I’d go big, I’d go often, and I’d go in front of as many people as possible. But not the Son of Man. He seemed to be cautious of the “going big” approach to getting people to believe. And He certainly wasn’t compelled to “perform” in the biggest venues. And, even when He was given a natural platform to impress a lot of people, He often didn’t take advantage of it the way I might have. Rather, He purposefully did what He did, before those He did it, in order that they might know that He manifested His glory.

Case in point, the wedding at Cana. Large crowd . . . early in His ministry . . . and His mother provides an excellent “natural” opening for Him to show His stuff. I don’t know what it was that brought Mary to bring the wine issue to Jesus, but she knew something that others had not yet discovered about her son. So, perfect set up. Walk to the front of the feasting hall . . . dramatically line up the six stone water jars . . . with great suspense, have the servants fill them up with somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of water . . . maybe pray a bit . . . wave his hands over the jars . . . and, “Voila!” . . . serve up the best tasting wine in the land! Go big . . . go often . . . go in front of as many people as you can. That’s how I might manifest the glory.

Not Jesus. Instead His focus seems to be on some no-name servants and on some “still kicking the tires” disciples. In the back room He gets the servants to bring the jars, fill them with water, and then serve the wine. And the only ones who knew what was going on, other than the servants and Mary, were His closest followers. This first sign was done for them.

This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:11 ESV)

There’s something about hanging close to Jesus . . . you see His glory manifest in behind the scenes ways that most people don’t notice. It’s one of the benefits of abiding . . . one of the “perks” of going to Him with the mundane issues of everyday life . . . sometimes He turns water into wine and you, and perhaps a few close friends, are the only ones who see it. But you know in those moments, He manifested His glory.

The glory of the Son of God is made known often in the small and unspectacular ways so that it is less about the event, and all about the Event Planner. Less about everyone knowing that Jesus came through for you, and more about the gracious way of our loving King who reveals Himself in secret . . . often for our eyes of faith only . . . that we might know His glory manifested.

O’ that, as followers of Jesus, we would never be far from Him. That we would desire to know His presence at all times. That we might, perhaps when least expected and in ways unanticipated, know that He has manifested His glory . . . so that believing, we too might increase in belief.

That’s the privilege of being His disciple.

By His grace . . . for His glory.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 ESV)

 

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Performance Driven

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Pete

Though I like to think that “I’ve come a long way” . . . and perhaps I have . . . sometimes it doesn’t seen long enough when I’m reminded of how far I still have to go. Sometimes the mirror I look in says, “Hey, not bad!” . . . but other times it shows all the blemishes. James says that the word can be a mirror, if we allow it to be. He encourages us to look “into the perfect law, the law of liberty,” take note of what we see, and then do something about it (James 1:23-25). This morning the mirror is doing its work.

I’m reading the first part of James 2. It’s an exhortation to not show partiality as we “hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (2:1). The scenario is a rich man and a poor man who both walk into the assembly of God’s people on the Lord’s day. The natural inclination, James suggests, is to pay a lot of attention to the rich guy . . . the obviously successful person . . . the one who must have his act together . . . the one you’d probably want in a picture on your website to advertise the caliber of person you attract. So while you usher the rich guy to the best seat in the house . . . ‘er, the sanctuary . . . you wave the poor man to the back of the room and don’t even bother to see if there’s an empty chair there. And you certainly don’t spend the time with the poor guy to find out where he stands with the Lord. You never even find out that he loves the Lord and is “rich in faith” and an heir of the kingdom (2:5).

And I read this and, at first, I think, “How rude!” No way should this happen. Certainly I would never do such a thing. But the word of God “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). And as I pause over verse 12, I’m reminded of how performance driven I can be.

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. (James 2:12 ESV)

How I thank God that I am under the law of liberty. For to live under the law of Moses is a no-win proposition, “for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” To commit the sin of showing partiality under the law of Moses is to be declared “a transgressor of the law,” just as I would be if I’d committed adultery or murder (2:10-11). I don’t want to be judged under that law . . . I can’t meet that standard of performance . . . so why, asks James, would we impose anything other than the law of liberty upon others. But we do . . . or at least I do.

It’s the source of being frustrated with others . . . of being disappointed with others . . . of rolling your eyes or letting out an exasperated heavy sigh when they aren’t as “rich” as you think they should be. They’re like the poor man in James’ story. They’re not meeting some standard and so, your love, affection, and maybe even interest toward them, is dampened by it.

But what if their “sub-performance” where measured under the law of liberty? The same law with which God measures our sub-performance . . . the law augmented by the finished work of Christ on the cross . . . the law founded on perfect forgiveness and fueled by unending mercy . . . the law that, in no way diminishes the standard, but empowers and enables us towards the standard by rivers of ever-flowing grace? What if I used that as my measuring stick?

I will be judged by the perfect law, the law of liberty. Praise God! My performance will be graded on the basis of the “performance” of Another, the Lord of glory. O’ that by His grace and enabling, abiding Spirit, I might use the same law when determining how others measure up to my expectations.

For their benefit . . . for my continued sanctification . . . for God’s glory.

 

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Real Enjoyment

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Pete

I’m guessing that even the newest reader of Ecclesiastes picks up on the underlying heartbeat of “the Preacher’s” (1:1) words pretty quickly. I’m only two chapters in and the pulse is already established. Eleven times, so far, the son of David, the king of Jerusalem, the man of great wisdom and great means has repeatedly sounded the dirge of a suppressed, and sometimes depressed, perspective. Under the sun . . . under the sun . . . under heaven . . . beneath the sun . . . under the sun.

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. . . . I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. . . . What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
(Ecclesiastes 1:9,14; 2:22 ESV)

And the steady drumbeat of earthbound perspective will continue throughout the Preacher’s writing. Another nineteen times the vanity of life, when lived but under the sun, will throb throughout the king’s musings. Heavy sigh!

But, at the end of chapter two, though for a moment, the Preacher allows the eyes of his cloud covered perspective to look up and, behold, there’s a crack in the cover, and a glimpse of things above sun . . . a perspective sourced only in heaven.

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
(Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 ESV)

If we’re gonna keep on keepin’ on under the sun, says the Preacher, then the best we can hope for is to find some enjoyment from it. To be able to look upon the labor and trouble of life and see in it some good. But this, he realizes, is only possible if it comes from the hand of God. We might sow in the field, but apart from the favor of God, there is no harvesting and eating. We might work our tails off, but the jazz factor really comes when we see the fruits of labor in the context of the God of heaven.

A glimmer of light . . . a foreshadow of the real enjoyment that comes not from an “under the sun” view of life, but from setting our minds on things that are above (Col. 3:1-2). Real enjoyment is found when the work our hands find to do on this earth is done “heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” . . . when “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:17, 23 ESV).

So how important is perspective? Pretty!!!

It’s what turns “vanity, vanity” into get-all-giddy-with-excitement joy. It’s what elevates “making a living” to “investing in the kingdom.” It’s what shifts our focus from how much we have in the bank, or how many toys we’ve accumulated, to the treasure that we’re laying up in heaven. When we go from under the sun to things above, then real enjoyment is possible. When we make the shift from “working for the man” to serving the risen LORD, then our joy is full.

As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.   ~ Jesus (John 15:9-11 ESV)

Jesus’ joy in us. That sounds like real enjoyment! Amen?

By His grace . . . for His glory!

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A Kind of Firstfruits

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Pete

In a sense, they were Version 1.0 . . . the initial release. Those of the “twelve tribes in the Dispersion” were more than a prototype . . . as there was nothing that had to be tweaked or improved upon before “general release.” But they were among the first to experience the miracle of regeneration . . . to know the beginning of the dynamics spoken of by the prophets . . . hearts of stone replaced with hearts of flesh . . . minds able to be filled with the knowledge of God . . . and souls and spirits that would be invaded by the Holy Spirit. As James reminds me this morning, they were a kind of firstfruits.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.   (James 1:17-18 ESV)

When I became a Christian, I was able to immediately connect with those who had already run a couple of laps of the race set before us. Those who had had some experience with being born again . . . had some experience with the implications of resurrected spiritual DNA. While my early church family and mentors didn’t know all the answers, they knew quite a few. But what of these “hot off the presses” early believers? These Jewish Christians who were among the initial converts to the way of faith? Everything was brand new. There were very much learning to ride the bike as they were . . . well, riding the bike. But of this James reminds them, they were a kind of firstfruits.

Begat through nothing of their own merit but solely by the will of God. Given life by the power of the word of truth. The Holy Spirit speaks through James that they were a new creation unlike any creation before them. They were a kind of firstfruits.

MacDonald states three implications of being a kind of firstfruits. First, they were the first . . . literally. Among the first believers of this Christian dispensation. They were the initial harvest, as it were. Second, as patterned in the Levitical law, the implications of firstfruits is that they were offered to God in gratitude for His provision. The immutable Father of lights is the giver of “every good gift and every perfect gift” and, as such, the firstfruits should be freely given to Him as a sacrifice. Third, “the firstfruits were a pledge of the full harvest to come. James likened his readers to the first sheaves of grain in Christ’s harvest. They would be followed by others down through the centuries, but they were set forth as pattern saints to exhibit the fruits of the new creation” (MacDonald).

While I might not be technically among the firstfruits as were these early Jewish believers, I am very much a part of the new creation . . . and a part of God’s ongoing harvest. And as such, I am also encouraged to respond according to firstfruits principles. I should willingly offer the firstfruits of my time and possessions . . . both good gifts from the Father of lights. As I should, the firstfruits of the sacrifice of praise . . . thanksgiving born out of a continual awe concerning God’s grace . . . worship sourced in an ever fresh remembrance of the perfect gift of salvation given freely according to the the will of a loving God. And finally, the offering of the firstfruits of my very being—having been bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ, the Gift come down from heaven—acknowledging that I am no longer my own and thus offering myself as a living sacrifice, which is my appropriate spiritual act of worship (Rom. 12:1).

I may not be part of the “initial release” . . . but I am part of a work to be completed. To Him be all glory!

 

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My Face

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Pete

The words are pointed and harsh. Jeremiah comes out of his corner swinging. The God who has called him to be a prophet to the nations from before his birth (Jer. 1:5), has put words in his mouth “to pluck up and break down, to destroy and overthrow,” before they can “build and plant” (1:9-10). And the indictments hit their mark.

No one is exempt, not priest, not scribe, not shepherd, not prophet, and certainly not the guy on the street. Though they had once shown the devotion of a young bride madly in love (2:2), they now had “changed their glory for that which does not profit” (2:11). They had forsaken God, “the fountain of living waters,” and had instead sought to hew out their own cisterns, “broken cisterns that can hold no water” (2:13). Unfaithful to the LORD, the people of God who had been planted as a “choice vine, wholly of pure seed,” had “turned degenerate and become a wild vine” (2:21). The fear of God was not in them. Instead they forsook the LORD, saying to a chunk of wood, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave me birth” (2:27).

And here’s the indictment that trumps all indictments for me . . .

For they have turned their back to Me,
     and not their face.      (Jeremiah 2:27b ESV)

Might seem somewhat innocuous at first. Little harm from allowing other things to avert the glance from the God of heaven to the things of earth. Not that big of deal if, once in awhile, God takes second place to other pursuits. How much can it hurt if we periodically turn our gaze from the Glory and give Him but a partial ear to hear what He would desire of us? But eventually, the head does a full 180 . . . and God gets the back of our heads, the neck . . . and the longer the back is given to God, the stiffer the neck becomes.

As I once heard someone point out, how we position our face communicates tons. Giving someone the back of our head says, “I stand opposed to you.” Giving someone the side of your face says, “I’m interested in something or someone else. I’m indifferent to you.” But giving someone your face says, “I’m in to you.”

O, that I might not half attend to the face and voice of God and indicate my indifference. Might I beware of ever giving my back to God as something else tries to convince me that it will satisfy my thirst beyond the living water from heaven . . . that it, above God, is worthy of the firstfruits of my time and energy and provide greater returns than the One who sent His Son to redeem me. But might I always turn to Him my face.

Enamored with Him beyond the things of this earth . . . fixed upon Him more than the blessings that I have received from Him.

The Bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of grace:
Not at the crown He giveth,
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory,
And my eternal stand!      (The Sands of Time Are Sinking by Anne R. Cousin, 1857)

My face . . . not my back. By His grace . . . for His glory.

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