Shiloh Remembered (2011 Rerun)

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Pete

I’ll take lesser-remembered dwelling places of God for 500, Alex. . . . What is Shiloh?

Found myself hovering over Joshua 19 this morning. In particular, the thrice repeated reminder that when they initially entered the land of promise, the tent of meeting was set up in Shiloh. That’s where the glory dwelt when they first moved in. That’s where the Lord pitched His tent initially. That’s where you went if wanted to be in the presence of God. That’s where you went if you wanted to know the mind of God. That’s where they cast lots to finish distributing the land. “Before the LORD in Shiloh” (18:8, 18:10, 19:51).

Found myself noodling on Shiloh because it was where the glory use to dwell. The place of presence mostly forgotten because the glory departed.

It caused me to go back in my archives to see if I’d written on it before. And I had. Thought I’d rerun those musings this morning.

Think about God’s dwelling place in Israel and you immediately think about Jerusalem. But that wasn’t His first “address.” That isn’t where God, literally, first pitched His tent. No, Joshua 18 reminds me this morning that, after “the land lay subdued before them, . . . the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there” (Joshua 18:1).

Shiloh . . . literally “place of rest” . . . that’s where God first took up residence within the freshly occupied promised land. Shiloh in Ephraim, not Jerusalem in Judah, was the initial resting place of the tent of meeting . . . the place where the ark first resided . . . the place where the glory first dwelt in the land . . . the place where Joshua could meet with the Lord (Joshua 18:8, 9). What a privileged place Shiloh was. What a blessed place. What a holy place. Oh, how tragic, that it became the “previous place” . . . the empty place . . . the place where the glory use to dwell.

I don’t know if the people who put my reading plan together did it on purpose or if it is just a “God thing”, but I also came across Shiloh in my reading in the Psalms this morning . . . the one and only reference to Shiloh in the Psalms.

Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies, but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger with their high places; they moved Him to jealousy with their idols. When God heard, He was full of wrath, and He utterly rejected Israel. He forsook His dwelling in Shiloh, the tent where He dwelt among mankind and delivered His power to captivity, His glory to the hand of the foe.

(Psalm 78:56-61 ESV)

The Psalmist recounts the repeated gracious, mighty works of God on behalf of the descendants of Jacob, and the just as often repeated rebellion of “a generation whose heart was not steadfast, who spirit was not faithful to God” (78:8b) . . . who “tested God in their heart” (78:18) . . . who “did not believe in God and did not trust His saving power” (78:22) . . . who “tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep His testimonies, but turned away . . . provoked Him to anger . . . moved Him to jealousy” (78:56-58) . . . so that God forsook His dwelling at Shiloh (see 1Samuel 1:3, 4:4-11 for more on Shiloh’s fall) . . . and moved out. (Deep sigh!)

Shiloh . . . the first home of God . . . the forgotten home of God . . . the place where the glory used to dwell. Kind of set me up for my reading in 1Corinthians this morning . . .

” ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be enslaved by anything. . . . do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

(1Corinthians 6:12, 19-20 ESV)

Paul reminds me of another dwelling place of God . . . another place where, by His grace, He has taken up residence . . . another place where He desires His glory to dwell and to be known. Uh, that would be me. And while I don’t believe God would “move out” on a believer, I do know believers of whom it can be said, “The glory of God used to be on him . . . the presence of God used to be with her.” I can think of those who aren’t living up to the potential of God in them . . . of those who, though they were once on fire for the Lord, are, for now at least, not finishing well. Sad thought . . . to be the place where God’s glory use to be known.

Oh that, by His grace, I might not be such a place. That, by the power of the Spirit in me, I might check any spirit of pride or rebellion . . . that I would resist any pull toward a half-hearted, compromising faithfulness to the things of the kingdom . . . that I would just say “No” to joining myself to that which would draw me away from my “first love” (Rev. 2:4). I so don’t want to be a Shiloh . . .

By His grace. For His glory.

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Take Your Place at the Table

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Pete

Hovering over a few verses in Mark this morning (Mark 2:13-17). Pretty well known, it portrays a picture of a bunch of people around a dining table in a tax collector’ house — a tax collector, Levi, who has become a follower of Jesus.

At the table? More tax collectors along with a bunch of other sinners of various sorts. Oh yeah, and Jesus and His disciples are there too.

Watching over Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners? The scribes of the Pharisees. People of the word. Religious, upstanding people. Literally upstanding, as in standing up. The text seems to indicate they were observing rather than partaking. Looking down at the table rather than across it. And they’re bothered seeing this supposed rabbi breaking bread with these well-known reprobates. So, they ask a question, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

And, as I try to imagine the scene, I gotta ask my own question, “Am I in the room?”

Well, if I want to be where Jesus is, then I better be in the room? Okay. So, then who am I in that room?

Well, I’m certainly not Jesus. That narrows it down. So, I’m either eating at the table or I’m standing apart from the table judging the table. Don’t want to think of myself as a pharisaical, bible know-it-all, so that leaves only one place left. I must be at the table.

But am I?

And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

(Mark 2:17 ESV)

Those at the table are those who have need of a physician. Not those who once had a need. Not those who, at one point in their lives, had booked an appointment with the doctor, took the medicine of the gospel and said a sinner’s prayer, but never really saw the need to go back again. No, those at the table are those who are sick. Not the righteous, but sinners. Not ex-sinners, but sinning sinners.

Jerry Bridges, concluding his book on “The Blessing of Humility”, presses the point that “the gospel is only for sinners”, and so if we are going to continue to appropriate the gospel, we need to come to it “as still-practicing sinners” (Kindle p.93). Being at the table with Jesus, day in and day out, means being in desperate need for Jesus, day in and day out.

Though we have been declared righteous in standing, we shouldn’t think ourselves as standing above the table. Instead, we need to bear a readiness and willingness for repentance until our actual state “catches up” to our standing (even so, Lord Jesus come!).

Thank God for a place at the table! It’s available to tax collectors and sinners. It’s even available to self-righteous scribes. The great Physician invites all who are sick, “Come, take your place at the table.”

What amazing grace! To God be the glory.

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One is the Only-est Number

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Pete

Normally, I’d just kind of skim these verses. And, actually, I did . . . the first time through. But then something (Someone?) made me go back and hover a little . . . and do a little math.

In Joshua 12 a roll is taken, a summary listed of the peoples defeated by Joshua & Co. west of the Jordan. Whether it was in the hill country or in the lowlands; whether on the slopes or in the wilderness; Israel defeated king after king. How many kings? Thirty-one kings. How’d they do it? One at a time. Making me think this morning that, when it comes to taking on our own battles, one is the only-est number.

And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir (and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their allotments, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb, the land of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites): the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; . . .the king of Tirzah, one: in all, thirty-one kings.

(Joshua 12:7-10, 24 ESV)

One . . . one . . . one . . . one . . . Get the pattern? Feeling the rhythm? Is there something this repetition is laying down that I should be picking up? I’m thinkin’!

Let’s be honest, taking the land — even when it’s promised land — can be a somewhat daunting task. A big undertaking. A lot of unknowns. Fierce enemies ready to fight because, at least in Joshua’s situation, they were fighting for their lives. So how do you move into a land with a lot of enemies? How do you take territory that’s bigger than you know? Reminds me of the modern proverb: “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: One bite at a time. Applying that answer: One king at a time.

Sure, a few of them ganged up together and tried to create some critical mass in order to defeat Joshua’s entering army, but God had determined in advance their destruction and Israel’s deliverance (Josh. 11:19-20). So, when all was said and done except for doing the math afterward, the counting was done one at a time. ‘Cause one is the only-est number.

I don’t have a land to possess, but I do have a world to resist (1Jn. 2:15). I’m not called to destroy cities, but I am commanded to die to self (Rom. 8:12-13). I may not be a warrior, but I am a wrestler, and I’m not wrestling against flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12). I may not be at war, but there always seems to be tribulation (Jn. 16:33). So, how do I go forward and take on what God has put before me to take on?

I meet each challenge, I enter each battle, one at a time. In the name of the LORD. No confidence in myself, but confident in the one who has promised to complete the work He’s begun (Php. 1:6). No strength in myself, but my weakness actually being the “secret sauce” for displaying the power of God (2Cor. 12:9). Not always sure of what’s ahead or how I’m gonna get through it, but assured that the God who saved me is the God who is with me and will never leave me nor forsake me (Joshua 1:5, Heb. 13:5). So, I enter the fray and stand fast against whatever the opponent, and I do it one by one by one by one by one . . . (you get the idea).

Overwhelmed? Sometimes. But if God is for us who can be against us (Rom. 8:31)?

And so, by faith and loaded up with mercies that are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23), we’ll take on whatever needs to be taken on, reminded that one is the only-est number.

But also reminded that, in Christ, one isn’t the loneliest number — for Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20). And that’s one thing we just can’t ever forget. Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.

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Cutters of Wood, Drawers of Water

Posted on April 1, 2024 by Pete

Hovering over Joshua 9 this morning. Familiar territory (no pun intended . . . well maybe a little). But this morning I find myself chewing on something I’ve not chewed on before.

Context? The inhabitants of Gibeon, a large and royal city, see the writing on the wall after Israel’s defeat of Jericho and Ai. They’re doomed too — unless they can somehow get the Israelites into making a covenant of peace with them. So, they set up a scam, tricking Joshua & Co. to believe they are people from a far-off land wanting to be Israel’s allies. The Israelites bite, and the Gibeonites are spared.

Before, when reading this, I’ve always focused on the folly of the Israelite leaders who “did not ask counsel from the LORD” (9:14) before entering into a pact with the sly Gibeonites. But this morning, I’m wondering if there isn’t something to be considered about the faith of the Gibeonites.

Unlike the people of Ai, who had heard about Jericho but decided to fight anyway, the Gibeonites heard of Israel’s victories and believed they could not stand against their God, the God who had delivered Israel from Egypt and was now giving them a promised land. Like Rahab (Joshua 2), they were convinced of God’s power and took action in order to cast themselves upon God’s mercy, even if it meant a little trickery. But did they fully foresee the consequences of being spared?

Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell among us? Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you— so we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.” So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place that he should choose.

(Joshua 9:22-26 ESV)

Cutters of wood and drawers of water . . . that’s what I’m chewing on this morning. Their “curse” avoided the curse of death. While their “curse” connected them to the covenant people as servants, at least they were living servants. Sure, they weren’t their own anymore, but at least they could be someone’s evermore. They may have lost the right to a personal agenda, but they had gained the privilege of living within proximity of the Almighty.

Don’t think I can take this too far, but I’m kind of relating to the Gibeonites this morning. Not to justify their tactics, but they knew that Israel’s God was a God to be feared — and that’s the beginning of wisdom, isn’t it (Prov. 9:10)? Granted, their motives for “coming to God” were kind of self-serving, but how many of us came to Jesus because we believed He would save us from the wrath to come (Rom. 5:9)? And though we were adopted as sons and daughters of God (Rom. 8:15), didn’t we, like the Gibeonites, also became slaves of God (Rom. 6:22). While we too became no longer are our own (1Cor. 6:19-20), yet he had life — and not just life, but life abundantly (Jn. 10:10)!

Don’t know how those Gibeonites thought about where they ended up. But for me, thinking that it’s better to be a doorkeeper than an enemy.

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

(Psalm 84:10 ESV)

Better to be doorkeepers, or cutters of wood, or drawers of water . . .

By His grace. For His glory.

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You’ve Never Been This Way Before

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Pete

For the past 40 years it had become pretty routine, “whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle the people of Israel would set out” (Ex. 40:36). When the glory got up and got going, the people packed up the tabernacle in the wilderness and followed. When the cloud hovered, they set up camp, each tribe bedding down in their prescribed proximity to the tabernacle. When the cloud moved out again, they moved out again in the precise order of departure determined by the Lord (Numbers 2).

For 40 years, whether it was coming or going it was always the same — they could do it almost without thinking. For whatever journey the clouds departure brought, it too was the same old journey — another day doing laps in the wilderness. The scenery the same. The mileposts way too familiar. Lap after lap, year after year, day in and day out, the same old same old — pick up the manna, break camp, follow the ark, stop when the cloud stops, and set up camp. Yawn! We’ll do it again tomorrow.

That’s what came to mind as a result of noodling on an obscure verse in Joshua which popped off the page this morning. Heads up, says the Spirit, you’ve never been this way before.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

(Joshua 3:1-4 ESV)

Rise early as you’ve always risen early. Follow as you’ve always followed. But today, be careful to maintain an extra distance, for there’ll be no nose-to-butt, do-it-in-your-sleep, marching by rote stuff today. Hang back a half mile so that you’ll know the way to go, cause this ain’t just another lap around Sinai. I’m taking you down a new path today, and you have not passed this way before.

Huh! Something to chew on, me thinks.

For a guy who likes routine, I might just have to remember that following Jesus isn’t necessarily about finding my well-worn rut and mindlessly sticking to it. As a guy who likes repetition, I might be wise to remember that doing life as usual shouldn’t lead me to expect that I can “do Jesus” as usual. Because sometimes, you’re gonna be going down a path you’ve never been down before. Then, keying into the glory will be key. Keeping your distance in order to see His leading will be vital. Not presuming that Jesus is going to lead just as He’s always led, just smart thinking.

When you’ve never been this way before, routine’s out the window. Longing for the monotony of “been there, done that” is totally messed with. The illusion of self-sufficiency goes up in smoke. When you’ve never been this way before, you need to follow Jesus consciously, clearly, and completely dependent on Him to lead.

So, isn’t it another aspect of God’s goodness and grace when He takes us to places we’ve never been before — even places we’d rather not go? I’m thinkin’. For it’s on those unfamiliar paths where we can know Jesus like we’ve never known Him before. Aware of His presence in a way we may have not been aware of it for some time.

It’s on those unknown paths where we tend to re-focus on the reality that we real need to be following in the trail of glory. Where we’re aware of the need to ensure our eyes are fixed from a holy distance on our holy God. And we need to believe that on this never traveled path, we can know the way we should go because He knows the way we should go.

They were about to cross the Jordan, to enter into a battle to possess a land they had been promised. And on this day, they were to rise early, awake to the reality they were walking down a new road, and follow at a distance, making sure they didn’t take their eyes off the glory which led them.

Good counsel, I’m thinking, when you’ve never been this way before.

Yes?

By His grace. For His glory.

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A Plea to Be

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Pete

Repetition does its work again this morning. What I’m chewing on is a phrase served up multiple times — 4 times to be exact. And yet it isn’t the fact that these phrases are all the same that has me thinking this morning, it’s that — to coin something I learned from Sesame Street — one of these things is not like the other.

Operation “Take the Land” is soon to commence. The big game is about to begin. And God serves up a pre-game pep talk to His quarterback, Joshua.

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, . . . “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

(Joshua 1:1, 6-9 ESV)

As Joshua gets his head in the game before leading God’s people in taking the land that God has promised, at this moment, there’s one command above other commands he needs to take to heart — Be strong and courageous. If Joshua was going to lead the people to occupy the land promised to their ancestors, God knew Joshua would need strength and courage.

Okay, Pete. Three repetitions in short order, pretty important command to obey from God’s perspective. Got it. But you said the phrase was repeated 4 times.

Yup, and here’s where one of these things is not quite like the other.

And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses! Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

(Joshua 1:16-18 ESV)

There it is, the fourth be strong and courageous. But this time it isn’t spoken by the Almighty and All-Powerful LORD of heaven, but by the flesh and blood people of Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of Manasseh, those who would settle east of the Jordan after helping their kinsmen take the land promised west of the Jordan. And this time it isn’t so much spoken as a command to obey by One with the authority to command Joshua to obey, but it comes across to me more like a plea to be — to be what the people are counting on their leader to be. Be strong and courageous . . . cause we’re depending on you.

God had placed leadership over His people. The people were committing to place themselves under God’s chosen leaders. So, what did they need from their leaders? Strength! Courage!

Isn’t that kind of what we need today among God’s people? I’m thinkin’ . . .

We need leaders who, by God’s grace and with the Spirit’s enabling, will lead, by faith, with strength and with courage. Those who will stand for the Word, contend for the faith, and faithfully shepherd God’s people. And we need people who, by God’s grace and with the Spirit’s enabling, will follow, by faith, trusting that God has raised up those set in leadership over them. And that they’ll do so with strength and with courage.

How we need strong leaders in the church — strong while being submitted to the Lord. How we need courageous leaders in the church — courageous while being committed to their people. Ready to take the land while standing fast against the allure of land. Determined to be faithful while always aware of their frailty and need for gospel power to do gospel work.

Strength! Courage! I’m thinking that’s the plea to be which God’s people need to be praying over those God has placed over them in the Lord (1Thess. 5:12).

According to God’s grace. Always for God’s glory.

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In the Lord

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Pete

Identity. For those who have ears to hear, there’s a lot of talk these days about identity. Who we are. What we is.

As I wrap up Romans this morning, a couple of short, repeated phrases remind me of my identity.

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus . . .

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

(Romans 16:3, 7-13 ESV)

In the Lord . . . That’s what I’m chewing on this morning. ‘Cause that’s what I am, that’s who I am — In the Lord.

What defines me, first and foremost, is that I am “in Christ.” What marks me, above all things that could mark me, is that I am “in the Lord.”

As the “credits” role at the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he lists friends and fellow workers. Men and women. Jews and Gentiles. Some of worldly repute, others not so much. But for whatever might have distinguished them from one another, what bound them together — beyond their common relationship with Paul — was their identity as those who were in the Lord.

They were chosen in the Lord, approved in Christ, and beloved in the Lord, only to then become fellow workers in the Lord.

It wasn’t their talents that distinguished them. It wasn’t their standing in society. It wasn’t what they accomplished. It wasn’t who they knew. When all was said and done — when the final chapter of the letter was written (literally) — what marked this cast of “bit players” was that they were in the Lord.

That’s who this “bit player” sitting in this chair this morning is, just a guy in the Lord. And, at the end of the day — at the end of my day — that is what will mark me. The only label that will make an real difference is that label. That will be my only boast — that I was in Christ.

Nobody in particular. But somebody in Christ.

Chosen. Beloved. Approved. A worker. In the Lord.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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Where’d That Cow Go?

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Pete

Continuing to work my way through Deuteronomy. Lot of commands to obey. Lot of to do’s. A fair number of to don’t’s as well. Some dealing with pretty weighty (aka sinful) matters. Some dealing with pretty weird (aka cultural) matters. Some I get. Some, like not boiling a goat in its mother’s milk, not as much. But the one that jumped off the page this morning was a bit surprising.

As part of the behaviors catalogue communicated by Moses as to what marks a set apart people — “a people holy to the LORD” (Dt. 26:19) — this command to obey seems, at first, kind of mundane. And yet, if it was heeded intentionally and consistently, it truly would serve to distinguish from the nations surrounding them a people who know they are “His treasured possession” (Dt. 26:18).

“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.”

(Deuteronomy 22:1-4 ESV)

You may not ignore it . . . you shall help. Those are the commands to obey I’m chewing on this morning.

You’re out for a morning walk and some “me time” and you see an untethered cow coming at you. You’re rushing to the neighbors to get a cup of sugar and there, by the side of the road, is a stray sheep. Whaddya’ gonna do? You must not ignore it . . . thus saith the LORD through Moses. Don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it . . . so says Peterson in The Message. You shall help him.

Okay, but what if the owner’s nowhere to be seen?

Take it home. Feed it. Care for it. Protect it. And when someone comes looking for it, restore it to him.

Take on someone else’s burden? Even when they’re the ones who couldn’t keep things corralled? And on my nickel?

Yeah, now you’re getting it.

How prone am I to be too busy to be my brother’s keeper — or at least his livestock’s keeper? Pretty prone. How self-absorbed to not come to the rescue of a sister when I come across an opportunity to come to her rescue — or at least to the rescue of her sheep? Too self-absorbed, I fear. Too often, if I’m honest.

But how amazing would it be to find a community that is constantly watching one another’s backs — or at least their livestock? How inviting a people who, because they are set apart to God, are set toward caring for each other — or at least each other’s sheep? Pretty inviting.

Just an Old Testament thing? Nope. Came across it in my Romans’ reading this morning, too.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

(Romans 13:8 ESV)

You may not ignore it. You shall help.

Because of God’s grace. For God’s glory.

Now, where’d that cow go? . . .

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Love Unfeigned

Posted on March 18, 2024 by Pete

According to my handy-dandy online lexicon, the four word command-to-obey which catches my attention this morning, is but two words in the original.

Continuing to read in Romans 12 this morning. After 11 chapters of intense theology, Paul shifts (as Paul does in most of his letters) to answering the “so what?” After laying out what we are to believe, he lays out the implications for how we should behave. So, after appealing to the saints “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” as the right response to the “mercies of God” laid out in the previous chapters, he proceeds to paint a picture of what presenting your body as a living sacrifice looks like. It’s one of those “looks” that I’m chewing on this morning.

Let love be genuine. (Romans 12:9a ESV)

Four words in my English translation, but two words in the original.

Love unfeigned. Or, love undisguised. Or, love sincere.

Other English translations render it:

Let love be without hypocrisy. (CSB)

Love must be sincere. (NIV)

Don’t just pretend to love one another. (NLT)

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. (MSG)

Those who desire to offer their bodies as living sacrifices will love sincerely. Not with some veneer of pretense, but with a deep desire for authenticity.

Loving authentically not presupposing loving perfectly. For, it seems to me, loving without hypocrisy will require recognizing those times we haven’t loved as we should. Those attempted acts of love when the old man gets in the way of the new commandment (Jn. 13:34). When the old nature within prevents the fullness of Christ’s love from flowing without. When what we sincerely intended for good, somehow gets lost in the translation. In those instances, it seems to me, love unfeigned will manifest itself in repentance unconstrained. Not pretending will mean openly confessing. Not faking evidenced by admitting we failed.

Love unfeigned. When we get it right, and when we get it less than right.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Not Just a King Thing

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Pete

God knew the day would come, the day when His people would ask for a king (1Samuel 8:5-7,19-20). It would be inevitable that they would eventually want to layer in a man-on-the-throne monarchy over their God-in-the-midst theocracy. And so, knowing the day would come, God graciously provides a section on “How to Be King” (chapter 17, verses 14 to 20) within His “Promised Land Preparation” guide (Deuteronomy).

He would be a king of God’s choosing. He would be a king from among one of the tribes of Israel. What’s more, there were certain things he wasn’t to do, “lest his heart turn away”, and one pretty big thing he was to do, “so that he may continue long in his kingdom.”

I’m chewing on that big thing, this morning. And, it’s not just a king thing.

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”

(Deuteronomy 17:18-20 ESV)

After writing out his inauguration speech, the new king’s first job was to write out a copy of the law. Before penning any new legislation, he was to pen a bible. And that copy of God’s word was to be with him, to be read by him, and to be kept by him. It would be the guiding source of his reign all the days of his life. It would be the protecting groundwork for his heart for all the leading he was to do.

I’m no king, but there are certain things I’m responsible for. No regent, yet a certain sphere of responsibility. No grand power, though a fair amount of freedom to exercise my prerogative. And this as a child of God, a follower of Jesus, and an ambassador for a heavenly kingdom. How do I faithfully discharge my duties then? What’s going to keep me on the rails so that I don’t “turn aside.” Perhaps I’d be wise to take a cue from God’s “So You Wanna Be a King” handbook.

I know of a man who wrote out the bible by hand (King James version no less) — he was the father of a friend of the family who had the three-ring binders on display in a little bookstore she ran out of her home. Wouldn’t that be an undertaking? A good exercise, but glad it’s not a required expectation.

But to have a bible “with me”, to “read in it”, to “keep its words”, now that’s something I think is paramount to leading whatever life I’ve been graced of God to lead. Critical for staying rightly aligned with the King of kings. Vital for learning to the fear the Lord. Essential for being transformed by the renewing of my mind. Critical for being conformed to the likeness of my Savior. Foundational for flourishing, whatever the realm I’ve been given by God to operate within.

And it shall be with him . . .

Not just a king thing.

Word of God speak.

By His grace. For His glory.

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