Wed, 20 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Corinthians 9:10-11

¹⁰ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Few things hit closer to home than when scripture talks to us about our giving. We are usually quite uncomfortable when we hear about our responsibility to give to God. But here Paul tells us alot about our giving, and how we should do it joyfully, not grudgingly or under compulsion.

In our verses quoted above, we learn that our giving is actually an expression of our faith, and will result in thanksgiving to God.

What do we learn from this?

When we give back to God a portion of what He has given to us, we acknowledge everything we have comes from Him. He richly supplies us, and we are giving back to Him from what He has supplied.

But it is more than that. When we give to God, we show that we trust Him to supply what we need. When we generously give back to God, we show that we trust in Him for our provision. We don’t horde what we have to ward off future scarcity, but rather we look to God.

God has provided everything we need, and then some. He has done that in the past. He has brought us to the point where we are today. All that we have has come to us from His loving hand. If He has done all that, we can trust Him for the future as well, and we demonstrate that faith by giving Him back a portion of what He has given to us today.

Where is Christ in this passage?

All of God’s people have come to Him through faith, trusting in Jesus Christ for their salvation. If we can trust God with souls for eternity because of the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf we certainly can trust Him with a portion of our money today.

Tue, 19 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 15:1-6

¹ After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. ² And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” ³ Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” ⁴ Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” ⁵ And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. ⁶ Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

David’s house is a mess. Amnon raped his half sister Tamar. David didn’t do anything. So Absalom takes justice into his own hands and kills Amnon. He then flees to Geshur for three years before being brought back to Jerusalem. David then ignores Absalom for a couple more years, and then he is fully restored with no consequences. In other words, David ignored the murder and pretends nothing has happened.

Is it any wonder that Absalom has come to the conclusion he can be a better judge than his father who has let these crimes go unpunished in his own household?

What do we learn from this?

David is living out the consequences of his sin. Apparently, David knowing his own guilt in his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah felt he could not judge his own sins when they are guilty of the same sin. And when he fails to maintain justice in his home, he loses all control of his family.

Sin has its consequences. We can not sin with impunity. As we see from the life of David, his sin led directly to the rebellion of his son and civil war in Israel. Sin is serious and has consequences.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Though we might have to live out the the consequences of our sin in this life, thank God we don’t have to live out the consequences in eternity. If we come to Jesus Christ, trusting in Him alone for salvation, we will find forgiveness. Jesus Christ has come as the substitute for all who come to Him in faith.

Mon, 18 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 68:1-3

¹ God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
² As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
³ But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!

Commentators note that this Psalm begins with variation of the statement the priests would make when the ark of the covenant would set out: Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. They then go on to speculate David might have composed this Psalm for the transportation of the ark to Jerusalem.

Whatever the circumstances of the origin of this Psalm, we do see David’s view of God as active and all powerful, and the enemies of God as transient and weak.

What do we learn from this?

God is not a passive onlooker in this world. He is not the watchmaker who has wound up the universe and then left it to run its course. He has created everything, and He continues to be actively involved in sustaining and maintaining everything. He knows what is going on in the world. He knows those who are in opposition to Him. As the continue to prosper in their rebellion, it might seem that God is ignoring them, or that He is unaware of what they are doing. But that is not the case. At His appointed time, God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered.

Note how the priestly prayer for God to arise is changed by the psalmist to be a stated fact: God shall arise. David display his faith in God. He is in control, and He will act. We might not see it yet, but it will come about. The wicked that seem to be so powerfully in charge are to God (and to the eyes of faith) no more than smoke to the wind or wax to the fire. They shall perish before God, to God’s glory. And so the righteous shall be glad as God is vindicated in His justice.

Where is Christ in this passage?

In scripture in general, and in the Psalms in particular, we are confronted with fact that there are two groups of people: the righteous and the wicked. Those who belong to God, and those who do not.

When we consider these to groups, we realize that if the groups of righteous and wicked are simply describing their conduct, we are in the group of the wicked. We have done what is wrong. We have violated God’s commands. In a word, we have sinned. All of us, without exception have sinned.

But there is more to these groups than conduct, for God has acted to bring people, sinful as they are, into the group of the righteous. He has provided a substitute to pay for their sins, and His substitute has earned the required righteousness.

This substitute who has allowed God to make a people for Himself is Jesus Christ. It is through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that God’s people are made righteous and are accepted into fellowship with God.

Sun, 17 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Ezekiel 20:10-17

¹⁰ So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹ I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. ¹² Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. ¹³ But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.

“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them. ¹⁴ But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. ¹⁵ Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands, ¹⁶ because they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness.”

Ezekiel was one of the Israelites carried into captivity by the Babylonians. He experienced the results of years of Israel’s sin. The Babylonian exile was God doing what He had promised to do if Israel rejected Him and turned to other gods. No one should be surprised that the nation of Judah was destroyed by Babylon, for this was the direct result of their sin.

In today’s passage, God reviews Israel’s history of unfaithfulness, going back to their days in Egypt, to show that God has been amazingly patient with Israel, sparing them from judgment until Ezekiel’s day. He would have been justified in wiping them out in Egypt or in the Exodus generation.

In the midst of this discussion, God tells of two great blessing He has granted His people. Despite their rebellion against Him, He has granted them the following:

1. I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live.
2. I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

What do we learn from this?

When God speaks of His people’s rebellion against Him, He lists their rejection of these two blessings as especially grieving to Him.

We often don’t realize the blessings God has given us. Life, health, prosperity, and children are all examples of things God blesses us with and we usually take for granted. Here we have two blessings God is particularly concerned about. We would do well to not abuse or ignore these.

God is concerned how we treat His word. He has given us His commands, that we would know how we can know Him, be made right with Him, and then live in obedience to Him.

What do we do with His word? Do we give it the prominent place in our lives that we should? Do we read it daily? Do we meditate upon it? Do we talk about it as we go about our lives? Do we regularly sit under faithful preaching to learn from it? Do we seek to live by it? Do we even realize how great a blessing we have in God’s word?

God is also concerned about how we treat the day of rest He has given us. He has given us one day in seven to be set aside for worship and rest from our worldly concerns.

What do we do with the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath? Is it a burden to us to refrain from work, so that though we keep a day of rest, our attitude is wrong? Do we treat it as any other day, except for attending church in the morning? Do we even do that little by attending church at all on the Lord’s Day?

What are we doing with the blessings God has provided us?

Where is Christ in this passage?

God says of His statutes: if a person does them, he shall live. If we want to be saved, we must be perfectly obedient to the law. It is necessary that we have this righteousness of perfect obedience in order to be right with God.

But if there is one thing we know it is this: none of us has kept the law perfectly. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We sin often. We don’t have the required righteousness to be saved.

But, thanks be to God, He has provided the righteousness we need. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life, living in total obedience to God’s statutes. He credits this righteousness He has earned to all those who come to Him in faith, trusting in Him alone for their salvation. So all of His people stand before God the Father, dressed in the righteousness of God the Son, and are accepted.

You see, we are saved by works. We are saved by perfect obedience to the law. But it is not our works, or our perfect obedience to the law. We are saved by Jesus Christ, His work and His perfect obedience to the law. As they are credited to us by faith, we are saved.

Sat, 16 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Corinthians 5:11

¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. ¹¹ Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

We know of the hardships Paul faced in his missionary journeys. From reading Acts, we learn of him being threatened, imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. He lived his life in constant danger and suffering many hardships. Why does he do it? How does he keep going?

Paul tells us his motivation in today’s reading. He understands that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

What do we learn from this?

Judgment. None of us will escape it. What we do is known to God, and all of us are going to receive what is due our actions. This should spur us on to tell others the gospel.

We would expect a good doctor to tell someone if they have a disease that will be fatal if not treated. In the same way, if we know the spiritual state of people around us, we should tell them how they can be right with God. If we don’t tell them, how will they know?

Knowing that we will all appear before God’s judgment seat motivates us to share the gospel. So if we are not sharing the gospel, we either don’t believe we will stand before God’s judgment, or we don’t care about the fate of those around us.

Where is Christ in this passage?

What we desire to persuade people of is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, all sins must be punished. The good news is that Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for the sins of all those who have come to Him in faith, trusting in His act to save them. But if we have not trusted in Him, we must pay the penalty ourselves, eternally in hell.

So knowing about God’s coming judgment, we tell people of what Jesus Christ has done, and we seek to persuade them to trust in Him only for their salvation.

Fri, 15 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 11:1

¹ In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

Perhaps it would be different if we didn’t know what was coming next, but this passage sounds ominous. Joab and the army are out fighting the enemies of Israel, but David, the commander of the army, stays home.

What do we learn from this?

Why didn’t David go to war with the troops? We don’t know. Perhaps there were important things at home that required his attention, and he knew the army was well lead. He knew they didn’t need him in this excursion, and he felt his time would be better spent doing other things.

What we do know is that while the army was fighting, David had idle time, and he fell into sin. Serious sin. The result of this one act in an idle moment leads to the rape of David’s daughter, the death of two of his sons, and civil war in Israel.

Actions have consequences. And how we handle our spare time can be crucial. When not occupied with other tasks, do we let our minds wander to places they should not go? Do we entertain thoughts of doing what we know to be wrong? Do we let our eyes wander where they should not be? If so, we are in great danger of falling into sin.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Sin is serious, and, as we see here in the life of David, there are consequences to our sinful actions. But the most serious consequence is that our sin separates us from God. God must punish every sin, and the result is hell.

But the good news is that Jesus Christ took these consequences upon Himself. He has paid the price for the sins of His people. He has borne the penalty for the sins of all who come to Him in faith. Jesus Christ paid for the sins of David, including the sins we read about in today’s chapter, and He bears your sins as well, if you come to Him trusting Him for your salvation.

Thu, 14 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 61:1-4

¹ Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
² from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
³ for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.

⁴ Let me dwell in your tent forever!
Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah

David found himself far from the tabernacle and cried out for God, longing to return and worship God.

What do we learn from this?

David’s desire was to dwell in your tent forever. To be free from the cares and concerns that took him far from where he could join with the people of God in worship. Worship was not something rote; it was not something he did because he had to. Worship was something he desired greatly and that strengthened him.

God is our rock, our fortress, our refuge. We can flee to Him in our times of need. When we are faint and weary, we can come to Him for strength. And that is what He grants us in worship. In our worship, God meets us with His grace, strengthening His people.

David knew this, and if we can learn this as well, it will change our attitude toward worship.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is the rock to which we must flee. He has lived the perfect life on behalf of His people, and He has died to pay the price for the sins of His people. And as we come to Him in faith, He grants us forgiveness for our sins. He is our refuge and shelter, protecting us from the wrath of God against our sins, for He has borne that wrath Himself. It is because of the work of Jesus Christ that we can dwell in the tent of the Lord forever.

Wed, 13 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Ezekiel 16:44-52

⁴⁴ “Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶ And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. ⁴⁷ Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. ⁴⁸ As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹ Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. ⁵¹ Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. ⁵² Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

Sodom was a notoriously wicked city, and we generally remember it most for the sin of homosexuality. But God tells us what their great guilt was: pride and lack of care for those in need.

What do we learn from this?

It is wrong for Christians to treat homosexuality as if it is the unforgivable sin and to single it out for our righteous indignation while we ignore our own sins of pride and lack of care for the poor. It is easy for us to look at others and find their “big” sins. It is harder for us to consider our own sins.

Of course we don’t ignore the sins of others. There is a time and a place for us to point out their sin and their need for repentance. But when we feel superior because we don’t do those “awful” sins we see others do, we need to stop and consider. The sin lists in scripture contain things we also are guilty of doing. Things like pride, disrespect for authorities, lying, harsh words against others, and failure to help those in need are also sins God hates. If I claim to be a follower of Christ, I need to deal with these thing in my own life.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus makes essentially the same point in the Sermon on the Mount: ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Tue, 12 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Corinthians 1:8-11

⁸ For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ¹¹ You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul, the super-Christian had everything together. No matter what happened, he always was content and happy, because he was so incredibly spiritual. I might get angry or discouraged, but he didn’t. He was so spiritual, every day was a wonderful day for him.

If we believe that, we are being very foolish. Paul had his ups and downs, just like us. He wasn’t some super-spiritual person who lived at a different level than we do. He was just like us, and had the same struggles and burdens. And here he tells us about when things were going badly for him and he gave up on life itself. He believed he was going to die, and felt that life was unendurable.

So we see that Paul struggled with times of deep despair.

What do we learn from this?

We will all come into times where we struggle with our circumstances. Being a Christian doesn’t exempt us from suffering. Nor does it mean that we won’t ever become depressed or despair of life.

But what being a Christian does mean is that when we hit those times, we will have something of incalculable worth: We have God’s promise that we can rely upon Him. When we are in desperate straits, and all we have to rely upon is our relationship to God, then we find that He will meet us with His love. He doesn’t promise to exempt us from the hard times, but He does promise to bring us through the hard times.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We usually like to think our times are the most difficult anyone has ever faced. We can’t get beyone the focus upon ourselves, and so we think our own suffering is more significant than anyone elses.

But in fact, Jesus Christ’s suffering was more intense than anything we have faced, and it was far more significant. It is by Jesus Christ’s birth, life, and death that we are saved. And as we apply that to ourselves by faith in Jesus Christ, we are saved.

We will still suffer, but our perspective has totally changed.

Mon, 11 September, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 6:1-11

¹ David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. ² And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. ³ And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, ⁴ with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

⁵ And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. ⁶ And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. ⁷ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. ⁸ And David was angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. ⁹ And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” ¹⁰ So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹ And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

David asks the question of how the ark of the Lord be brought to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, he asks the question after trying to transport it rather than before.

The ark of the covenant was an integral part of Israel’s worship. As such, God gave explicit instructions on how it was to be treated and transported. It was to be carried by the priest. David ignores these instructions and transports the ark on a cart.

This is a clear violation of God’s commands on how to treat this instrument of worship, and regardless of their good intentions, God punishes Uzzah by striking him dead for his effrontery of touching the ark.

What do we learn from this?

This is illustrative of the regulative principle. God cares greatly that we worship Him in the way He has commanded and only in the way He has commanded. We can’t add to or subtract from what He has told us to do in worship. If we do so, we are risking calling down God’s wrath upon ourselves.

When it comes to worship, we can’t do whatever we want. We must spend the time to think through what we do and make sure there is a biblical warrent for all that we do. If we can’t find scripture to back up our practices, we must discontinue them. And if scripture commands us to do something, then we must do it.

Good intentions do not make up for disobedience to what God would have us do in worship. If you doubt this, ask Uzzah how well his good intentions served him.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The ark of the covenant was representative of God’s presence in the midst of His people. And in His holiness, He is completely unapproachable. We, as sinful people, can not come into God’s presence. To do so is to die.

But God has done something completely amazing. He has sent Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins and to earn the righteousness we need to be right with Him. As we come to God dressed in the righteousness of Christ, we are accepted into God’s presence. We can come to Him, not because we have been righteous, but because Christ’s perfect righteousness is credited to us. We are perfect, in Jesus Christ, and therefore we are acceptable.

Because of the work of Jesus Christ applied to us, we can now come to God. The veil of the temple has been torn in two, and the inner sanctuary with the ark is now open, showing us that we now have access to the very presence of God. All because of what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf.