September 20, 2016
Having already prophesied God’s judgment on Israel, Isaiah spoke of the day of their return from Babylonian captivity. Yet, this prophecy was not completely fulfilled at that time. Indeed, they did return and surely there was singing, but their joy was not “everlasting,” and their “sorrow and sighing” did not cease. The complete fulfillment surely points to Christ’s “ransom” of those who have believed, buying them out of sin’s captivity and setting them free to live as citizens of “Zion,” which in this case points metaphorically to heaven. For in that Day the ransomed of the Lord will experience “everlasting joy” without any mixture of sorrow.
September 20, 2016
Fruit is singular. One fruit with nine seeds, each a part of a triad of triads. These are not works. We can’t do them. They are evidence of being connected to the Vine. Abiding in Christ, we increasingly bear these character traits.
September 19, 2016
David wrote that God’s love for us is “better than life.” Not his love for God, but God’s love for him. Knowledge of God’s love brought praise to his lips. God’s love has been most clearly revealed in Jesus. For as the apostle John wrote, “This is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). God’s love as expressed in Jesus should be the motive for our worship.
September 18, 2016
Our spiritual identity in Christ is greater than racial, demographic, gender and any other physical identities. An emphasis on the latter leads to disunity and strife. But a focus on the former leads to oneness and blessing. Law cannot accomplish this kind of unity and peace. Only those who by faith have believed in Christ may know this oneness of being members together in God’s family. This is not a call to forget physical conditions, but to make identity in Christ your banner. Race, class and gender warfare belong to the former way of life and have no place among those who follow Jesus.
September 17, 2016
What is the “curse of the law?” Does Paul teach that the law itself is accursed? Certainly not. The law of God is perfect. The law teaches us of righteousness, the difference between right and wrong. Yet, this teaching cannot empower us to keep it, nor can it save us when we inevitably break it. The law is like a mirror, revealing our sin-blemished, leprous flesh, but not able to heal us from its terminal progression. So, what is “the curse of the law?” It is the curse that falls on anyone who does not keep every word of the law. For the one who would live by the law, seeking to be justified by their own effort at righteousness, must keep every word of it (Gal. 3:10, Deut. 27:26). But the good news is this: Christ has “redeemed,” bought us out from under the “curse,” so that we might experience God’s “blessing” (Gal. 3:14). We are to live by faith in Christ’s redemption, not by claiming to be good enough through our own effort.
September 16, 2016
Christianity is not a self-improvement course. We are not called to come and do, but to come and die. For the new life is not self-improvement, but self-denial. We consider our old self “crucified with Christ” and our new self risen with Him to new life. We die to sin and we also die to self-effort, no longer trying to please God by following some set of religious rules and regulations that we are unable to keep. Dying to self, we live by Christ, “trusting” in Him to live His life in and through us.
September 15, 2016
David loved to write and sing praises to the Lord. Can you think of a better reason to sing? Get your praise on today and watch your worries slip away. Let God be your fortress and strength. For He loves you with a “steadfast love.”
September 14, 2016
The apostle Paul wrote to correct those who had fallen prey to the “gospel” of the Judaizers, who insisted that new believers had to follow all the laws of Moses. He challenged them not to desert the “grace of Christ” revealed in the true gospel. Every generation must face a similar challenge. For every generation is faced with those who would add to or subtract from the gospel, proposing a “different gospel,” as if there could be another. But there is only one true gospel. Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day. If you will confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved (Rom. 10:9). This is the only gospel.
September 13, 2016
This beautiful benediction closed Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Paul’s trinitarian blessing bestowed three powerful attributes of the Godhead upon the believers at Corinth. 1) The “grace” (χάρις – charis) of Jesus. Which is Christ’s free and unmerited favor. 2) The “love” (ἀγάπη – agape) of God. Which is God’s unconditional love and chief attribute. 3) The “fellowship” (κοινωνία – koinonia) of the Spirit. Which is the abiding communion of the Spirit living in those of us who believe. May this threefold blessing be yours today!
September 12, 2016
More than a motto on our money, this is a declaration of faith. Trust in God above all others. Written by the one who slew Goliath, it is not hyperbole, but a tested conclusion, i.e. “since God is greater than man (even giant ones), I will not fear man, because I trust in God.” Wherever there is fear, especially fear of man, there is lack of faith.