9/4/13

From Gary... Just enough




"DEAD END"; now these are words that echo of finality. No where to go, end of the line, bought the farm, time for a sod nap, time to feed the worms... and such terms are depressing.  Yet, the name of the road is hope and where there is hope, possibilities exist.  Solomon put it this way...

Ecclesiastes, Chapter 9
 4 For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.   

And dogs in the Middle East are accounted as nothing, to even be eaten when necessary.  But for those of us who look beyond this life, we do so in hope.  Not that we are anything special!!!  We are not!!! As I review my life, I am forced to realize that I have "just enough". Just enough strength to get through the day, just enough intelligence to realize I will never be brilliant, and just enough love to want more and more and more.  However, "just enough" is just that - ENOUGH!!! God has given this life to me and the promise of one beyond what I can see.  Even when I take that last journey down Hope Valley Road and reach my last DEAD END, I have confidence that I will see Jesus.  At that time and in that place, I will have "just enough" as long as I have him.  Peter puts it this way...

1 Peter, Chapter 1
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.  3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy became our father again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,  5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,  7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—  8 whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory—  9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

On my own, I lack what it takes to get to heaven.  But, through the sacrifice of Jesus, I have "just enough" to live forever.  This is worth sharing and the real reason why I write my blog.  

1 Peter, Chapter 3
 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:

Any questions?

From Jim McGuiggan... WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?*

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?*

Isaiah 46:1-2 allows us to imagine the back gates of an ancient city being swung open and under cover of darkness out comes a long line of huge wagons with giant wheels pulled by straining oxen and donkeys. There are strong men as well, pushing and shoving with all their might, giving the straining animals all the help they can give them while the huge wheels creak and the beds of the wagons groan in protest under the massive loads.
And what is this? It's a rescue attempt! The grunting, sweating and straining animals and men are trying to keep the gigantic idol gods from falling into the hands of the enemy (and see Isaiah 21:9).
The historical referent is just prior to 539 BC when the Persians took the city of Babylon and the leaders are sneaking the gods out the back doors to keep them from being taken into captivity where they would be set up in a public show—to demonstrate how powerful the conquerors were.
The idols are the visible representation of the powerful gods the Babylonians thought existed and weary animals (46:1) had to carry them. The gods can't even give strength to the burden bearers much less deliver the burdensome idols from captivity (46:2) and so all that's involved in the picture (gods, the burdensome idols and the burden bearers) goes into captivity.
What's wrong with this picture? Should a god not carry his worshippers? Does it make sense to worship as a deliverer what exists only because we ourselves made it and sustain it? There is nothing behind the idols, said the prophets, and even if there were gods, what use are they? They can't rescue their own idol images and they can't give strength to the people who are trying to rescue the images. What a rip-off!
The prophet knows the history of sinful Israel but he still insists on speaking the word of the Lord who has nurtured and carried Israel since her beginning (46:3-4). Ancient Babylon and we very modern moderns might worry about the failure of our gods because in fact we are the ones who must sustain them but Israel had no grounds for such concern. "Quick, quick, get the Lord out the side gate because the enemy is coming!" None of that's needed! "Hurry, hurry, stifle that talk and silence that argument for God is in danger." None of that's needed. "Wring your hands and pace the floor in anxiety for the whole Western world and its governments have risen up against God and his people." "Oh dear, Professor X and a famous celebrity openly said they didn't believe in God." And on the other hand there's the (almost) relief when some athlete or movie star expresses faith in God. "We're not alone. One of the major players has come over on to our side." That eases our anxiety and gives God a direly needed helping hand.
Prophetic confidence was in God, in no one and nothing else! These men had their own moments of dismay and even the gang-busting Elijah had his experience with depression. But it's still true that they stood for what was best in Israel's faith and called the people back to God, insisting that in him and in him alone there was hope of redemption from sin and loss.
Isaiah 43 is one long insistence that God alone cares for Israel and that he alone is her Saviour. A slow thoughtful reading of the entire chapter is an education and a lift to the heart because so many relationships between God and Israel are expressed and implied in it. He created them, chose them, named them, ransomed them, revealed himself to them, honoured and loved them.
It's hard to say who the speaker is in Isaiah 33 but it's probably the prophet. He speaks of Israel's terrible need in time of siege and horror and confesses the judgement of God against his sinning people. But he's sure that the judgement is not meant to be utter abandonment but God's redeeming work for he speaks of the future with sure hope (33:17-21). And what is it he rests in? It certainly isn't the coming of foreign allies to break the siege or the ability of Judean ambassadors to talk their way out of trouble (compare 36:5-7 and 11-12). No, he speaks with assurance for the future (33:22), "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; it is he who will save us." In light of Israel's sin we might have expected the prophet to say, "He is our Judge, our Lawgiver and our King therefore he will destroy us" but that's not what he says. That's not even close to what he says! If we are to be judged this God will judge us and if we're to be saved this God will save us because there is no other.
One day, weary with all our trying, worn out with all our schemes and self-generated attempts to make things right in our lives and in our world we'll turn to God in the desperation of faith and we'll be saved.  "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked." (Isaiah 45:22-23)
I'm not saying that people should do nothing, pretending that God will transform the world with a wave of a wand—no! We're to engage with life in the world but we're to do it in the light of and with trust in the Lord God. To exclude God from human life is to transform the entire enterprise. It becomes what atheist Blackham described it as: pointless, too bad to be true.
Poor human race! Poor pathetic, blind and deaf human race. We can't cure ourselves, can't guide ourselves, can't control ourselves or save ourselves. We manufacture gods out of everything we can think of and then fall down before them and say to them, "Deliver us". We make them out of metal and stone and plastic and computer chips, out of intellectual power and emotional drives. We make them in the shape of tanks and smart and dirty bombs, college buildings and scientific laboratories. We make them march and kill, burn and destroy, weep and die. We build shrines and we become shrines; we sweat and toil, give up in despair and sleep only to waken to more of the same.
The prophet (Isaiah 44) can hardly believe the ignorance of idolaters.  In God's name he says (44:9), "All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame." He says that defending idolatry is crass and shameful ignorance. Can you imagine the effect on those worshipers when he said something like that? Well, go tell the social reformers, the military men and educators, the politicians and scientists that the works of their hands can't save! And tell them that to say they can means they're ignorant of their shame. Watch the response. 
It's at this point I should be qualifying my remarks, making it clear that schools and medicine, statesmen and judges, scientific advances and more insightful sociological studies are profoundly important. I believe they are! They are but that's only true because these things are in the hands of God and are the gifts of God. To jettison God and see them as our creation is to make them into something they are not, so that even the gifts of God are perverted as they leave his hand. Isaiah (44:20) insists that people who depend on the works of their hands feed "on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, 'Is not this thing in my hand a lie?'" They were blind! We are blind! 
We make advances and think they are our achievements and make idols of them and gods of ourselves. God's tree in Isaiah 44:13-19 becomes our god for having shaped it we bow down to it and worship ourselves in it (44:18-19). 
Yes, but surely idols and a sound political program are completely different? On the surface it would appear so but on closer inspection when God is excluded one is simply a more polished and grand idol than the other one. Once in a while it occurs to us that the gods we make rather than being our saviors are our burdens but it would appear that it's only in truly desperate times that we see the truth of this with clarity and conviction. You might have heard how optimistic we were in the mid 1800's when "every day and in every way things are getting better and better." Then as one of the few serious atheists or more precisely, a Joban figure, Friedrich Nietzsche, warned ahead of time (he died in 1900), that we were entering the classical age of war. All our education and newly found intellectual power that took us beyond the need of gods or serious religion ran up against two world wars. We should have known that we might make good servants but we make lousy gods. We can't save ourselves (Isaiah 44:20) and we can't save our gods.
We don't triumph over evil, personal and cosmic, because we're against it. We don't triumph over entrenched evil in the corridors of power because we have vowed to bring it down. We don't gain victory over the destructive forces that torture, humiliate and damn people because there are moments when we scarcely want to live in such a wicked world. No, we conquer these because he is against them! It's because of him we refuse to see personal defeats as ultimate; it's because of him we rise from specific defeats with unbowed heads; it's because of him we speak our prayers in a world that sneers at prayer and we continue to dream our dreams even in our dismay. It's because the sun rises every day and beams out God's faithfulness that we're sure of the future. It's because the sun shines and the water refracts that light and gives us the rainbow that we're sure of this: he is against the evil and he is in favor of the good and therefore goodness prevails eternally. Corruption and lies don't live forever! 

It's because of him we won't allow popularity polls to sway us. It's because of him we refuse to let church growth numbers matter to any appreciable degree. It's because of him no President, Prime Minister or any other powerbroker whether at home or abroad, wise or foolish, tyrannical or beneficent can make us afraid—or at least paralyze us with fear for though they may be able to disrupt countries and bury nations they are nothing new. God has met them and pronounced their doom when in their sin they ceased to serve his redeeming and gracious purposes.  

    We, we would worry about God? If we the church don't succeed with our programs and protests God will go under? Say such things in the presence of a prophet and he'd judge us to be idolaters. The God the prophets knew wasn't the kind whose health you worried about and every exhibition of power in the world they ascribed to him. Worry about a God like that? That he might not be able to take care of himself and of his people? That he might not be able to fulfill his overarching purpose in the creation of which he was the Agent? 

    The prophet David (Acts 2:30) pictures a heavenly scene in which God, praised by angelic hosts, is the center and the focus (Psalm 29:1-2). That same God who is the worshipful center of the mighty hosts of heaven shows himself on earth in the lightning storms. The psalm follows the course of a stupendous electrical storm that begins in the Mediterranean Sea (29:3) and thunders its way inland and turns south from Mount Hermon (29:5-6). Such is its fury that Hermon quakes and the cedar forests are splintered and the deer in the lower forests are frightened into giving birth (29:7-9 and following The KJV and other versions that stay with the Massoretic text). Moving south it sets the whole wilderness shaking while in heaven the watchers in awe cry out, "Glory!"

Some storm! But in 29:10 we're assured that God sat enthroned at "the flood". Throughout the Old Testament the word is used only of Noah's flood and this storm may have produced enough rain to make people think of such a time. But whatever happened in Noah's day it vastly outranked even this blinding storm that David might have seen in his shepherding days. The fountains of the deep broke open and came back up over the land while the waters that were above the earth came down on the earth. There is reason to believe that in such a time there were volcanoes erupting under water, the movements of earth's plates and the lifting up of mountains. Seas were hurried back in some areas and in others they rushed to carry away all before them. There were tidal waves that would beggar description and continent sized land masses first thrust up and then dropped on top of teeming millions of animals. [See Velikovsky's, Earth In Upheaval for proofs of the planet's agonized past. Ignore the critics who steal his work even while they sneer at him.] 
And while the earth was popping at the seams, while mountain ranges were rising and others were falling, while tidal waves swept the earth and electrical storms the like of which had never been seen and will not be seen again—while all this was happening where was God? He was reigning in and over it all (29:10).
If ever there was a time of complete "creation anarchy," if ever there was a time when humans would have known that no one was in control, that surely would have been the time. But there is no such time! The terrific storm David saw pales before the flood in Noah's day so when he concludes with, "The Lord reigned at the flood," he was rising to a climax.
And if the flood was an expression of his sovereignty (Genesis 6—8), if he was enthroned at the flood, does that not put wars and natural disasters into perspective? If Noah's flood was the work of God reigning in and through it all should we then be unhinged if nations clash and areas of the world are in an uproar like waves that crash against each other (see Isaiah 17:12-13)? If he was reigning then he's reigning now! And since he orchestrated the flood to redeem the world and give us another chance should we not live in assurance during anxious times? I'm not saying it's easy! We're humans, for pity's sake! Still, the redeeming God was reigning then and reigns now! 
After the flood there was the rainbow! The prophet knew a God who was powerful beyond imagining (Ezekiel 1:1-28, especially 28); a God committed to humanity and to creation with a commitment from which there was no turning back (Isaiah 54:9-10). That God and he alone was the ground of prophetic confidence.
(I borrowed much of this from THE GOD WHO COMMANDS THE IMPOSSIBLE. In the USA, toll free 877-792-6408 or BJPAINE@aol.com)

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... The Heirs Of Abraham (Galatians 3:16-14,26-29)


                     "THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS"

                  The Heirs Of Abraham (3:16-14,26-29)

INTRODUCTION

1. Abraham is a key figure in three of the world's great religions...
   a. He is the ancestor of the Jews (Hebrews) through his son Isaac
   b. Muslims regard him (Ibrahim) as the ancestor of the Arabs through
      Ishmael
   c. Christians regard him as their spiritual father through Christ
      - cf. Ga 3:29
   -- Such is truly consistent with the meaning of his name, "father of
      many" - Gen 17:5

2. Central to the importance of Abraham are the promises God made to
   him...
   a. The land promise - Gen 12:1,7; 13:15-17
   b. The nation promise - Gen 12:2; 13:16; 17:6; 18:18
   c. The seed promise - Gen 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14
   -- The fulfillment of these promises to Abraham is the theme of the
      Bible

3. The Bible reveals that God fulfilled these promises...
   a. The nation promise - via the descendants of Israel - 
      Gen 46:3; Exo 1:7; Deut 26:5
   b. The land promise - in the days of Joshua, and in the days of
      Solomon - Josh 21:43-45; 23:14-15; 1Ki 8:56; 2Ch 9:26
   c. The seed promise - with the coming of Christ - Ac 3:25-26

4. In the early church, there were evidently some who sought to limit
   the seed promise...
   a. To those who were physical descendants of Abraham
   b. Or Gentile Christians who were circumcised and kept the Law - cf.
      Ac 15:1,5

[In his epistle to the Galatians, Paul dealt with this issue.  As we now
turn to our text (Ga 3:6-14,26-29), we note that the true heirs of
Abraham are...]

I. THOSE WHO ARE OF FAITH

   A. THEY ARE THE SONS OF ABRAHAM...
      1. Just as Abraham believed God - Ga 3:6
         a. Without faith, it is impossible to please God - He 11:6
         b. Abraham's faith was accounted to him for righteousness - Gen 15:6
      2. Indeed, only those of faith are sons of Abraham - Ga 3:7
         a. This is what the seed promise had reference to - Ga 3:8
         b. It is those of faith who are blessed with believing Abraham
            - Ga 3:9
      3. Those who have the same kind of faith as Abraham
         a. To do the works of Abraham - cf. Jn 8:39
         b. Willing to "walk in the steps of the faith" which Abraham
            had - cf. Ro 4:11-12
         c. I.e., to have an obedient faith like he did - cf. He 11:8-10

   B. NOT THOSE WHO ARE OF THE WORKS OF THE LAW...
      1. That is, those who seek to be justified by the Law of Moses
         a. As many in Israel were seeking to do - cf. Ro 9:31-32
         b. They sought to establish their own righteousness - cf. Ro 10:1-13
      2. For they are under the curse of the Law - Ga 3:10
         a. The Law cursed those who did not confirm (keep) it - cf. Deu
            27:26
         b. The Law also proclaimed all men to be sinners - cf. Ro 3:
            10-20
      3. They are not justified by the works of the Law - Ga 3:11-12
         a. As the Law itself foretold - Hab 2:4
         b. The Law required perfect obedience, which none could offer
            - cf. Lev 18:5

[It is through faith like Abraham's that one becomes an heir of Abraham.
Those who seek salvation through the works of the Law are not his true
descendants.  But it is more than simply faith, it is faith in the right
Person.  Thus the true heirs of Abraham are...]

II. THOSE WHOM CHRIST HAS REDEEMED

   A. THEY ARE REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW...
      1. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law
         a. He became a curse for us by dying on the tree - Ga 3:13
         b. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree - 1Pe 2:24
      2. Thus He offers redemption
         a. From every lawless deed - Tit 2:14
         b. Through His blood, providing the forgiveness of sins - Ep 1:7

   B. THEY ARE RECIPIENTS OF THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM...
      1. Even Gentiles, in Christ Jesus - Ga 3:14
         a. As indicated in the promise to Abraham ("all the families of
            the earth") - Gen 12:3
         b. As indicated in the promise to Abraham ("in your seed")
            - Gen 22:16; cf. Ga 3:16
      2. They have received the promise of the Spirit - Ga 3:14
         a. The Spirit Jesus promised to those who believe- cf. Jn 7:
            37-39
         b. Which Paul reminded the Galatians they had received through
            faith - cf. Ga 3:2
         c. "... that promise which agreed to give the Spirit to all who
            rendered the obedience of faith - Ac 2:38-39." - McGarvey
            (commenting on Ga 3:14)

[The heirs of Abraham are those who have been redeemed by Christ and
made recipients of the blessing promised to Abraham (which included
receiving the Spirit).  Closely connected to this is Paul's point at the
end of the chapter (Ga 3:26-29), that the true heirs of Abraham are...]

III. THOSE WHO HAVE BECOME SONS OF GOD

   A. THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS...
      1. We become sons of God through faith in Christ - Ga 3:26
         a. Faith in Jesus as the Messiah - Jn 8:24; 6:69
         b. Believing that He died for our sins - 1Co 15:1-2
         c. Faith in His resurrection from the dead - Ro 10:9
      2. A privilege offered to those who believe in Jesus - cf. Jn 1:12
         a. Those who believe are given the right to become children of
            God
         b. How their faith leads them to become children of God is
            explained in Ga 3:27

   B. THROUGH BAPTISM INTO CHRIST...
      1. We become sons of God through faith, through our baptism into
         Christ - Ga 3:27
         a. Note carefully the conjunction "for"
         b. Paul explains how they became children of God by faith in
            Christ
         c. It was when they put Christ on in baptism
      2. For in baptism one is buried with Christ, crucified with
         Christ, and raised to live with Him - cf. Ro 6:3-8
         a. In baptism we are united with Christ
         b. In baptism we are thus "clothed" with Christ (put Him on)

CONCLUSION

1. Who, then, are the heirs of Abraham, heirs of the promise made
   regarding his seed...?
   a. Those who are of faith, walking in the steps of faith like Abraham
      did
   b. Those whom Christ has redeemed, recipients of the promise of the
      Spirit
   c. Those who have become sons of God through faith in Christ, having
      clothed themselves with Christ in baptism

2. The heirs of Abraham regarding the seed promise are not those...
   a. Who claim to be so because of their lineage through Isaac or
      Ishmael
   b. Who seek salvation through keeping the Law of Moses

Rather, as aptly summarized in the words of Paul himself:

   "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor
   free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one
   in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are
   Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
                                                   - Ga 3:28-29

Are you in Christ, having been baptized into Christ and in so doing "put
on Christ"?  If so, then you are blessed to be a true heir of Abraham
according to the promise...!


Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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