In chapters 1-11 Paul has been expounding on our need for and the mercies of God and now Romans 12:1 is a transition statement into the practical response to The Lord’s mercies,

“Therefore (or in light of God’s mercies) I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Paul in verse 2a tells us how to do the previous,

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,”

and to what end 2b,

“so that you may prove (discern) what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

And then beginning in verse 3 Paul lays out the implications of “being right” with God, but please note, the implications of “being right” with God are not to be played out in private or I should say their ultimate value comes not in isolation, but within the context of the “Body of Christ” the church (vv. 4 & 5).

Verses 6-8 then paint a beautiful picture of the gifts that are to be exhibited and lived out within the body of the church.

Something jumped out at me when I read this list I realized it describes most churches expectations of a “singular pastor.”

Biblically though one individual does not likely possess all these gifts, they’re more likely distributed amongst many.

Could this be the problem…or rather I would state this is the problem I believe in many churches. The teacher and exhorter is also expected to be the manager and the merciful one.

When building a team a church or the lead pastor should think to fill in his or her gaps. If we have the opportunity to hire another individual at the current church I serve at I will be looking for someone with the gifts of nurturing and mercy (a flat side for me). I brought in someone “who leads with diligence” (the word “leads” is slightly deceiving for our modern culture as the true translation would be better served as “gives aid to” or “manages.”) another semi-flat side in my ministry. We as pastors must see our weak sides and build a team accordingly…sorry for this ramble…remember this is my response to my devotional along with hopefully a blessing to you. Anyway, back to my point churches I believe suffer when they hire a pastor thinking he or she should possess an abundance of all these gifts, they should be patient knowing that the pastor will always have a flat side or maybe more than one, and hopefully that pastor will acknowledge that flat side and put a team around them to fill the gaps or if there are not the resources for a paid team then a group of elders around them that can fulfill this gift listing in Romans 12.

And while we should all serve primarily in the area(s) of our giftedness sometimes we must be willing to move out more broadly and verses 9-13 tell us how.

And then finally verses 14-21 tell us how to live in relation to the secular world beyond the confines of the Body of Christ. We are to still live and serve and witness in this world and so we must know how to be outside of those most like us.

Romans 12 is a practical chapter that I believe all of us as Christians should read and apply on a regular basis.

Oh and can I go back once more to the listing of the gifts…

Will you pause and ask yourself which one of those gifts most aligns with me (maybe check out also the lists in 1 Corinthians 12 or Ephesians 4), and would others agree. And then ask yourself are you stepping up to use those gifts as God has given you in the context of your local church?

Happy Sabbath!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Genesis 20-23

As is often the case I could blog a dozen or more points from the Gospels. Reading the Gospels is such an affirmation of Jesus’ Lordship! But rather than making a dozen different points, what I was most focused on in my reading was the pericope of Matthew 11:1-19. In this passage there are a number of challenging thoughts, statements and maybe what I’ve learned or how I understand things can be of benefit to the readers.

The very first challenging thought I have when reading this text is, “How can the forerunner of Jesus who baptized Him and heard the voice of God and saw the dove come down out of heaven, now doubt Jesus?” This question is based on John’s question in 11:3.

The question becomes understandable when we think of John’s own prophesying of the “judgment” of the Messiah (Matthew 3:7-12). To all that John hears there is very little judgment taking place, in fact he’s sitting a jail for standing up for morality and Jesus is out speaking of the “good news.” Also, we see here as we’ve seen in Job that just because someone was righteous did not necessarily mean they possessed the correct world view of the Messiah…again something we should note as Seventh-day Adventists and that should give us pause before we condemn those with “wrong” views outside or even inside our church…the worldview of the Jews was that the Messiah would come as a great warrior king like David, “Saul slays his thousands, David his ten thousands.” That the Messiah would through force free Israel from her oppressors. If this was John’s world view, which I think it would be safe to say it likely was, we can then better understand why he is sitting in jail wondering, what is going on. While his question is,

“Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” -Matthew 11:3

That could be code for…

“So are you going to get me out of here or do I need to try and figure out another way?”

John’s world view did not match Jesus’ actions and thus John had doubts.

That leads us to the second difficult statement in Matthew chapter 11. Jesus begins to defend John’s ministry and he references Exodus 23:20 & Malachi 3:1 to confirm that John was the chosen one by God to be the forerunner for the Messiah. Jesus then states matter-of-factly,

“Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! -Matthew 11:11a

How was John the Baptist the greatest? Well part of that is pretty obvious, he is greatest in that he was the one who would point to Christ more clearly than anyone else. He was greatest in that his mission was to set the stage for the immediate presence of Jesus…the last pre-messianic prophet.

But then comes the really hard statement,

“Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” -Matthew 11:11b

To understand this lets first forget about the way we use the term “least.” We think of this as valuable. There is the Most Valuable Player and then there is the Least Valuable Player…when a player says “it was a team effort it took all 12 of us to win this game”, do any of us believe that? Or when coaches say, “everyone on this team is of equal value. We are going to win or lose together as a team.” Do we believe that? No because we know what least is and put any 12th man on the Chicago Bulls and they still would have won 6 championships in the 90’s, take away Michael Jordan and they would have won zero! Why? Because there is the Most Valuable and they matter and the least valuable and they can be replaced. This is not what Jesus is saying at all. John actually could not be replaced he was the most valuable…so what does “least in the Kingdom of Heaven” mean?

John was a prophet he spoke looking forward but without a clear picture. He did not fully perceive or understand truly who Jesus was and what He would do on this earth. His mission was to speak about Jesus (the coming Messiah). I believe what makes the people “greater’ that are part of the messianic kingdom moving forward is that those who are after the life of Jesus, after the cross, after the resurrection these individuals can look back and give a more profound explanation of Jesus than John could. So the “least” concept is addressing directly his full understanding of all things Jesus. I would say this then affirms also the position that John would question Jesus, because he was living under the banner of the old motif, the old perspective of the Messiah, but all those that witnessed the life of Jesus, saw the cross, and had understanding of that perspective, including us even in 2016 could give better explanation to the mission of Jesus than John.

Matthew 11:12 is another puzzling statement for some,  

“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”

This is Jesus simply summarizing what he is about to say in verses 18 & 19. That through the human race there are those used to wage spiritual war against the cause of Christ trying to discourage people from following Jesus. I could give you half-a-dozen names right now of just such individuals, but i will let you think of those on your own.

Then verse 14 has been troublesome to some,  

“And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”

This is not speaking in the literal sense of Elijah returning in the form of John the Baptist, how do we know this? Well on the basis of the rest of scripture, but even beyond that we have a text that clearly explains what is being said here,

 “It is he (speaking of John the Baptist) who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah,” -Luke 1:17a

Maybe you’ve never had any curiosity about some of these texts or maybe this was review for you. But hopefully for a couple this was helpful in their journey with the Lord.

Keep reading the scriptures daily and may we all continue to grow individually and corporately in knowing and loving Jesus more!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Romans 11 & 12

In today’s reading of Isaiah 23-28 there was some really great insights. I wish the one who structured the reading plan had placed chapter 28 with chapter 29-33 as it is the first of six woes and fits better within that context and structure. Due to that I won’t be addressing chapter 28 at this time…not that I always address all the chapters, but I at least wanted y’all to know I don’t think it is with the right group in our reading plan J

I really appreciated chapters 24-26 but I want to focus primarily on chapter 24

These chapters are dealing with the final and eternal judgment and cleansing of the world. When all things are made right and order is restored!

On those final days all things will be equal. Myself as a pastor will have no advantage over the laymember (24:2a), the CEO will be equal to the janitor, the rich will be equal to the poor. The devastation of the judgment will affect all classes of society—not one of them will be spared by position or wealth, religion or nationality. This is the first aspect of the judgment.

The second aspect of the judgment is that the whole earth mourns because the “everlasting covenant” has been broken. What is the “everlasting covenant” According to some it is the Sabbath according to others it is the full Gospel as was presented by EJ Waggoner and AT Jones in 1888 

(The links may show us it can be both/and rather than either/or)?

The third aspect of the judgment is that we see there will be a believing remnant. This is seen in Isaiah 24:14-16a

We also see in judgment there will be punishment of the host of heaven (24:21a), which host? I believe the angels that followed Lucifer in his rebellion (Revelation 12:4) but not only the angels that followed Lucifer in his rebellion but the governments on this earth that then followed Satan and those same angels in transgression at the end of time (24:21b).

Then I want to say a word quickly about chapter 25 verses 1-9

While many in our the Christian world speak negatively of the judgment, Biblically people looked forward to it, they longed for it, they had hope in the judgment.

It is not because they were callous and longing to see people destroyed. I believe it is because the people that long for the judgment are those that have a true grasp of the true depravity of sin and the destruction there of.

“And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”” Isaiah 25:9

God’s people don’t want the destruction of the wicked they want the destruction of sin. Even they have had to suffer through the effects of sin. Think of our reading yesterday, Job, oh how he longed for the judgment, because the judgment meant the end of suffering for humanity both the righteous and the unrighteous. Judgment is not the punishment of the wicked—well it is—but this is not the ultimate purpose, it is not God saying, “Didn’t I warn you the wages of sin is death? You got what you deserved.” No I believe the judgment is ultimately an end to all sin which means and end to all suffering, for both wicked and righteous. In other words the judgment is ultimately an act of mercy, when the suffering becomes so great and God finally says “enough, my children both those who see Me as their true parent and those that don’t have endured this world long enough” and He allows sin to take its natural course…eternal death. The righteous are suffering but they are suffering with hope, “We have waited for Him, and He will save us.” The wicked are suffering but they are suffering without hope. The judgment will end all suffering and give both groups what they ultimately chose…

I hope that string of thoughts made sense. Let me know your thoughts.

Tomorrow’s Reading: Matthew 11-13

This may sound like a copout, but I feel as if I must repeat here what I have stated in the past Job’s theology is slanted. The full revelation of God through Jesus Christ had not taken place. He was seeing things only partially, but he was truly living by the text, “The just shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

The one idea as I searched a commentary to see if there were points I missed in my own study that caught my interest is nothing of a devotional nature…well maybe it is, it is a reminder that some Adventist folk should be a little less sensitive about individuals using non-Adventist material,

“God will not turn back His anger;
Beneath Him crouch the helpers of Rahab.” Job 9:13

Honestly I would have thought again and again this was somehow a reference to Rahab the harlot in the story of Jericho…I would have thought this though that would have been a very ignorant thought since most believe Job lived long before that time and also because it is believed in most conservative circles that Moses is the author of Job which would also mean this book predates Rahab the harlot. But without study I would have just rushed through and not even thought of it…maybe that is the devotional lesson…don’t rush through you’ll miss something!

So then who is this Rahab individual. It turns out this is a reference to “a sea monster in Babylonian myth who was defeated by Marduk, who then captured her helpers. Rehab is another name for Leviathan.” (Moody Bible Commentary, p. 712)

So it seems inspired writ here in the book of Job allowed for a pagan mythology reference to be included…

I’ll just leave it at that 🙂

Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 23-28

Psalm 12:

Seems like an appropriate Psalm for the day we begin the 2016 political voting cycle.

We see a group described as having flattering lips & a double heart, meaning people who may say and do the right things, but not with the right heart. Is that too cynical of me to relate that to our political system? I am not actually one that believes that all politicians are that way, it just seems many that get ahead are.

Probably many of us though are just as double hearted in our own worlds as well, we just don’t have it displayed on TV. Have you ever said and done the right things for the wrong reasons? Me too! So this Psalm is also describing us.

On the other hand there is the Lord. His words are pure described here in the Psalm as being like silver tried in a furnace seven times. This means the purity of His words are of the highest degree possible and it is on this that we trust the promise that we can be kept in the care of our God, that we can be preserved from the wickedness of the generation we are in.

Psalm 13:

David lives out the journey of a Christian. The beauty of the Psalms to many are how relatable they are.

1. David felt God had forgotten him and it makes him sad and feels almost picked on, persecuted.
2. David then starts to feel like God will consider what he is saying and there seems to be some glimmer of hope.
3. David then realizes had God does care and now David is singing.

From sorrow to singing the journey of the faithful.

Psalm 14:

Almost this exact same Psalm with only minor alterations is repeated in Psalm 53.

Calling someone a fool in the Bible is strong language (v. 1)

Fool: Biblically defined, “refers to someone who is morally deficient.”

We can believe there is no God not only by literal denial, but also by living in such a way as if there were no God. In other words you don’t have to be an atheist to be a fool. You can be a card carrying Christian and still be a fool if we live as if there is no God.

Those are my thoughts today in my reading of Psalms 12-14

Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 9 & 10

You may recall on Day 24 we read about the cities of refuge where someone whom killed another individual unintentionally could escape to, in order that they may be protected and have a fair trial. I find it of intrigue that in chapter 21 of Joshua we see the cities of refuge were cities that were allotted to the Levites—the priests—the pastors. Is this in order that judgments against individuals might be dealt with or mitigated in a merciful way? Or could it just be that these cities were within just a short distance of everyone and thus this put the Levites within a short distance of everyone? Or maybe both? The latter would make sense in that the dispersion of all the cities the Levites received (48 total) on a map we can see the dispersion of them indicates that the rest of Israel was never far from the Levites who were responsible for the religious education of the people. God wanted Israel to remain connected to His Spiritual leaders.

Chapter 22 is a positive example on how to solve conflict. The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh did something that offended the rest of Israel. Israel was ready to go to war against them and destroy them, but before they did they sent messengers to let Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh know what they believed their grievance to be. When these tribes heard of this, they did not become defensive instead they gave explanation, a logical, and reasonable explanation at that. Such that the rest of the tribes were happy to hear the explanation and rejoiced that there would be peace.

Imagine that: We’re upset, let’s go explain why we are upset. Oh we’re sorry we didn’t mean it the way it was taken. Here is what we meant. Oh that makes sense. Well let’s not have conflict then.

Amazing how proper conflict resolution tactics can save all of us from a world of hurt!

Joshua 24 is a review of the history of Israel. We saw Moses do similar and it is done often throughout the Bible. Reviewing history is a good way of teaching truth. And I believe the reason Joshua did it and others can be summed up in the statement that Ellen White wrote,

“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Life Sketches p. 196,

Oh that we would remember such a truth!

Finally at the conclusion of Joshua we find one of the great verses in scripture,

“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (24:15)

And with that we will close this post and the book of Joshua with one of my favorite all time songs: