Seeing as God Sees: Psalm 2

Have you ever wondered how God looks at sinful man?  That is an interesting thought.  As the Lord sits on His throne, ruling over all things, how does he see the world that we live in?  Well, Psalm two gives us a look into how the Lord sees the world.

If you take the time to do a study of Psalm two, you will find that most people will view it as a messianic Psalm and leave it there.  Though they are right, we must take some time and apply it to the here and now.  This Psalm has great application to us so jump into the word of God with me as we seek the face of our Lord.

• Man’s Heart (v.1-3)

As we try to see the world from God’s perspective the first thing we see is man’s heart.  Man’s heart did not start this way, actually it started the opposite.  Yet ever sense Genesis 3; Man’s heart has been in rebellion against its God.  Look at what the text tells us.  The nations rage, they plot pointless things, they take a stand against God, and try to remove all that has to do with God.  This is the heart of all who are without Christ.

Well, let’s not be too hard on the unsaved, we as Christians seem to try to do the same thing.  We fuss and fume over the dumbest stuff at church, we make pointless plans and programs to better ourselves with no thought of God, and we neglect the Word of God simply because we do not want to submit to the Lord.  Ouch…  This is why we all need to once again repent and call upon God.  The church included.

• God’s Response (v.4-9)

Let’s now take a look at how God responds to the human heart.  This is interesting.  There are two things here that we must make note of and we cannot over look either one of them.  First, God responds by laughing.  Is not that just amazing.  Did you know that the only time God laughs is when He is looking at man’s pathetic attempt to be god.  The Lord looks at man madness and laughs.  It is as if he is saying, “are you joking, do you really think this will work?”  It would be like me saying I could play better QB than Joe Flacco (Baltimore Ravens) and he just looks at me and laughs.  Of course I cannot play QB better than Joe Flacco.  I can hardly throw a football.  It is one of those “this is a joke” moments.  The problem is, in man’s heart, he is not joking.  This is why the next thing we see is the Lord’s wrath.

The Lord Speaks to them in His wrath and He brings distress upon them.   The Lord points out who is really sitting on the throne.  The Lord makes sure we know who is in control and who has the power.  We may think we do but look up and see who is on the holy hill.  The Lord will give all nations into the hand of His chosen one, not into our hands.  As much as we want to take matters into our hands, and cast off God, he has already given all nations, and all people into the hand of Christ the judge.  This is a humbling thing.  We have no say in this.  We can do nothing about it.  We can try to rebel but Christ will only break us and dash us to pieces (just read the text).  Why even try.  This is how God responds to all who reject His love and rebel against Him.

• How we should respond (v.10-12)

Knowing what the human heart is like and how God responds to our rebellion, what should we do?  All have sinned; all have turned away from God.  The psalmist gives some very clear instructions for us.  He starts by telling us to be wise.  This implies that knowing what we know from the previous verses, it would be foolish to do anything else except what the Psalm writer is about to tell us.  We better listen.

The bottom line is to serve the Lord.  We are to forsake our way, stop looking out for our own desire and simply submit to the Lord.  Fear him, tremble before Him and obey.  He then tells us to kiss the Son.  This is an interesting image.  In the culture that this is written, the kiss was a sign of respect and greeting.  The Psalmist is telling us to embrace Jesus because of who He is.  Show your respect, honor, and desire to know Him by embracing Him.  This is what salvation is.  We must humble ourselves and recognize that God is Lord and surrender to Him.  We must receive Christ and then we will be given the right to be the sons of God.

Conclusion

So how will you respond to Jesus?  Will you continue in your rebellion?  You know God just laughs at your foolishness.  Why not embrace Christ and be saved.  This applies to salvation as well as our every day sanctification.  We grow in grace by kissing the son every day.  Receive Jesus and live daily.

Lord bless

The Need to See the Lord: Job 42:5-6

I have been looking at the life of Job the past few days and asking, “Why did Job have to go through all that suffering?”  It amazes me the method the Lord using to open our eyes so we can see Him.  After all, this was the point.  Job knew God and obeyed what he knew of God but there was something still missing.  We get a glimpse into what was missing at the end of the book of Job in Chapter 42.  Verse five is Job responding to what he just saw of God.  Listen to what Job says; “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”  That is so amazing.  It begs the question, would Job have seen the Lord if he had not gone through the suffering that he did?

I have learned that we see God the clearest when we are at our lowest.  Many of us know about God.  We listen to the teaching, we hear the songs, we read books, we may even read the Bible but have we seen the Lord?  Many know their doctrine, their history, and even their church constitution but have they ever seen Jesus?  I think this is why God allows us to suffer; it is to remove all the stuff we hide behind so we can see Jesus with our eyes.  I have been learning this the hard way.

So how do you know if you have seen the Lord?  Look at what Job says in verse 6.  “Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”  When we move past just hearing about the Lord and we begin to see Him, we will abhor/hate who we are.  This will be because we will see that we are vile in God’s eyes.  We will long to be pure and holy because He is.  This is what brings us to repentance.  What a beautiful experience suffering becomes if we can grab hold of this.   It is no wonder the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:18; “open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”  The Psalmist wanted to see the Lord and was willing to suffer to get it.  Most Christians today want the easy road to heaven and they miss the Lord all along the way.  This is because the Lord is only seen through suffering.

So, coming back to the start; have you seen the Lord?  What are you willing to go though to have your eyes opened?  Are you content just hearing about Him or do you long to see Him?  Suffering is the path, and it is a glorious path when you understand the Lords will in it all.

The Journey Begins

As the New Year comes in, I reflect upon all that is waiting for me and my family in 2012. This will truly be a year of change. Feeling a bit scared, lonely, and unsure; yet, I know that the Lord is with us and has led us to this place of change. My mind turns back to a commitment I made to the Lord as I knelt before Him back in 1998. It was the night I was saved. I cried out to God for salvation and I told the Lord; “whatever you want me to do, where ever you want me to go, whatever you want me to say, I am yours, just save me.” I have given all I am to live by this commitment. I will not turn back, I will not cower, and I will not hold back. I must follow my Lord, for He did save me and I love Him for it.
I do not know what will come in 2012 but I know one thing, where ever the Lord leads, I will go. In the end I know it will all be okay, because it is of God. He has never let me down. So, THE JOURNEY BEGINS; May His name be praised.

Losing our children; what does it mean? Jeremiah 9:20-21

I know there are many thoughts and opinions about what is happening to young people in the church today.  The alarm has been sounded, and some are listening but most are one.  It has been confirmed by groups like Barna and LifeWay Research that up to 2/3 of teens are leaving church once they  graduate high school and most do not come back.  We can close our eyes to this and say it is not true but when we open our eyes down the road, the pews will be empty.  So, not to pound on the facts about who is leaving, someone asked me what does it mean when our young people are falling away?  This is a great question and I believe that Jeremiah 9 gives the answer.

Jeremiah 2-19 lays out for us 14 indictments against God’s people and the consequences of their rebellion.  God’s people were not following His commands, they were worshiping other gods, and they were killing each other (9:8,13-14).  It is clear that there were major problems among God’s people.  In v.20-21 of Chapter 9 we see that the result or judgment for their continual rejection of God’s Word was that death was going to come.  It was going to enter through the windows and into the palaces (safe places).  This death was going to kill the children and young men.  What a horrible thing.  The places that were once viewed as safe, place to go to for refuge were going to become the very places that these people were going to die; all because God’s people rejected the clear commands of God…

So what does this have to do with the church?  Well, If you will, the church used to be the safe place.  We would bring our children and young men there and they would learn about God, make good friends, and grow to be good people who loved God.  But now, I believe death has come in.  The church is no longer a place of safety; it is a place where our young people are dying.  2/3 of teen will leave the faith and not return (that is death).  Could this be a judgment on the church because in many ways the church has forsaken the Word of God?  Just look at most of what the church does and ask, it that in the Bible.

So what do we do?  As Jeremiah continually call Israel to do, REPENT, and obey the commands of God.  Follow the Scriptures and forsake man’s tradition.  Submit to the Word of God as our final authority and start doing church the way the Bible tells us to.  This is the only way to save our children from death.  This is want it means when we sound the alarm in regards to the young people leaving the faith…Death is at the door, REPENT and BELIEVE.

The Good Old Ways : Jeremiah 6:16

I was reading this in my quiet time this morning and was greatly challenged. It fit in with the discussion my family had during our devotional time on the importance of learning from history. Many of us are ignorant when it comes to history of any sort. I believe it is a greater problem when we are ignorant of church history and more so, biblical history. Again and again the biblical writers tell us to remember what God has done. Here in Jeremiah 6: 16 we see the prophet calling us to look back at the history of God’s leading by doing three things that will ensure God’s blessing and peace. These three things are “stand”, “ask”, and “walk.”
Sometimes we are so busy doing stuff that we do not realize we have totally missed God’s plan. We cannot see that we are off track because we are so focused on moving forward. It is a healthy practice to stop and look back and ask the question; “how did I get here?” As we look down the path of church history and biblical history we will begin to see whether we are on the right path or on some side trail that leads to death.
Next we are told to ask for the old paths, in which is the good way. I want to note that it does not say to ask for the traditional paths, but the old paths. God’s path of holiness is much older than any of our traditions. This does two things. It sends us back to God to ask for wisdom and understanding but it also sends but back to the Bible which shows us the old path. God’s path for His people has not changed. The old path is called the way of holiness as described in Isaiah 35:8. If we seek the Lord for the good way He will always point us to holiness, for it is the way.
Finally we are told to walk in the way once we see it. All throughout church history we see that God blessed those who walked the path of holiness and devotion to the truth even if it meant death. When we walk the way of holiness we will find rest for our souls even when all around us is a raging storm.
So what is the way of holiness, what does it look like? It is just simple obedience to the will and command of God. Nothing added to it, and nothing taken away. When we simply do what the Word of God says, we are on the highway of holiness.
Let’s not be like the nation of Israel in Jeremiah 6:16 which said they “will not walk in it.” Stop choosing your own way, or the way of the world, or the way of tradition and let’s get back to the old path, the way of holy living and devotion to the truth of God’s word.

Walking the Path of Abraham

I was praying today about my families up coming move to North Central WI. As I did, I could only be filled with fear. I feel like Abraham in many ways. We have so many great promises, so many man of faith to look to for encouragement but as I think of leaving all that I know and have worked for to follow the leading of God I cannot help but sit and tremble. I call to the Lord for understanding about why, what, and how but the Lord seems to say the same thing that Abraham heard; “get up and go, I am sending you to a land that I will show you.” Not much to go on there for clear answers but the rest of the will of God revealed to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 is just great. Abraham did not know the why, how, or what of the calling. But  Abraham did know  what blessing awaited him at the end of the trip. It was a promise from the Lord of family, of honor, and of fruitful influence for the glory of God. I am not sure how far to take the application of Genesis 12 to my life but I can say that as we follow our Lord he will bless my family, he will honor us by being near, and he will give us an influence that will bring fruit to the glory of God. So, as I look into the unknown that is quickly coming upon my family, I go in faith. I do fear, but I am really looking forward to what God is going to do in the land that He is leading my family to.  Lord teach us to walk by faith and follow you no matter what the cost.
May the Lord be praised for His faithfulness to us, His people.

Motivated by the Mystery: Colossians 1:26-28

There has been a lot of discussion about the mystery of God in the New Testament. The passage before us is the easier to understand of the two main passages on this topic. I want us to take a look at the glory of the mystery as shown in Colossians 1 and once again be overwhelmed with the grace of God toward us.
The text starts out by informing us that what is about to be revealed was hidden in times past. Yet in God’s time is has been revealed to the saints. This mystery that is being revealed will show the riches of the glory of God. What is this mystery that was hid from the people of God in the Old Testament? It is Christ in us, the hope of glory. I do not plan to go into an exposition of what that means and how it works but I want us to see the effect of the mystery on Paul’s life and then understand why and how it should affect us today. Paul goes on to say in verse 28 that because of the mystery he now preaches Jesus Christ, warning every man and teaching every man so that they will be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. The effect that this mystery had on Paul was it moved him to go and preach, warn, and teach every person. So why would the revelation of the fact that Jesus will be in us (through the Spirit) move Paul to go and preach, warn, and teach?
To answer this question we must go back into the Old Testament and see how people fellowshipped and met with God. We can start in Exodus 25:22 as God is instructing Moses as to how to build the Tabernacle. God informs His people that He will meet them at the mercy seat in the Tabernacle. It was here that God spoke to His people and so they had to come to the place where God promised to meet them if they wanted to hear from God. We see in 1 Kings 8 that the mercy seat is moved into the temple just completed by Solomon and it is there that God showed up. Now that the temple is complete, God will meet His people at the temple. The key here is that all people had to come to a physical location to meet God. I do not like to say it this way but it is as if God is confined by the building. This was God’s plan though and He blessed Israel so that all would come and see their God. Israel had no understanding of God dwelling in them, they knew God was in the temple and they always came to meet Him there.
Even when Jesus was on earth we see that in order to meet God, people had to come to where Jesus was. Once the meeting was over they left Him where he was and went their way. People had to invite others to come to a certain place to meet Jesus: God in the flesh. This all changes when the mystery is revealed. We no longer have to come to a physical location to meet God; God comes to us through his people.
The mystery that Paul talks about in Colossians 1 marks an amazing shift in our understanding of how we meet with God. According to Paul, God is no longer confined in a physical location, but He is in us. How awesome is that. God will meet us where we are and make us His temple. It is no wonder that Jesus commands us to go and preach the gospel. No longer are we to call people to come to a building or location to meet with God, we are to go and take God to them. People do not have to meet God in holy places and sanctified rooms, they no longer have to make long pilgrimages to holy sites, they meet God in us as we go and preach. God is mobile. It is no wonder that this mystery moved Paul to go and preach, warn, and teach every person. It should move us; we have God with us even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
There is a problem though. Many churches and Christians do not understand this mystery even though it has been made known. Many still live and do ministry as if Jesus is confined to a church building. Many churches operate under the come and see mentality of ministry. Most Christians do not go and preach, they just invite people to church in hope that they can meet God. Let’s catch the vision of this; God is on the move, He is on a mission and has equipped us through this mystery to join Him in the mission. We have the privilege of allowing others to meet Jesus through us as we go and preach, warn, and teach so that every man will be presented perfect in Christ. Let’s let this mystery, Christ in us, motivate us to go and preach the gospel to all people. What do we have to lose?