Transcendent Praise

Matthew 5:44-45 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

This is Jesus being radical again! He knows how we think and that our natural inclination is to love those who love us and grind those we consider enemies into powder – the “eye for an eye” or “get even” syndrome. That is the nature of Adam our natural father.

Jesus is saying to those of us who have been redeemed by his blood that we can no longer mirror Adam’s nature; we have a new name and a new identity. God is now our Father and so we have to behave like he does. His nature is good – he allows the sun to rise and shine on all and makes the rain fall for everyone’s benefit. Do we all deserve this kindness? No. But he is merciful. Likewise, as his children, we must open our hearts, kill off the ego, and allow ourselves to be poured out even to those who do us wrong, or who do not or cannot love us back. I confess that a recent experience made me realize how hard this is to do in a consistent way. But every day brings a new opportunity to practice, practice, practice.

Jesus knew we would have problems with our attitudes to various life situations – how to live out what we say we believe as his followers – so he took the time to teach the Beatitudes to his disciples. They are recorded in Matthew 5:3-11. I challenge you to launch your own study of these teachings. It will amaze you, as it did me, how much soul searching and attitude adjustment they will demand. Change will only begin to manifest as we crucify the old nature and allow God’s implant of his nature in us to thrive. Jesus said the end result of embracing the Beatitudes would be “blessedness” which has little to do with blessings (stuff) but rather allowing yourself to be clay in the Master’s hand. This means that even when treated unfairly, abused or misunderstood, it will be possible to absorb the injury without a desire to retaliate or resort to self- pity. Your transformation into someone the Lord can entrust with the care of his other lambs or sheep will begin. At some point you will begin to understand what is meant by: the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in you. (See Romans 8:18)  “Blessedness” takes hold as doing God’s will becomes paramount and you understand that your reward in heaven awaits you.

John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I have found that it is possible to have a limited understanding about fundamentals of the faith, sometimes for years. This is why spending time reading the Word is so important instead of just waiting to be taught.  It is not reasonable to expect that any one pastor or teacher will get around to teaching any of us all that we need to know. When you develop an appetite for the Word and begin to search it for yourself, the Holy Spirit will become your teacher.

I grew up with the understanding that if you believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior, when you die you will have “eternal life”. True! You will spend eternity with the Lord, yes and that is also referred to as everlasting life. However it was an eye opener for me when I read in John 17:3 that Jesus, in his prayer to his Father, said in effect that eternal life begins now! He defined eternal life as: knowing the Father, the only true God and himself (Jesus Christ) whom God has sent. Wow!

The disciples had the pleasure of knowing Jesus in the flesh, yet when he was closing out his earthly ministry, they still had questions. John 14 records that when Jesus told them he would be going away he also said: “You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas responded: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

It seems then that knowing the Father and Jesus Christ is like an inexhaustible spring from which to draw – the more we know them, the more there is to know. I think one of the reasons Jesus promised that the Father would send the Holy Spirit is that our human limitations are perfectly known to them. Jesus said, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”  (John14:25-26). It is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to begin to live “eternal life” here and now.

Ezekiel 12: 25 But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious house, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign Lord.

That God is sovereign over everyone and everything, I believe, is the most stupendous concept for the human mind to grasp. The very idea that someone over-rules every center of power in the earth and can turn around any circumstance to bring an outcome completely opposite to what is anticipated or considered logical, is awesome to me. Usually such outcomes are deemed miraculous when they are good outcomes, and so they are.

Confusion arises, however, when the outcomes are not good. Here in Ezekiel 12, the Lord has used Ezekiel the prophet as a Power Point presentation to demonstrate to the Israelites what their future will look like – how they will be exiled to Babylon and how wretched their lives will become. Why? They had become a rebellious people, practicing idol worship and ignoring God completely. They were paying no heed to what Ezekiel was saying and doing. Instead they concluded that what he was warning them about was for a time in the distant future. The Lord was saying the exact opposite. The same attitude persists today towards the imminent return of Christ.

God can and does intervene in our lives, sometimes with immediacy to get our attention and bring glory to his name. And often “glory” has to be viewed as the result of a move of God in defense of his own name. It is an act that inspires awe and wonder and the realization that no human can duplicate it.

God judges evil. Scripture is replete with examples and this was one case where God was using Ezekiel to give fair warning to his people. God also moves in the behalf of those who trust him and does the impossible. Facing an impossible situation once, the Holy Spirit spoke to me:

“Even as I bring daybreak, darkness followed by light, even so shall your situation be turned around. You will scarcely believe the speed, for I have said and shall I not do? You must understand that I am the Lord God Almighty and I do not do the things the way you expect. I shake and I rearrange things and no one can stop me. And when I am finished, men shall marvel at what I have done. So stand by and see the glory of your God.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The life of Paul the Apostle was a life that was focused, empowered by what he believed about the death and resurrection of Jesus.  He lived to do whatever the Lord commanded him to do; he went wherever he was sent and was completely sold out to his mission at any cost. Yet he was very careful not to take credit for his accomplishments but instead he gave credit to the Lord. In the above excerpt from his letter to the Christians at Galatia he explained why and how he was able to live the way he did.

Christ died not just so that we might be saved from sin, but also that we may live the life that pleases God, which is the life he planned for us to live before we were even born. None of us have the natural inclination or ability to live that life. So once we respond to the love of Jesus and are saved, we make it our business to follow the Spirit’s leading. There must come a time when you become sensitive to being led by the Spirit. It will create a crisis for you repeatedly when your natural inclinations, plans and wishes need to be set aside so that God’s will can be done. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:24-25).

Matthew 28:5-7 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

At the crucifixion, God showed his displeasure against sin. There was darkness over the land for three hours. It was as though he covered his face and in that time: “God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Gospel of Matthew records other amazing events that took place on that day: the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook and the rock split, the tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  (Matthew 27:51-52). God was in the darkness of that hour displaying both his love and power at the same time.

But God was not finished. On the first day of the week, Mary and Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. They went at dawn, darkness becoming light – I hope you have had a chance to watch the sun rise on a clear day – there is nothing like it! “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he is risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

Then the angel instructed the women to go and tell the disciples. On their way, suddenly Jesus met them. Now they had proof! But Jesus could see that they were traumatized so he said “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Read Matthew 28).

God is still not finished. The power he displayed at the crucifixion and the resurrection will be displayed again when Christ returns at the end of the age. In the meantime, we have the proof of his love and he still says to us “Do not be afraid” and “Go and tell”.

Hebrews 12: 14 – 15 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

I am a country girl and while growing up my siblings and I had plenty of room to roam. But we also had what is now called “chores” and kids get paid to do them. In our case we were simply told once what needed to be done and we knew very well that there were consequences for disobedience. Summer camp was not part of our vocabulary. In my case when school was out, one of the things I had to do was weed the flower garden. I grew to enjoy it and learned a lot about the nature of different plants and weeds. I can’t remember many of the names now but I noticed there was a weed that simply ran along the surface of the ground and was easily pulled up with barely a tug. Then there was something called the “broom weed”. It sank its roots deep into the soil and you could break your back trying to pull that thing up. When it finally yielded you could find yourself stumbling backwards.

Bitterness is like the broom weed. It sinks its root deep into your psyche and creates havoc in your relationships. Like the broom weed which has no place in the garden, bitterness has no place in the believer’s life because it is toxic.

Read about Hannah’s experience in 1 Samuel 1. She was wife number one to Elkanah and she was childless. She was also greatly loved by her husband, but wife number two tortured her relentlessly and she became very bitter about it. The good news is that she handled her bitterness the right way – she prayed to the Lord and wept before him because she did not want to continue along that path. She was very specific in her prayer in asking God to change her situation. She also made a vow as to what she would do on her part. Getting rid of bitterness requires action on your part – identify the source and root it out.

Hebrews 4: 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

If this truth alone was to break in on the consciousness of every person on the earth we would have an entirely different world. We would honor God, love and be faithful to our spouses, bring up our children to know and love God, neighbors would love and help each other and there would be a redistribution of wealth so no one would go hungry, naked or homeless. Wars would cease.

Unfortunately, through our rejection of God’s way, we live in a messy world. Things happen all around us and to us over which we have little or no control. At other times we commit sin which leads us to feel remorse, and so we should because the Spirit of God brings conviction of sin. But we are not to allow ourselves to remain in that condition. “But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (See 1 John 2:1).

In the Book of Hebrews, the role the risen Lord has taken on in the behalf of believers is even more fully explained: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have an high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4: 14–16). Never wallow in defeat! Approach the Lord in true repentance, confess your sin and ask to be restored.

Hosea 2:19-20 I will betroth you unto me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.

God called the prophet Hosea to demonstrate unfailing love to his unfaithful wife. He was using Hosea to illustrate the depth of God’s covenant love for his people Israel despite their waywardness, ingratitude and worship of idols. God’s commitment to believers is forever; he deals with us in righteousness, he is just and motivated only by his love and compassion.

Did you ever stop to think: “Why would God make such a fuss over me, I’m not worth it?” Don’t you realize he knows that you will sometimes feel that way? When you have failed repeatedly to measure up even to your own expectations, he stretches out his hand to pull you up again. Any righteousness that we are able to exhibit is his not ours, that is the whole meaning of redemption. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

What does it mean to be betrothed? In common language we equate it with being engaged, meaning that both parties have finally, willingly chosen each other as life partners, to the exclusion of all others. All that remains is a public and/or legal ceremony to declare the news to others. We know that in society today, the “forever” aspect seems optional. Not so with God. He says ‘I will betroth you in faithfulness”. Why? So you will truly know him. So that you will grasp the magnitude of his love and understand that: “If we are faithless he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13). His very name is Faithful and True.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

In the King James Version of the Bible the words “inordinate affection” appear in the above verse. Here in the NIV translation the word “lust” has been used instead. That is a more familiar term and without reaching for the dictionary you know exactly what it means. In common parlance lust means ‘wanting something or someone that you have no right to want’. In other words that thing is currently out of your reach either because you cannot afford it or it already belongs to someone else. Despite that reality you have convinced yourself that “it” would bring you a thrill or make life so much better and therefore you will go to any extreme to obtain it. When the object of your “lust” is someone the danger is even greater, usually because there are other lives that will be impacted by your actions.

So what to do about this “lust” that is haunting you? Do what Paul told the Corinthian believers to do – “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Recognize the danger you are in and open up your thought life to the searchlight of Christ. Is this what he wants for you at this stage of your life? Count the cost. Pray to God in complete honesty, call it by name, and ask his help to slay this dragon. And by all means be proactive by putting distance between yourself and the object of your lust. May God strengthen you and bring deliverance.

Jeremiah 45:5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.

Never forget that your life is hid with Christ in God. So that whether you live or die you are the Lord’s. While you live, however, there will be times that you might be anxious for your safety. Recently I had planned a trip to the City of Atlanta along with my daughter. I had been meaning to visit it for many years as I had always heard good things about it.

On the morning of departure I woke up and opened up my daily devotional and the verse above leaped out at me though it was not the one designated for that day. In the New King James Version the last part of the verse is translated as follows: “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.”  That was such great assurance because although I have travelled quite a bit through the years, there are far more reasons today to be apprehensive. So I consciously thanked the Lord and tucked the verse away in my memory.

I had checked what the temperature in Atlanta would be for our arrival and short stay in order to make wardrobe decisions. When I got to the airport however, I pulled up the weather report on my phone and read the details: “severe thunderstorms, lightening and tornadoes are expected throughout the day…” I clicked out of the website and thought “my, are we in for a very rough ride!” I decided not mention it to my daughter. I simply recalled the Scripture verse and felt that no matter what happened we would get through the experience just fine. Apart from a very bumpy and protracted approach, we landed safely and on time, though we later learned that indeed even the highway to our hotel had been impassable for much of the morning.

Jeremiah was speaking to his secretary Baruch at what appears to have been a very tumultuous time in the life of their nation Israel. Baruch was afraid, restless and disturbed by what was going on but Jeremiah had a word for him personally from the Lord that no matter what, his life would be spared. Keep your focus on your Lord and what he says to you because he alone is the preserver of your life.