R.O.Y.A.L.: 5 Characteristics of a Life Lived "In Christ," Part 3

We've seen that for the believer a life lived in Christ is reflected in our reliance upon Him and our obedience to His teachings. A third characteristic of this kind of life is that:

We are to be YIELDING.

The believer is to be yielded to and yielding to God. What this means is that every single day, we are to yield, give ourselves over, to God. James writes this: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8).

R.O.Y.A.L. - 5 Characteristics of a Life Lived "In Christ," Part 2

Here's part two of 5 Characteristics of a Life Lived "In Christ."

We saw last time that if we are heirs of Christ we are R.O.Y.A.L. And we looked at the first characteristic, that of being Reliant.

This week let us look at the second characteristic.

O. We are to be OBEDIENT.

The Christian’s life is to be marked by obedience. Obedience has always been a key factor in relationship with God. Back in Deuteronomy 6:1-2, Moses told the people, “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.”  Again to the people of Israel, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendents, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may life in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them” (Deut. 30:19-20)

Obedience wasn’t just for the Old Testament folks. It’s for us today as well. See the passages in Matthew and Luke I just mentioned. Also in his first letter, Peter says this in his greeting, “to those…who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood…” (1:1-2). And John writes, “This is the commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another (we’ll get to this on later), just as He commands us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in Him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1 John 3:23-24).

And in some of Jesus’ final words to His disciples before His ascension, He tells them this, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe (that is, to heed and obey) all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20).

Obedience to God and what He has commanded is an essential characteristic of a life that is lived in Christ. Obedience can be hard, though. Paul writes in Romans 7:14-25 about the inner struggle we often face as Christians. Often we know what is right and what it is we are to do, and yet we do not do it. We still live in this earthly flesh, and there is a war in us between our fleshly nature and the Spirit who lives in us. Paul ends that passage though with this word: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:24-25). So we have this struggle within us. There are also those circumstances that call for us to make a decision, where we have to determine what it is that God wants us to do (such as “Should I marry this person?” “Should I go to seminary?” “Is God calling me into vocational ministry?” – those sort of questions.)  This is where the third characteristic comes into play, which we'll look at in the next post.

R.O.Y.A.L. - 5 Characteristics of a Life Lived "In Christ," Part 1

A few weeks ago, an assignment for one of my classes asked me to write three to five characteristics of a life lived in Christ. I was only going to do the minimum (yeah, call me a slacker), but as I was writing it out five characteristics did indeed come to me, and they came in the form of an acronym. And this word is tied in with another idea in Scripture, and that is that if we are in Christ, we are children of God, and as His children, we are heirs.

After telling them that if they are in Christ then the Spirit lives in them, Paul writes to the Romans that “we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh – for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans 8:12-17)

Now there is a lot of stuff in this passage, but the idea that I want to pick up on is the idea of we as His children being heirs. We are not just heirs to anybody. We are heirs to God, to the King of Kings. As such, we are to be ROYAL!

So there’s the acronym. We are to be R.O.Y.A.L. What does it mean? Over the next few days/week, we'll take a look at these characteristics, but let's go ahead and delve into the first characteristic.

R. We are to be RELIANT.

A life lived in Christ is one that is reliant upon Him. Paul writes in Colossians 1:16-17 that “by Him all things were created…all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Christ is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and we are in Him.

Paul also writes to the Galatians that he had “been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for Me”(2:20). Our lives are not lived under our own power, but in the power of God.

I know that when I try to live life under my own power, I fail at it. I’m just not strong enough. But God is strong enough. Instead we are to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). Part of Psalm 48 (a great psalm indeed) reads, “Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” We are children of God, the King of glory, who is strong and mighty! I thank God that I can, as the old hymn gets at, lean on His everlasting arms. He doesn’t tire. Indeed! Isaiah writes, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable” (Isaiah 40:28). This is the God who has adopted those who place their faith in Christ, adopted us as sons, and calls us His heirs!  Praise the Lord that I can rely on Him.

At other times, I (and I’ll go ahead and hazard a guess that you do this as well) tend to try and measure my life by worldly standards (it’s all about me). Instead of this weak and unstable foundation for life, the children of God are to find their foundation in the solid rock that is Christ and His teachings. Jesus gave an illustration of this in Matthew 7:24-27 (also in Luke 6:46-69). The person who hears and does what Jesus commands has built a house on the solid rock, and not the shifting sands. This leads us to the next characteristic that will be the subject fo the next post: Obedient.

Understanding and Reclaiming Biblical Discipleship: The Great Commission

It is in the historical context laid out in the last post that Jesus gave his command to make disciples. The Great Commission reads,

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. – Matthew 28:18-20

There is inherent in the making of disciples the “go” that begins verse nineteen. The Greek word here is poreuqέnteς - poreuthentes. It is an attendant circumstance participle, which means that its action is coordinate with that of the main verb, in this case maqeteύsate - matheteusate - , an imperative.[i] Thus, “go and make disciples,” which is to be understood as intentionally making disciples wherever the Christian finds him- or herself.[ii] Hagner makes the point that the “emphasis in the commission thus falls not on the initial proclamation of the gospel but more on the arduous task of nurturing into the experience of discipleship.”[iii]

The process of making disciples according to this passage is to first baptize the new believer and then to teach them how to live out what Christ commanded. Baptism is the first step in obedience that new believers take that identifies them with and places them within the community of disciples.[iv] Only believers are to be baptized and counted in the membership of the church, reinforcing the Baptist distinctive of regenerate church membership.[v] For the believer it is merely the beginning of a life of faith, the beginning of a process of discipleship.[vi] It is also important to note that it is through baptism that the new believer is shown that a changed life is a result of conversion.[vii]

How the new disciples learn to live this changed, new life is through the “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:20). This instruction is intended for purity of life, and nothing that Jesus taught is to be neglected.[viii] This includes both a call to a life lived in pursuit of righteousness and a life that is lived by faith.[ix] Also inherent in this totality of teaching is the things that Jesus taught concerning what it means to be his disciple.

Discipleship requires that the disciple be completely and personally committed to Jesus and his teaching.[x] This commitment places Jesus as the utmost priority in the disciple’s life. This is evidenced by Luke 9:57-62 and 14:26-33, where following Jesus requires the disciple to place all other relationships and obligations behind his or her primary relationship with Jesus.[xi] Included in this cost of discipleship is the idea of suffering for faith in Christ (John 15:18-16:4).  Paul, in 2 Timothy, clarifies that this suffering is to be expected (1:8, 12: 2:9, 12; 3:11-12). This life of faith is demanding and comes at a cost.[xii]

 

Over the next several weeks, we'll look at those passages found in Luke and Acts, where Jesus discussed what it means to follow him. And then we'll turn our attention to an understanding of the process of discipleship.

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[i]Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics : An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1996), 640. See also Blomberg, Matthew, 431; Blomberg rightly states that a balance must be maintained between the going and the making of disciples; too much either way detracts from the command.

[ii]Craig Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels : An Introduction and Survey (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 1997), 415.

[iii]Donald Alfred Hagner, Matthew 14-28, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1995), 887.

[iv]Craig Blomberg, Matthew, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), 431.

[v]Hammett, 85.

[vi]Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, ed. D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992), 746.

[vii]John Moore and Ken Neff, A New Testament Blueprint for the Church (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 59.

[viii]Morris, 749.

[ix]Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels : An Introduction and Survey, 452.

[x]George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.,: Eerdmans, 1993), 105.

[xi]Ibid., 130. Cf. Matt. 10:34-39; 16:24.

[xii]D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2005), 581.

Understanding and Reclaiming Biblical Discipleship: The Historical Context

J. M. Pendleton in his Church Manual defined a church as “a congregation of Christ’s baptized disciples, united in the belief of what he has said, and covenanting to do what he has commanded.”[i] The unity and the covenant that he mentions are predicated on the concept of the church being composed not of baptized members, but of baptized disciples. This idea is based on the command to “[g]o therefore and make disciples” given by Jesus in what is called the Great Commission, located in Matthew 28:19.[ii] This begs two questions: what is a disciple and how is a disciple made?

The Historical Context of Discipleship

Before examining the relevant passages, it is important to understand the terminology in light of its historical meanings and context. The most important word for the purposes of this paper is the term maqhtής – mathetes - , which is translated as “disciple.” This term can be boiled down to the basic meaning of “apprentice.”[iii] There is much more weight to the term, though, as it implies a binding of oneself to “someone else in order to acquire his practical and theoretical knowledge.”[iv] To be a disciple requires that there be a master/teacher, a didaskoloς - didaskalos.[v] Discipleship, then, is to be understood as an intentional relationship, whereby the disciple gains from the teacher’s knowledge and applies those insights to his own life.[vi]

The teacher would gather around himself a group of disciples. This group of disciples would be committed to the teachings of their master, a commitment which lasted beyond the death of the teacher. This commitment was tied with a responsibility to pass on those teachings.[vii]

Moving from the Greek world to the Jewish world, one finds that the Old Testament does not contain the idea of a learner to a teacher, as in the Greek context, though there is a call for teaching what God had said on to the next generation: “you shall teach [these words] diligently to your sons…” (Deut.6:7).[viii]  It is only in Rabbinic Judaism that the concept of pupil/teacher comes to the fore, probably as a result of contact with Greek philosophy. Here the relationship is of the talmid to a Rabbi, where the talmid places himself under the Rabbi in a servile manner.[ix] The Rabbis, like the Greek teachers of philosophy, would gather around themselves students whose aim was to learn with the purpose of being able to teach others.[x]

Our next post will look at some of the passages relevant to understanding discipleship.

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[i]J. M. Pendleton, Church Manual : Designed for the Use of Baptist Churches (Philadelphia, PA: The Judson Press, 1950), 7.

[ii]All Bible references are from the NASB, unless otherwise noted.

[iii] Karl Heinrich Rengstorf. “maqhtής.” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich. Volume 4. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1967), 416.

[iv]Dietrich Müller. “maqhtής.” New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology.  ed. Colin Brown and David Townsley. Volume 1. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 484.

[v]Rengstorf, 416.

[vi]Müller, 484.

[vii]Rengstorf, 423.

[viii]Duane L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1, 1-21,9, 2nd revised ed., Word Biblical Commentary 6a (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001), 143.

[ix]Ibid., 485-6.

[x]Ibid., 488.

Understanding and Reclaiming Biblical Discipleship: Introduction

Over the last year, I have come to see the need for a reclaiming of a biblical understanding and practice of discipleship in our churches. We have too many people who treat church as if it is a social club. Too many church members aren’t really saved, or if they are, they are certainly not living like it. Too many churches have serious problems and conflicts. Too many of Christians are ignorant of what the Bible actually says.

My realization of this began last summer when I taught a Sunday School lesson giving an overview of the book of Jude. He writes about contending “earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). He warns against false teachers. He then goes on to write: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 20-21).  This prompted within me questions regarding how to contend for the faith, how to build oneself up, how to keep in the love of God.  And so the process was begun.

The next step occurred when I taught a lesson on the Scriptures, using 2 Timothy 3:16-17 as a base text for exploration. This study made me see the need for us to return to and hold up the Scriptures and the study of them, in response to the biblical illiteracy all too common in our churches today.

But it wasn’t until this past semester that it all came together. Thanks to two classes in particular: one on conflict in the church and the other a disciple-making class, where I’ve been working with a friend, going deeper into God’s Word and developing spiritual disciplines. These made me realize that discipleship is a necessary part of the Christian life, but that it has been neglected for far too long.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll explore together what discipleship is, its historical context, and what the Bible says about it. We’ll offer some conclusions and insights along the way that will hopefully prompt you to see what I see: Discipleship is key. Thank

A God-Pleasing Life (Micah 6:6-8): What Does the Lord Require of Man?

After Micah points out the that God has already told them what is good, he then asks this question: “What does the Lord require of you?”

            Deut. 10:12-13 – Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

And Micah gives them an answer; one not just for the mind, not just something to agree to, but rather an answer that is to be lived out. He takes the Deuteronomy passage and tells us how we can fulfill it. He lists three tasks that please God: “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

So let’s explore these three activities.  First, what does it mean to “do justice”?

Justice in the Bible frequently deals not just with the wrath of God and handing out punishment, but also with the idea of benefits. This giving out of benefits is based not on accomplishment or stature. It is based instead on need. And it is in this context that we should understand justice as being very close to love and grace.

There are various groups mentioned in the Bible as receiving justice: widows, orphans, strangers in the land, the poor, prisoners, slaves, and the sick, among others (Job 29:12-17; Ps. 146:7-9; Mal. 3:5). These people all have needs that separate them from the rest of society, and justice involves meeting those needs. Injustice is depriving others of their basic needs or failing to correct matters when those rights are not met (Jer. 5:28; Job 29:12-17). Injustice is either a sin of commission or of omission. (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, “Justice,” and so throughout for this topic; also for kindness/mercy, and humility).

Jer. 22:3 – Thus says the Lord, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of the oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.”

We see a relevant extension of this in the letter of James. James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  He later states in 5:17, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Justice presupposes God’s intention for people to be in community. What about where these people are at in life can keep them from being involved in community?

Justice also has another characteristic. Justice delivers; it does not merely relieve the immediate needs of those in distress (Ps. 76:9; Isa. 45:8; 58:11; 62:1-2). It means setting the needy back on their feet, giving them a home, leading to prosperity, restoration, ending the oppression (Pss. 68:5-10; 10:15-16).

This concept is later echoed in the New Testament. In Luke, Jesus’ reaching out to the poor, the oppressed, women, and others society looks down upon, is a key theme. In fact, Jesus in Luke 4 quotes the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And the rest of the Gospel bears this out.

There are some questions that we ought to ask ourselves. Are we doing justice in our own lives? Are we caring for those who are in need? Are we restoring people to community? Are we engaged in reconciling people to God through the sharing of the faith? Are we intentional in doing what is right and what is good?

What does it mean to “love kindness”?  What does it mean to show kindness?  Kindness carries the idea of compassion and faithfulness to obligations, friends, family, and even to slaves. Kindness is something that is shown. It can be in the form of kind deeds done for another person.

Some examples of kindness in the Bible:  1) The story of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:20); 2) Joseph (Matt. 1:19); 3) the centurion (Luke 7:2-6); John (John19:27); Julius (Acts 27; 3,43); and Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 1:16-18). 

Kindness is characteristic of true love (1 Cor. 13:4).  It is also very closely linked to mercy. It is something that is expected of us (Eph 4:32; Rom. 15:1-6).

How can we love kindness, though?  Let me ask this question then: Has someone shown you kindness in your life?  It is easier to love kindness, to hold it close to your heart, if you have been shown kindness. Of course, I think this works incrementally: we love kindness a little, if we have been shown only little kindness. We love kindness a lot, if we have been shown a lot of kindness. Christians, those who believe in Jesus Christ, have been shown the greatest kindness, I believe. This can be seen in the Cross (Rom. 5:8). God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place, that if we would just believe in him we would have eternal life (John 3:16). Since we have been shown so great a kindness, we should compel ourselves to pass it along. And the wonderful thing is we don’t do this on our own. Hebrews 10:24 says that we are to stimulate, prod, each other to love and good deeds. We are to encourage each other to do justice and to be kind.

We must ask ourselves some questions: How can we show kindness to others? Do our lives reflect this characteristic? Kindness is after all one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).  When was the last time you performed a kind deed for someone? For a family member? For a friend? For a stranger? Let your life be a life that shows kindness.

What does it mean to “walk humbly with your God”?

Now it should be understood that these “requirements” of God are not to be understood in a context of salvation. These are rather things that denote a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. The thing is, this lifestyle cannot be lived apart from faith in Christ. As Hebrews 11:6 states, “ And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” It is only by faith in Christ that we can walk with God. Our faith brings us into relationship with God. We are adopted as His children (Gal. 3:23-4:7). Faith also guides our walk (2 Cor. 5:7).

What does it mean to walk humbly, though?

Is. 66:2 – “For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

We are told to “humble ourselves” in James 4:10. And in 1 Peter 5:5-6, “You younger men, likewise, subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud but give grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

Now a humble spirit shows itself in several ways: a recognition of one’s sinfulness before a holy God (Isa. 6:5); obedience to God (Deut. 8:2); and submission to God (2 Kings 22:19; 2 Chron. 34:37).

The person with humility does not look down on others (Matt. 18:4; Luke 14:11). Humility is closely connected with gentleness (Matt. 5:5). Someone with humility will not be overly concerned about his or her prestige (Matt. 18:4; 23:12; Rom. 12:16; 2 Cor. 11:7).

And in Philippians 2:3-8, we are told to look out regard others as more important than ourselves. Humility is more than an attitude to have with God; it is an attitude we are to have between one another. This was the attitude of Jesus (v.5-8), and it is to be a characteristic of our way of thinking.

Paul believed that quality relationships with other people, especially those who had erred spiritually, hinged on the presence of gentleness or humility (1 Cor. 4:21; Gal. 6:1; 2 Tim. 2:25).

Is this idea counter-cultural?

The answer is yes. The idea of humility is so antithetical to our modern way of thinking. The world tells us that we are to think of ourselves before others. It’s all about “me,” right? My wants, my desires, my wishes, my rights.  Yet Jesus says that that is not the way his followers are to think.

In fact, each of these three activities is quite counter-cultural.  They require us to focus on someone other than ourselves, either God or others. None can be accomplished to any degree without having a personal relationship with God the Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

To please God, you first have to have a relationship with Him. If you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus, you are not in relationship with Him. As we saw in Hebrews 11:6, there is no other way to truly please God. So if you have not put your trust in Jesus, I would urge you to do so now.

So I leave you with this exhortation: “Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”

A God-Pleasong Life (Micah 6:6-8): He Has Told You, O Man What is Good

Micah lays out a message of judgment against Israel and Judah, but he also provides a message of hope as well. There is a great Messianic passage in chapter 5. But our focus begins in chapter six. God indicts His people in the verses 1-5.  And in verses six through eight we see a response to this indictment and a response to the response.

In verses six and seven, we see Micah presenting some questions to God, as one of his hearers may have asked. The first question: “With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high?”   Now, this is a good question.  It’s much like the response the people make to Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, “what shall we do?”  But here the similarity ends.

The next questions go much further: “Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil?”  They keep upping the ante. “Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

To these questions, Micah responds in the first part of verse eight. “He has told you, O man, what is good.”  God had already told them what He wanted from them. Indeed, He told them over and over again.

In response to these questions, let’s look at some verses.

Burnt offerings and calves:

Ps. 40:6-8 – Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; my ears You have not opened; burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

            Ps. 51:16, 17 – For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; and a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

            God does not delight in rote and ritual. He is after the heart. As one commentator said, He wants you! Not your offerings, not your religiosity, He wants you. The sacrifice that pleases God is when we humbly come before Him, broken, realizing our complete lack, and His complete goodness. We bring ourselves before Him, and we do this when we daily choose to be obedient to His will.

Rams and oil:

Ps. 50:7-15, 23 – “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are continually before Me. I shall take no young bull out of your house nor take goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High; call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me…He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his ways aright I shall show the salvation of God.”

Is. 40:16-17 – Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

Everything already belongs to God. He does not need anything that we can give Him. Indeed, we are so far removed from God by our sin that we could never offer enough to please Him. However, God does want us to rely on Him and to thank Him, and to praise Him. Do our lives show this kind of sacrifice, or are we trying to buy off God with our good works?

Human sacrifice:

            Lev. 18:21 – You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.

            Lev. 20:1-5 – Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name. If the people of the land, however, should disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death, then I Myself will set My face against that man and his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play harlot after him, by playing harlot after Molech.’”

            2 Kings 16:2-4 – Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out form before the sons of Israel. He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

            Jer. 7:30-31 – “For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind."

            The ultimate sacrifice, right?  Giving up your own flesh and blood that you might live, that you might please God (or the gods).  God hates this! It is evil in His sight. Human sacrifice was a form of service to the other gods; it is what those demonic entities desired. Death. God, however, is a God of life. Yet, you say, what about Jesus? Didn’t he die as a sacrifice? Yes, he did. But His sacrifice was a sacrifice for life, willingly taken up, poured out, that he might save us. His sacrifice was a penalty. Romans 3:23 states that the wages of sin is death. It is what we have earned. Jesus did not sin. He did not deserve death. Yet, he took upon himself our sins, bore them on the cross. He paid our penalty, that we might not have to. That is great news, but even greater still, is the fact that on the third day he rose from the dead. The Resurrection! Blessed Resurrection. So that now, through him, we might have eternal life. If we would only believe in him, that is take in, appropriate for ourselves, this blessed, gracious gift.

Indeed going back to the time of Moses, He told them what He wanted:

Deut. 30:15-20 – “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

God gave Israel a choice. Follow and obey and live, or go their way, rebel, and die. He too has given us a choice, the same choice. He has promised us eternal life if we but believe in his Son. “Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, [and] you will be saved.” It really is as simple as that. Easy, right? Yes, and no. Yes it is a simple thing. It is easy in that it requires no work on our part. But it is also a very hard thing to do. It does require of us to realize our sinfulness (sometimes a hard thing to do), and not only that, realize that we cannot save ourselves, that there is nothing that we can do to effect this (doubly hard to do). It requires us to come to God, as state before, with a broken and contrite spirit, beg His forgiveness, and believe in Jesus Christ.

But we do have another option. We can go our own way. We don’t have to choose life. What that means, though, is that we instead choose death. Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6).  There is no other way to be at peace with God, to be with Him forever than to take what has been freely offered, that which was bought by Jesus’ shed blood and enabled by his resurrection. It is a sad thing to think that so many today have heard the offer and turned their backs on it, and an even sadder thing is that so many have not heard the offer. What awaits these people is judgment, and an eternity separated from God in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). This is why we must share the good news of Jesus Christ! It’s the good news after all! Why are we keeping it to ourselves! We must go out and make disciples (Matt:28:19).

Next time, we'll look at the question of what the Lord does require of us. Looking forward to exploring it with you.

A God-Pleasing Life (Micah 6:6-8): Introduction

Once upon a time, there were two brothers. Their father owned a large farm, and there were many chores to do. It was spring, and the father came to one son and said, “Son, I need you to go out and help plant the crop, would you to that for me?”

The son answered, “Well, I kinda already made plans with some friends of mine. So, I’m gonna have to say, ‘no.’”

Well, the father then went to his other son and asked him if he would help. This son said that he would.

About an hour later, the first son got to feeling bad. He hadn’t really had any plans, but he didn’t want to get out there and work. But he did regret what he had done. He then decided he would go and help plant the crop.

The second son, the one who had said he would work, kept getting distracted. First, he started texting some of his friends. Then there were the YouTube videos; he lost count how many he watched. Distraction after distraction and time passed.

At the end of the day, the second son had not worked, though he said he would. The first son, though he said he wouldn’t, actually did work.

Which of the sons did what the father wanted them to do? The first son. How? By doing what his father wanted.

Jesus told the parable that this story was based on in Matthew 21:28-32.  In verses 31-32, he told the chief priests and the elders,

“Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”

What was the difference between the tax collectors and prostitutes and the priests and elders? The tax collectors and prostitutes believed John: that is they heard his call to repentance and righteousness and perhaps that Jesus was the lamb of God. But the priests and the elders did not believe. Much like the first son, the "sinners" did not do the will of the father at first, but then did. In their case, repent and believe. The priests and elders were like the second son, paying lipservice to the Father, but doing what they wanted to do.

The question that we have to ask ourselves is how can we be in the will of our Father? How can we please Him?  That’s what we’re going to look over the next several posts.  Our passage will be from the Old Testament, the book of Micah, chapter 6, verses six through eight. I look forward to exploring this passage with you.

Children of God, Part Five: Loving Each Other (1 John 3-5) and Concluding Remarks

The concluding post for this series.

And now we come to one of the more convicting passages that I’ve come across. We’re going to take a look at 1 John 3-5, specifically chapter 3, with select verses from 4 and 5.

First of all 3:1-3.  God’s love is so amazing. He loved us so much He not only died for us, redeeming us from our slavery to sin, and granting us new birth by the Spirit, He adopts us and calls us His children. And we are His children. Our rebirth and adoption occur at the same time. We are both reborn and adopted. We have new life spiritually and we become members of God’s family. As we are children of God, we have the hope that we will become like Him. We are children now, but there will come a time, when Jesus returns, when we’ll see Him in His glory, and we ourselves will be glorified. And this hope should play itself out in our lives. We are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and in doing so we will purify ourselves (that is, we will seek to live out a pure and holy life, in imitation of Him.

3:4-12. The continual practice of sin is lawlessness, and sin is itself lawlessness; that is, rebellion to God’s law and authority. Jesus took away our sins. He was the only one who never sinned. And since we abide in Him, we will not live a life of sin. The Greek for the verb “sins” in verse 6 implies a continual aspect, such that “No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning/continually sins.” As such a believer’s life is not characterized by sin.

John goes on to say that we shouldn’t be deceived (just as Paul warned us in Ephesians 5). Only those who have been adopted into God’s family, been spiritually reborn, can practice righteousness, because we partake of Jesus’ righteousness as part of the privilege of being in God’s family. Those who keep on practicing sin are of the devil (John 8:44). And Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work.

In verse 9, we see that those born of God keeps on practicing sin, because His seed is in us. Indeed we cannot keep on sinning, because we have been born of God, that is born again. Verse 10, makes a clear distinction between the sons of God and the sons of the devil. Righteousness can only be practiced by the children of God. And those who do not love their brothers are also not of God.

3:13-24.  Verse 14 makes it clear that our love for each other is a mark by which we know that we have been born again. And our example for love, as seen in verse 16, is Jesus Himself and His sacrifice for us (echoing Eph 5:2).  As such our lives should be sacrificed for each other.  And this love is not merely something we say or talk about, saying “I love you,” but rather it is to be lived out and should be sincere, flowing from our hearts (v.17-18).

In verse 23 and 24, we see reflections of what Jesus Himself said. We are told that He commanded us this – to believe in the name of Jesus as the Son of God, and to love one another. And we will do what He has told us to do if He truly abides in us. And we can be sure that he is in us, because the Spirit is in us. And what does the Spirit do within us, He cries out and testifies that we indeed are children of God, and He enables us to live in the power of God, as we have access to our Father through Christ, in the Spirit (Eph 2:18).

4:7-14, selected verses. Beloved – basically “You who have been loved” – love one another. Love is a gift from God, and true love (as Jesus loved) is born of God. As such, the Spirit is within us and we know God, as He reveals Himself to us by the Spirit and by His Word. Verse 8 tells us that God is love; love is one of the basic characteristics of God. Not that all love is God, or even that to love is to know God. But those that truly love can only be born of God, and as we imitate Him (Eph 5:1), we will act like Him. Verse 11 points out that if God so loved us, we should love each other, for His love is perfected, is being made complete, in us (v.12).

5:1-4. We see here that being born of God is through faith in Jesus. And if we love Him, we will love His children. And we know we love the children when we obey Him. For we know that we love Him, when we keep His commandments. And they are easy. What does He tell us to do: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

And because we are born of God, we can overcome the world, overcome sin in our lives, because, we have faith. Faith in Jesus (v.5).

5:18-20. John returns once again to application. No one born of God continues to sin. Jesus, the only begotten of God, keeps us, and the devil cannot touch us. A Christian cannot say “the devil made me do it.” He can’t touch you, unless you yourself give in to sin, and allow him too. We are the children of God, adopted by Him; we share in His family’s legal rights. The world does not, and is in submission to the devil.

Verse 20 tells us that Jesus has come and given us understanding that we might know Jesus Himself, whom we are in. And Jesus is the true God and eternal life.

Conclusion:

We are born into God’s family when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. At that same moment to, God ordained that we would be adopted into His family, receiving His familial and legal rights. His Spirit is in us, and testifies to this, that we are reconciled to God our Father. And since we are part of God’s family, we are His children, He will discipline us in His great love. We will also strive to imitate Him, as children do their parents. In doing so we will love one another as Christ has loved us.

Books Consulted:

Allen, David. Hebrews. The New American Commentary. Volume 35. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2010.

Archaeological Study Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

Bickel, Bruce and Stan Jantz. John: Encountering Christ in a Life-Changing Way. Christianity 101 Bible Studies. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2003.

Comfort, Philip W. and Wendell C. Hawley. Opening John’s Gospel and Epistles. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2003.

Lightner, Robert. The Epistles of First, Second, & Third John & Jude: Forgiveness, Love, and Courage. Twenty-First Century Biblical Commentary Series. Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2003.

McGee, J. Vernon. Ephesians. Through the Bible Commentary Series: The Epistles. Vol. 47. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991.

McGee, J. Vernon. Galatians. Through the Bible Commentary Series: The Epistles. Vol. 46. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991.

McGee, J. Vernon. Thru the Bible: Volume IV: Matthew through Romans. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983.

Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament Volumes 1 and 2. Colorado Spring: Cook Communications Ministries, 2001.