YEAR 2, WEEK 26, Day 2, Tuesday, 27 June 2023

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Tuesday, 27 June 2023:

Isaiah 53:2 – For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

“The coming of Jesus was like a tender plant in the midst of a parched ground. Parched ground offers little hope for survival; it is dry and too hardened to allow most plants to penetrate its crust. Yet Jesus was prophesied as a tender plant that would break through the hostile soil and overcome the dry and lifeless environment in order to bring life.
When Jesus was born, His people were hardened to God’s Word. There is no written record of God’s having spoken to His people for four hundred years. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had studied and memorized the Scriptures, but the words were lifeless to them. So hostile had they become to the truth that when God’s Son came to them, they killed Him. Nevertheless, despite the enmity of the people, Jesus brought life to all who believed in Him.

Jesus is capable of bringing life to any person, society, or culture no matter how hardened or hostile they have become to the gospel. Even the most calloused sinner will discover that Jesus knows how to penetrate the heart and bring life where there was only bitterness. The work of Jesus in a person’s life may seem fragile at first, but like the mustard seed, it will eventually grow into something strong.

As you pray for someone you care about, don’t be discouraged if this person has not responded to Jesus. Just as a tender plant finds a way to grow in a hard and unreceptive environment, so the love of Jesus has the ability to emerge in a life that seems completely unresponsive.” (Henry T. Blackaby)

Isaiah 53:10 – Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring….

Isaiah 53 is an amazing prophecy of Jesus. Take time to mediated on Isaiah 53 today. Isaiah 53 is referenced in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 1 John, and it parallels the Gospels. This one chapter addresses the death, burial, resurrection, intercession, coronation, and salvation of Jesus Christ and answers the ultimate question or dilemma of mankind: “How can a sinner be right with Holy God and escape the penalty of eternal death to receive eternal life?”

• Romans 6:23 — For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• John 3:16 — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
• Ephesians 2:8 — For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
• Romans 3:22-26 — For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1) The reality of Christ was revealed to Isaiah through the Spirit and can only be revealed to others through the Spirit, but as he did with Isaiah, God uses Christians to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.

• 1 Peter 1:10-12 — Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
• Romans 10:14-15 — How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
• Acts 8:26-38 — Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this [Isaiah 53]:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

“He shall see his offspring.” In Christ, we are children of God – “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29) “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” (Galatians 3:26) “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14) “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1) In Christ, we are to live out the reality of the Gospel and proclaim it. Jesus said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37) Meditate on Isaiah 53, and bear witness to the truth.

Ephesians 4:2, 3, 15,16 — Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…. Speaking the truth in love… grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Take some time today to seriously meditate upon Ephesians 4 and your role as a unifier, a reconciler, a peacemaker, and an equipper within the body. Compare Ephesians 4 with John 17 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-20. Jesus prayed for our unity in Him, and He gave us the ministry of reconciliation as His ambassadors. The mark of individual maturity is Christ-like character that promotes peace and love with God and with others. The mark of a mature church is unity in Christ, where the members are “bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit.” You cannot mature as you have been called outside of, or disconnected from, the body of believers, and the church cannot mature unless the members are an encouragement to one another and build each other up in Christ – “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

However, anyone who has been an active member of a church congregation knows that churches always have people in them who are hard to get along with. Some people are judgmental, caustic, rude, egotistical, you name it. In fact, some people don’t go to church simply because they don’t want to be around “hypocritical” people. However, consider Paul’s comments on the matter –

• 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 — For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Not only does Paul make it clear that God made you to be connected to a church body and to play a specific role within that church body, he also points out that the “unpresentable parts,” of the body are just as essential to the health and life of the body as the more presentable parts. The unpresentable parts are those people who might be called slang, profane names referencing private parts of the body – “He’s a real a……!” These are people you’d rather not expose to the public. So, what does Paul say about these people? The church can’t say, “I have no need of you.” The weaker (less mature and less agreeable) members are indispensable to the body, and the more mature (presentable) Christians are to show greater honor to those they think are less honorable — the mature Christians are to treat them with greater “modesty” (humility and restraint). Of course, let’s not forget that most unpresentable parts think they are presentable, and we often lack the humility to see where our behavior is unpresentable. You too likely receive more grace from others than you realize.

Why are we called to give honor to those within the body who are not honorable? “…that there may be no division in the body, but that members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” In fact, these members of the church are indispensable because God uses them to teach us how to love as He loves — “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:32-36) God knows how difficult some people can be, which is why he put them in your life (your church), so you can grow in love – “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:12)

Your church (like your family) is a schoolhouse for Christ-like character development. If you don’t put in the effort to love those within the church who are hard to love, you won’t learn much about love and won’t have the relationship with Jesus He desires for you. If you quit church, it is like quitting school but with eternal consequences. If you have been the sort of Christian who feels that watching or listening to sermons from home is enough church for you, then you are not only missing the whole point of the church, you have as much life in you and growth potential as an amputated limb.

• Proverbs 18:1 — Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Are you walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called? Is your church a healthy body with each part working properly, including you? How are you personally contributing to the health and growth of your body of believers?

Ephesians 4:25 — Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

“Because you are a Christian, your life ought to be permeated with truth. When you were born again, God put the Spirit of truth in you (John 16:13). The Spirit’s role is to guide you into all truth. The Spirit wants to fill your mind with whatever is true (Phil. 4:8). If you allow the Spirit to fill you with God’s truth, you will be truthful in your actions and in your relationships. According to Jesus, this means that your yes will always be yes, and your no will always mean no (Matt. 5:33-37).

The world considers truth optional. Deception permeates every corner of society because the prince of this world is the author and father of lies (John 8:44). From his first contact with people, Satan has been lying to them and persuading them to live in falsehood rather than in truth.

The world will tempt you to compromise the truth. You may be fooled into thinking that you can accomplish greater good by withholding the truth. That is a demonic deception. You cannot use deception to build the kingdom of God! God refuses to use sinful means to accomplish His holy purposes. You may be tempted to live a lie by projecting a false image of yourself. Jesus condemned this as hypocrisy (Luke 12:56). When you sin, you will be tempted to conceal the truth; yet only as you confess the truth will you be forgiven and set free (James 5:16).

What you say reflects what is in your heart (Matt. 12:34). If your heart is filled with deception, your mouth will speak falsehood. Ask God to permeate you with His truth so that you find falsehood, in any form, abhorrent.” (Henry T. Blackaby)

Ephesians 4:26 — Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger….

“Few things are more destructive to Christians than anger. Anger causes us to lose our self-control and to say and do things we would otherwise never consider. Anger, if allowed to remain, turns into bitterness that eats away at our hearts. Scripture consistently commands believers to put away anger and lists it as one of the sins of the flesh (Eph. 4:31).

At times, we try to defend our anger by citing Ephesians 4:26. As additional proof we argue that Jesus cleansed the temple in “righteous indignation.” Ephesians refers to anger that does not lead to sin. Jesus was capable of being angry without sinning. When Jesus cleared the temple, Scripture does not indicate that He was angry (Matt. 21:12-14; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-46).

We must be careful not to justify our anger with Scripture. Ephesians 4:31 commands us to put away all anger. That does not mean that we cease to have strong convictions or lose our desire for justice. It does mean we refuse to allow the sins of others to cause us to sin. Anger does not bring about God’s redemptive work; far more often it hinders what God is working to accomplish.

If you feel that you have a righteous anger because of something that has happened, see if you are holding anger in your heart without sin. Is your anger turning into bitterness? Is your anger causing you to speak in an unchristian manner to someone or to gossip about them? Is your anger causing you to make excuses for your own ungodly behavior? Is your anger preventing you from acting in a loving, redemptive, and Christlike way toward someone? You must examine any anger within you and allow God to remove any sinful attitudes that your anger may have produced.” (Henry T. Blackaby)

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 27 June 2023: Today, commit to contributing to the health of your church body and growing in Christ-like character as a member of your church family.