YEAR 2, WEEK 31, Day 5, Friday, 4 August 2023

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Friday, 4 August 2023:

Jeremiah 28:11 — And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

Speaking on behalf of the Lord, Jeremiah told the Judahites that their punishment from the Lord for their sins would be seventy years of exile and bondage under Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, but those who submitted to Nebuchadnezzar would be saved. As a symbol of the proper response to Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, God instructed the prophet to place a yoke upon his neck for all to see, remembering God’s word to them. Jeremiah’s message from the Lord was not what people wanted to hear, but the false prophet Hananiah was ready to deliver an opposing “prophecy” which was well-received by King Zedekiah and all the people: Nebuchadnezzar will fall within two years. Hananiah’s prophecy wasn’t too hard to believe either since Nebuchadnezzar was deep in battle against Egypt, and rumors were spreading that he was weakening. To make his point in a dramatic and visible way, Hananiah broke the yoke around Jeremiah’s neck. Though Hananiah confidently and powerfully claimed to speak on behalf of the Lord, his prophecy was merely deceitful imagination, perhaps wishful thinking. Hananiah gave the people the message they wanted to hear rather than the message they needed to hear. Today, many popular influencers are doing the same thing.

• 2 Timothy 4:1-5 — I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Self-confidence, the power of positive thinking, and empty faith are no substitute for God’s word and His truth. Many people today preach a faith that has nothing to do with faith in God but rather faith in the power of belief alone, an empty faith that says with enough confidence and determination a person can overcome or achieve anything. It is a faith in the power of human will, and it is a deception.

A more ‘spiritual’ version of empty faith is “name it and claim it” — just say want you want, and trust that God will provide it. However, faith is only as good as the object of that faith, and you can’t claim what God hasn’t named. It is God’s will that shall be done, not yours, no matter how committed you are to your ideas or how confident you are in your abilities. Faith in God partners goes hand-in-hand with the fear of God. God is God and you are not. If God is not the author of your plan, it is doomed. Find out what God is doing, and be a part of that plan.

Jeremiah 28:15-17 – “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’” In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Those who proclaim their own version of the truth make themselves enemies of God, and there is no more horrific place to stand than against the Almighty. Those who, through their own spiritual immaturity and ignorance follow false teachers, follow them down the path of death. Jesus said that wide is the path taken by the majority who will follow false teachers, but narrow is that path of those who will follow Him. Who are you listening to for direction every day, and who are you really following?

Luke 10:3 — Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

God knows He is leading you into persecution in order to use you to communicate the Gospel to sinful people who are naturally hurtful in their sinfulness. Consider how many times in the Bible God sent someone to deliver a message to people the messenger didn’t want to encounter or to people who didn’t want to hear the message. Are you willing to be hurt by the people God wants you to reach in order to be a faithful ambassador for Christ? Are you willing to fulfill the Great Commandment by sharing the Gospel even with your enemies? (Luke 6:27) Are you willing to show unloving people the love of Christ, regardless of how they treat you so nothing would stand in the way of the Gospel? Are you willing to suffer and say, “Forgive them Father; they know not what they do,” in the earnest hope that those who need Jesus the most would receive Him as their Lord and Savior? Denying self, taking up your cross daily, and following Jesus is not easy; in fact, it is impossible apart from the power of God within you.

When you think about persecution for your faith, you might be inclined to imagine a big martyr moment, standing before government officials, being thrown into prison, etc. However, more important are the small, daily encounters with regular people who will mistreat you in typical ways. These are our opportunities to take up our cross and follow the example Jesus gave us. When you respond to unloving people with shocking love, you glorify God and open a door for sharing the Gospel. (See Philippians 2:1-11) With the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19), we have been given a ministry of suffering in love for His name’s sake. Be a faithful ambassador and minister.

• 2 Timothy 3:12 — Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted….
• 1 Peter 2:19-21 — For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
• Matthew 10:38 — And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
• 1 Peter 4:12-16 — Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
• Matthew 5:10-12 — Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
• 2 Timothy 1:8-14 — Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
• Acts 5:41 — Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
• Romans 5:3 — Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance….
• 2 Corinthians 12:10 — For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Luke 10:21 – In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

“One hindrance to hearing a word from God may be our own wisdom. Wisdom, like success, can delude us to think we should take the role of teacher rather than student. Our knowledge lulls us into thinking we have sufficient wisdom to meet any challenge. Believing we are wise tempts us to evaluate the shortcomings of others yet be unaware of how much growth is still required in ourselves.

The Pharisees were the religious experts of their day. They possessed much information about God, but they had no personal relationship with Him. Their knowledge clouded their view of their condition before God. Jesus thanked His Father that it was not to these ‘experts’ that the Father had revealed spiritual truth, but rather to those who were humble and who recognized their need for God’s revelation.

When religious leaders experience spiritual failure, their downfall is often met with surprise. It shouldn’t be. Religious people with the most knowledge are sometimes the ones least responsive to God’s Word. Knowledge can easily lead to pride, and pride impedes us from seeking God.

How do you know if you are a ‘Pharisee’? When you do not have a teachable spirit. When you become defensive if a fellow Christian shares a concern about your spiritual condition. When you do not seek to hear from God, believing you already know what He thinks. When you feel that you are capable of helping others in their spiritual lives, but no one can teach you anything. Don’t allow the limited knowledge you now have to blind you to the great truths God still wants to reveal to you.” (Henry T. Blackaby)

Luke 10:27, the Greatest Commandment, explains that how much you love the Lord is revealed by how you treat others. How well you love God and others is determined first by a heart and soul which longs for God and shares His heart for others and then through actions (using your strength to love) which are guided by the diligent study of God’s word (using your mind to love); and 1 John 5:3 reveals that the more we grow in genuine love for God, the less we view His commands to sacrificially love others as burdensome. In love, duty becomes delight, and obedience is something we naturally do without having to ‘work’ at it – “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15) – [it’s a given]” and he charged his disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19, 20) Obedience is the product (natural fruit) of love which must be enabled by God but which is also be learned through study and application of God’s word as a life-long labor of love. To obey God’s word and to teach others to obey God’s word, you must understand God’s word within the context of God’s heart. Bible study is an essential Christian discipline, and the Bible says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) However, Bible knowledge is not the same as Bible understanding, and information is not transformation. You must know the Bible through diligent study, but only through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-14; 1 Corinthians 2:14) and through Bible application (experience and practice) can you grow to understand what you only previously ‘knew’ intellectually. Wisdom, knowledge rightly applied, comes from God – “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.” (Proverbs 2:6-8). God gives us wisdom as we prayerfully step out in faith with the knowledge we have while the Holy Spirit coaches us into true understanding and teaches us how to want what He wants and do what He would do with His heart and His mind — “’For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)

Knowledge and understanding are essential, but you must also have the heart to do what you know, and only through a heart of love can you become what you do, transforming virtues into character (who you really are inside). Some people will do what is right because they are scared not to or because they are seeking recognition or a reward (fear and pride); and some people will do what is right because they know they should (duty). Ultimately, however, fear, pride and duty can’t contain a person’s passions, nor are these motivations a foundation for genuine relationship. Only love endures, transforms and unites. Do you want a person to treat you well because she is scared not to, because she is hoping to get something from you, or because she knows she should; or do you want her to treat you well because she really wants to from the heart? Which motivation endures through all circumstances? Which motivation produces joy, peace, thankfulness and oneness? Fear, pride and duty are burdensome, heavy loads because what you do wars against what you really want to do inside; your actions contradict who you really are. Love delights in obedience and service because your actions agree with your heart –

• Matthew 11:28, 29 — Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Wisdom comes from God, but so does love. To grow in wisdom and love, we must grow closer to God who is the Source of both. (John 15) The aim of our Bible study, Bible application, and prayer must not be behavior modification alone or simply to receive the blessings of God; it must be unity with Jesus, truly knowing Him more and more and growing in our love for Him; and we must trust that the One who saved us, through His initiative and power rather than ours, and though we didn’t deserve it, will likewise sanctify us (transform us to Christ-like character) as we abide in Him.

Luke 10:33 – But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

“If anyone could understand the temptation to let busyness distract Him from the Father’s activity, Jesus certainly could! He told a parable that clearly illustrated this danger: A certain Jewish man was on his way to Jericho when he was brutally attacked by thieves and left to die by the road. First a Levite, then a priest, passed by. These were religious leaders; surely they would show compassion to a wounded person! But they had places to go and appointments to keep, so they passed him by. Surely someone else would come along who had more time to help the wounded man! Then a Samaritan, despised by the Jews, came along. Of all people, this man had reason to look the other way, since the wounded man was his enemy. But wherever he was going could wait, for someone needed his help.

It’s easy to become so busy that you are oblivious to those in need. Your schedule can become so full of accomplishing good things that you are of no help to the people around you. God is at work in the lives of your friends, your neighbors, your family members. He may ask you to interrupt your day long enough to join Him as He ministers to them. Nothing on your agenda, no matter how pressing, is reason enough to ignore the voice of God when He tells you to stop and help. If you have become too busy to minister to those around you, ask God to reestablish your priorities so that you do not miss opportunities to serve Him.” (Henry T. Blackaby)

Luke 10:40 – But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

“Martha loved Jesus dearly and would have done anything for Him. Her struggle came in being still! Martha spent so much time serving Jesus that she had no time to enjoy His company or to get to know Him better. The harder Martha worked, the more frustrated she became with her sister Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet while Martha scurried around the house to make sure everything was in perfect order for Jesus. Martha’s service, though it started out with gladness, deteriorated into resentment and envy.

It is good to want to serve Christ as an expression of love for what He has done for you. Yet when your activity consumes your time and energies so that you have no time for Him, you have become too busy! You may think, as Martha did, that if you don’t do the work, it won’t get done. That may be true, but Jesus taught that your highest priority must be your relationship with Him. If anything detracts you from that relationship, that activity is not from God. God will not ask you to do something that hinders your relationship with Christ. At times, serving God and carrying out His mission is the best way to know and experience God. At other times, it is more important to sit quietly at His feet and listen to what He is saying.

We are not called to continually sit at the feet of Jesus, otherwise our service for Him would cease. Neither are we called to serve Him incessantly, without taking time to find restoration in His presence. Have you been serving God so diligently that you have not had time to spend with Him?” (Henry T. Blackaby)

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 4 August 2023: Love those who are hard to love, and share the Gospel with those who need to hear it even though it might be difficult. Abide in Christ in Christ today as the branch is connected to the vine, and bear the fruit of love which naturally emanates from that relationship.