Judgment Is Coming

“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”-Matthew 7:21-23(ESV).

Jesus is about to finish His Sermon on the Mount.  The teachings He has propounded have been many, varied and different.  His principles for the Christian life that have been beyond what had been taught before.  And here He comes with a strong warning about the final judgment. He leaves no doubt that all must face it.  Will all pass the test?  Will all enter heaven?  The answer to these questions  is clearly declared by Jesus:  “the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”  Not all who speak in the Lord’s name, not all who prophesy, cast out demons, do mighty works will pass the judgment.  Some will hear the condemnation: “depart from Me; I never knew you!”

How then can we prepare for the final judgment?  “By doing God’s will.”  Obedience to the Father is the test of faith in Christ.  It is more than saying, “Lord, Lord!”  It is more than following the ten commandments.  We call it “the new birth.”  It is having the Holy Spirit within the heart to guide, motivate and direct.  Paul explained it this way in Romans 8:11:  “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”  The Spirit of God within the individual’s heart makes that person eligible to pass judgment.  The Spirit also leads the believer to obey God and to do His will. 

Strong teachings in both the Old and New Testaments show us plainly how we can do God’s will.  There are many, but I cite these:  “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).  And in James 1:22-25:  “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Grounded, then, in ‘the law of liberty’—which is accepting the Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, Who came to fulfill the law of God and make His way known to us, and then perseveres and obeys, and becomes “a doer who acts” in accordance to God’s will and way, such is the disciple who will be recognized in the judgment and will enter into his reward.  God’s love in the heart motivates the disciple to obey God and serve others: “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Followers of Christ have no need to fear the judgment day.  They belong to God.  The Holy Spirit within them bears witness to God’s spirit that they are the children of God. This seal was imparted to them at conversion.  Praise be to God!  We rest in the assurance of being known by Him both now and in the judgment!

Temptation (Testing) and Evil

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”-Matthew 6:12a (KJV).

The sixth and final petition in the Lord’s Prayer asks that we not go into temptation and that we be delivered from evil.  Some of the translations render ‘temptation’ as ‘testing.’  Does God tempt us?  James 1:13-15 states, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire, when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”  God tests his people in order that their character might be strengthened but He never tempts.  God is altogether good and He cannot be tempted with evil.  He would never entice us to sin or to seek that which would weaken our faith.  But God allows trials and testing to strengthen our faith.  Many examples exist in the Bible:  Abraham was tested by being asked to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice.  The test completed, God provided the sacrifice.  The Israelites were tested by their years of wandering in the wilderness.  After His baptism, Jesus Himself was led into the wilderness to be tested.  Concerning the account of Jesus’ testing in the wilderness, most of our translations read:“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness  to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1).  The Greek word translated “tempted” here is “peirazo” which can also mean tested.  Jesus had to make choices about falling short of God’s plan for Him.  He was victorious and did not yield to the evil one.  The devil intended to thwart God’s plan and purpose.  If Jesus had yielded (and He definitely did not!), He would have fallen into disobedience to God and would have been disqualified as the sinless Savior.  The areas in which He was tested were (1) to satisfy his physical hunger; (2) to use spectacular power to rescue himself from danger and a short-cut to recognition; and (3) to use a short cut to rule the kingdoms of the world.  Each time, Jesus quoted an appropriate scripture to counteract the devil’s very real power to entice and tempt.  In His temptations, Jesus was an example for us to follow. Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”(Hebrews 4:15b). In this world we will be tempted, we will have trials and tribulations.  Pray that God will give us the strength to overcome, to say “no” to the temptations that beset.

The second part of this petition is “deliver us from evil.”  Evil is on every hand and we are sorely tempted by what we see, hear, feel and experience to go astray from God’s teachings and principles. One of our noted Amercian Christian leaders was asked what , from his lifetime of observation and experience, would he advise Christians to earnestly do.  His unhesitating reply was “Pray every day:  ‘Deliver us from evil. Do not compromise your Christian witness or forfeit your influence by letting Satan have the victory” (Dr. Robert Wetzel).  With all the forces of evil that surround us , we ought to have this prayer on the tip of our tongues many times during the day:  “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Prayer for Daily Bread

“Give us this day our daily bread.” –Matthew 6:11 (KJV).

This petition in the Lord’s Prayer sounds very simple but it bears so much weight.  It acknowledges our dependence on God.  “Lord, we turn to You for our daily bread.”  To the God who made the world and all things in it, we look for daily sustenance.  The Bible tells us that He ‘owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10b).  We also are taught “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17a).  This petition for daily bread does not imply that we lead a lazy, unproductive life, that we not work for our sustenance and needs.  But it does teach us that God in His providence will allow our work to be productive so that we can reap the benefits of our labors and have what we need to sustain us.  We can agree with King David in his prayer of praise:  “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).  The position of the prayer for daily bread is noteworthy as well.  We have just prayed, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” (v. 10).  The next petition following the daily bread request is for forgiveness:  “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (v 12).  In between seeking God’s will and begging His forgiveness is the prayer for the most basic of human needs:  food, daily bread.  Does God care that we have what we need to sustain life?  Yes.  Think of the children of Israel after their escape from Egyptian bondage.  They wandered in the wilderness with no means of feeding the array of people.  God provided manna from heaven day by day and they survived the rigors of the desert.

In his book entitled Living the Lord’s Prayer (Minneapolis, IN: Bethany House, 2008, p. 135), David Timms writes of this petition for daily bread:  “This short, earthy request corrects any effort on our part to separate the sacred and the secular.  Daily bread bridges any gap we may create or encourage between the spiritual and the material.  Thus this fourth petition—the hinge of the prayer in many ways—guides us to consider the materiality of our lives.”  We need to examine the deeds as well as the teachings of Jesus to see that He did not separate the spiritual and the material.  He fed the soul with truths that revealed God, but when the hungry crowds surrounded Him to listen to His teachings, he also provided the food they needed to assuage hunger.  He poured out his heart in prayer to God, but he also associated with publicans and sinners.  His life was a demonstration of how the spiritual and the physical can be integrated into wholeness.  Both aspects are sacred.  Both are gifts from God who created us as we are.  Our bodies need nourishment for good health.  “Give us this day our daily bread” then becomes a necessary and proportionate part of the person God created us to be.

Notice the first person plural pronoun “Give us…our daily bread.”  We are community, and if one in the community goes hungry,.all are affected.  The plea is not to satisfy an individual’s hunger, but shows our responsibility for our fellow human beings who, oftentimes because of circumstances over which they exercise little control—famine, loss of work, illness, dire poverty—cannot feed themselves or their family.  Jesus taught us to live compassionately and share with others.  In recent years the need for food has risen in places to disastrous levels.  A crust of bread is a feast for many who can find it.  As we sit at our well-laden tables, let us be aware of the gnawing hunger which is a way of life for many people.  If we are to do the will of our Father, we will find a way to share our own daily bread—our bounteous provisions of not only food but money, clothing, time and prayers—with those who stand in dire need of help.  We are invited to go to our Heavenly Father daily and ask for our daily bread, and at the same time think not only of ourselves but of others.

Peace is Possible

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trustest in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” –Isaiah 26:3-4 (KJV).

I use the King James Version for today’s focus scripture because that version is what I used years ago to memorize these verses. They are from the “Song of Isaiah” to be sung to the nation of Judah. They refer to a future time of judgment and restoration. A hostile power (unnamed by Isaiah) will be overthrown and the people will have “perfect peace” because their minds are “stayed” (centered, focused, fastened, kept continually) on Jehovah and their strength is from Him alone.

Our entire world and individuals within it are in a state of discord, upheaval and unrest. We are as Jeremiah the prophet wrote, “For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace: when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). I hear friends say that they do not listen to the daily news anymore because there is so much crime, war, poverty, distrust and upheaval in our communities, nation and world today they get too depressed just listening to the bad news. Yet we cannot turn deaf ears to conditions and hope they will go away just because we don’t like to hear about them. How can we be involved with needs and pray for ourselves and others unless we are aware? The Word gives us assurance that peace is possible even in times such as we live.

The person will be kept in “perfect peace” whose mind is stayed on God. This indicates that peace is not dependent upon outward circumstances but on a solid inner relationship. It begins first as a vertical connection—person to God. The original Hebrew renders “shalom, shalom” (the word peace written twice) for “perfect peace.” Shalom conveys much more than absence of conflict. It carries the idea of wholeness, quietness of spirit, blessings. It is a sense of fulfillment that comes from God and is dependent upon His presence in the life. Shalom indicates a right relationship with him. “Shalom, shalom” intensifies the meaning to make it, in English, come forth as perfect peace—that which we cannot generate ourselves but which is a gift from God. From Him we receive “every good and every perfect gift” (James 1:17).

To have a mind “stayed” on God is to “Set your mind on what is above, not on what is on the earth.” Someone has aptly observed that we stay our minds on heaven, but we have to live on earth. The equilibrium of mind and perfect peace that God gives the individual prepares the person to handle anxious thoughts and concerns. We focus on Crist and not on crisis; develop dependence on Him, our sure deliverer. And the wonderful reward of this peace-seeking is “everlasting strength.” I like the glorious hymn—both its words and music—entitled “Like a River Glorious.” Frances Havergal (1836-1879) wrote: “Like a river glorious Is God’s perfect peace,/Over all victorious In its bright increase;/Perfect, yet it floweth Fuller every day;/ Perfect, yet it growth, Deeper all the way. Stayed upon Jehovah, Hearts are fully blessed; Finding as He promised, Perfect peace and rest.” Please reread Isaiah 26:3-4. Then, if you have a hymnal with this beautiful hymn in it, turn to it, read the words—or sing it, giving thanks to God for His “perfect peace.” How wonderful to know that amidst trials, conflicts and far-from-ideal conditions God can give us “perfect peace” in the storms of life!

A Promise of Escape

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” –I Corinthians 10:13 (NEV).

Paul was talking about temptation that came to Christians and how God promises to provide a way of escape. Some translations render this “No trial has overtaken you…” Whether we consider this temptation—enticement toward evil; or trial—tests and difficulties, God promises a means of escape for dealing with the situation.

In James 1:14 we read: “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.”

Within the context of the selected verse for today’s meditation, Paul wrote of himself” “But I discipline my body, and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (I Cor. 9;27). Even a seasoned Christian and minister like Paul feared temptation. But he knew assuredly that God would provide a “way of escape,” so that the Christian need not succumb to sin.

The Greek word for escape was the word used to mean a passageway out of a canyon. It carried the meaning of going too far into a ravine, and thinking the path out was lost; but suddenly one showed itself, maybe one used by animals. And with care, one could escape from the canyon.

Our best escape route, whether we consider our challenge a temptation to sin or a trial very hard to bear, is to stay close to the Lord in our daily walk. We do this by Bible study and prayer and by practicing Christian disciplines.

Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, a noted minister of another generation, wrote: “Temptation is the tempter looking through the keyhole into the room where you’re living. Sin is you drawing back the bolt and making it possible for him to enter.” Similar to the quotation by Rev. Chapman is this one by an anonymous observer: “When Satan knocks at the door of my heart, I ask Jesus to answer the door.” The obvious escape is not to draw back the bolt when the tempter wants to enter your life. God wants to “deliver us from evil,” as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer.

He has promised to provide us with a way of escape. Our responsibility is to find the route He provides. He will definitely be on it with us.

Doers of the Word

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” –James 1:22-25 (NKJV). “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” –Ecclesiastes 11:1 (NKJV).

Did you memorize “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only” early in life, maybe as a young child in Sunday School? I can’t remember when I didn’t know this command from James 1:22. I grew up in a community in the mountains where farming was the major occupation. We learned early that there was work for all, and if our chores were not done well and on time, we had both individual and corporate troubles to deal with. What I came to know later as “the Puritan work ethic” was a part of our family life as well as practices throughout our community. Then at church we began to learn a new dimension to our already-ingrained work ethic. “Be doers of the Word.” We learned that we were to really take seriously the lessons we learned in Sunday School and church and in our daily Bible studies, and seek to follow the Word in thought and in deed. Perhaps this may appear now as an elementary way of learning to “do the Word,” but it seemed to have worked with me and the other children who fell under both good teaching and good examples for being “doers of the Word.” I think I’ve grown somewhat and built upon those early concepts, but they were very foundational, and I am grateful. James teaches (beginning with verse 1:21 which I did not cite above) thatthe Word is “engrafted.” That is, it is like a seed lying in theheart. If conditions are favorable, if this seed is nourished, andthe plant tended when the seed sprouts forth, it will produce itsintended fruit. The Word of God is like that in a life dedicated todoing the work of the Lord. If we hear only, and do not put what we know and hear of the Word into action by good deeds, we deceiveourselves, the “engrafted” seed does not bear fruit. Then Jamesgives another illustration. A person sees his image in a mirror; butthen he goes forth and forgets what he looks like. On January 30 Iwrote a devotional entitled “Radiant for the Lord.” Being doers of what we learn from God’s Word will make us radiant for Him. James continues by saying if we look earnestly into “the perfectlaw of liberty” (the Word, which is our sure guide), then we will not forget, and our works will reflect our having seen what God wants us to do and become. A mere hearer glances at his face and goes on his way forgetting what he looks like. On the other hand, the person who both hears and practices the Word will strive earnestly to apply it in life and will be blessed thereby. James does not say so in this cited passage, but we know from experience that others as well will be blessed by those who “do the Word.” The writer of Ecclesiastes gave a fine analogy of being a doer of the Word: “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” “Bread” in the verse could mean actual bread given in the name of the Lord to the hungry. It can also mean seeds cast into prepared and irrigated land so that a crop of wheat or corn will be forthcoming. Knowing that Jesus said He is “the Bread of Life” the bread we cast upon the waters—share with others—can be telling others of His saving grace. With my background of growing up on a farm, I like this interpretation of Ecclesiastes 11:1. We prepared the land, planted the seeds after danger of frost was past, cultivated the crop, and in due time reaped the results of our labors. We could see that our work was productive because God blessed our efforts. Kindnesses and good deeds, even “cast upon waters” where least expected, will result in blessings, both to the sower and to those who are nourished by the action of “casting bread upon the waters.” What is God motivating you to do today that entitles you to His high honor of allowing you to be “a doer of the Word,” of “casting bread upon the waters” in someone’s life? Pray about doing the Word. He will lead you to blessings of which you were hitherto unaware.

A Word for the Wise

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom…But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” –James 3:13, 17-18 (ESV).

I think there is hardly a one among us who does not wish to be wise. Oftentimes we read and think upon the Proverbs (most attributed to the sage Solomon, who reigned as King of Israel for about 40 years around 1,000 BC). His writings hold immeasurable expressions of wisdom. I, for one, am very fond of quotations. I have quotation dictionaries and am known to write down in journals quotations that strike me as apt and wise. I have even tried my own hand at writing memorable quotations, but I must say without great success. According to James, believed by scholars to be the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, wisdom is “from above,”—his way of stating that wisdom comes as a gift from God. And that wisdom bestowed by God has extremely desirable characteristics. It is “pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” We can pursue knowledge, learn facts and accrue an education, but I like to think that the ability to apply what we learn lies within the area of that often evasive realm called wisdom. Paul wrote to Timothy that those who had leadership roles in the church (and, I think we can apply this to wherever we work) have responsibilities relative to wisdom: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

Would you like to grow wiser in this new year? I think most of us would agree that would be a good goal toward which to strive. Again, the Apostle Paul, in his writings, stated a means whereby we might improve upon our standing in wisdom and experience: “Through Him (Jesus Christ) we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:2-5).

It is significant that when Solomon was inaugurated King of Israel, his prayer to God was that he be filled with wisdom. “Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” (2 Chronicles 1:10). He did not ask for wealth, fame or a powerful kingdom. Could it be that he knew already if he could exercise the wisdom of God, these other achievements would be possible? Wisdom and discernment are needed in our day to follow God’s way so that we will not be detracted by many devious teachings that would lead us astray from His truths. Returning to James’s teachings, we find this encouraging word: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5, ESV). It is good to pray the prayers written in the Word of God. By so doing, we have advanced assurance that we are praying in the Lord’s will. We can pray confidently for wisdom. God wants to answer that prayer.