Year 2, Day 194: Psalm 49

Psalm 49

Psalm 49 has much to say about wealth.  I love the way the psalm ends, “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.”  It’s a really telling psalm.

One of the main points of this psalm is that all of our money, power, prestige, and fame don’t really do anything for us.  Think about that statement for a moment.  I want that to sink in.

Take a person who has all the money they need to live – enough so that they never have to worry about the present or the future.  What need have they for God?  I believe this is one of the main reasons that Jesus says, “It is harder for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”  (See Mark 10:25)  Note that Jesus doesn’t say that it is impossible.  Clearly there are exceptions to this rule that Jesus teaches.  But in general, wealth inhibits our relationship with God.

Is it any difference for people with power?  How many genuinely powerful people have you known to also be humble before anyone – much less God?  Or what about prestige?  Whether the prestige is associated from influence or because of an obvious importance to a task – how many prestigious people have you known to be humble and wise before God?  Is fame any different?  Do you typically find the famous among the humble and wise before God?  Again, please note that I confess there are absolutely exceptions to the rule.

As the psalmist hints at, what amount of money can we use to buy our soul – or even our righteousness – from God?  What amount of power can we exert over God?  Can prestige or fame justify us before God?

But let’s even talk about something far more concrete than God.  Death.  We all die, right?  Can our wealth save us from death?  When we die, will not the vultures fight over what wealth we have acquired through their various taxes, legal fees, and debates among the heirs?  Can any of us exert a single iota of power over death?  Can any of us be so famous or prestigious that death will pass us by?

I love the cold dark truth of verses 10-12.  Even the fool sees that the wise die.  The fool and the stupid alike will die and leave their beloved wealth to other people.  All people who live in the pomp of their own selves die like the beasts of the field.

But verse 15 contains a true statement.  God will ransom my soul from Sheol (the place of the dead).  God will pay the price.  No amount of money, fame, prestige, or power that I have will make a hill of beans of difference when I die.  But my relationship with God will make a difference.  God has the power to ransom me out of Sheol!  God even has the desire to do so!  The only question that remains is do I care enough about that fact to make my relationship with God the most important thing in my life?

In a way, it seems like a silly question.  Is anything worth more than my eternal salvation?  Certainly those who are wise would say, “No.”  But do we live like it?

The last few verses of the psalm are very reassuring.  Don’t worry when someone else strikes it rich.  They may seem like they are blessed here and now.  But a reward after Sheol is better than a reward before Sheol any day.  We have no reason to be jealous, because we have a God who will ransom us out of Sheol.

To move beyond the words of the psalm, I am left deeply pondering my life today.  Do I live in such a way as to indicate that my relationship with God is the most important thing in my life?  Do I live my life in such a way as to encourage the people around me to put God first?  How can I do this more efficiently?

To put it a little more plainly … if someone were to observe me – how much would they discern my love for God?  Would my love for God be obvious to them?  Would it in any way be inspiring for them? 

It should be.  It should be the most important thing in my life.  It should be obvious to everyone around me.  What can be more important to me than the fact that God is powerful enough to ransom me out of Sheol?  What piece of wealth, power, prestige, fame, or materialistic possession is more important than that?

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Year 2, Day 193: Psalm 48

Psalm 48

Psalm 48 is a song of praise and triumph to God.  The psalmist’s overarching point is that God has chosen to dwell in Jerusalem and because of it Jerusalem has become strong and a renowned city.  God’s presence has made Jerusalem strong.

As we read this psalm, we need to make sure that we get the order right.  Is God great because Jerusalem is great or is Jerusalem great because God is great?  It might seem like word play at first, but it really is a significant point to ponder.

If we believe that God is great because Jerusalem is great, then the theology to which we are essentially ascribing is a theology that states that I will love God only if He is good to me.  It’s a theology that says that I will only recognize God’s greatness because He does great things to the things that concern me.  The danger of this is that should I experience some times in my life where things aren’t going all that well then I am likely to also lose some of the esteem that I give to God.  It’s like being a “fair-weather friend” to God.  We love Him so long as the stuff in our life that we also love is taken care of by Him.

The flip-side of this line of thinking is also significant.  Is Jerusalem great because God is great?  To this we should sound out a resounding “Yes!”  The greatness of God impacts the things of God.  God is great because God is great, not because He makes the stuff we care about succeed.  The people, places, and things in this world that involve a great God will become great because of His presence.

So we return to the psalm.  Is God great because the psalmist can see all the fortified towers and ramparts and citadels?  No.  But does Jerusalem have great towers and ramparts and citadels because God is a part of her?  Absolutely!  Is God great because Jerusalem’s enemies were destroyed and turned back?  No.  But are the enemies of Jerusalem destroyed because they rose up against a great God who dwells within her?  Absolutely!

In many respects, this is the point of the psalm.  God’s name generates praise because of God’s character.  The fact that the things that have God within them also turn great generates more praise because of God’s character.  We do not increase the greatness of God; we benefit from the greatness of God.  We do not increase the greatness of God; we see the greatness of God and sing praises to Him because of His greatness.

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Year 2, Day 192: Psalms 46-47

Psalm 46

Psalm 46 is a classic praise psalm.  And like most psalms, its opening line packs a punch.  God is our strength and our refuge.  He is a very present help in a time of trouble.

That wording got me thinking.  Why call God a “very present help” when it would almost seem more grammatically correct to call Him simply a “present help.”  I mean, you are either present or not present, right?  Either you are there or you are absent, right?

In Hebrew, the word used for “very” is a word that largely means “abundantly.”  In this case, the translation of “very” is fine.  But looking at the word as abundantly brings much more richness to the text.  God is not just present, He is abundantly present.  God is not just in our presence, He is everywhere we look in our presence.

I’m writing this having just finished up a Bible Study on Mark 8:11-21.  In this passage towards the beginning, Jesus gets pretty ticked off at the Pharisees for demanding a sign from heaven.  {Not just any old sign mind you ... but a divinely spiritual sign!}  Jesus is largely irritated at the Pharisees because their faith is constructed in such a way that they think God is more in the supernatural miracles such as manna from heaven and Elijah’s calling down fire upon the water soaked altar than He is in the normal world around them.  As I taught on that passage, one of my main points was that God can be found everywhere, not just in the sacred places we create for Him.  We need to be able to see God everywhere we look, not just in the Holy Places that we designate as sacred.

I think this message is also largely applicable to that which I was speaking about earlier.  God is abundantly present as a source of help in our life.  He’s everywhere!  That is why it is important to think of God as a “very present help” and not just a “present help.”  God’s help comes from any direction and every direction because He’s not just present, He’s everywhere!

Who would have thought I could get five paragraphs of theology out of a word like “very,” eh?

Moving on in the psalm, I love the central theme of this psalm.  God dwells in the midst of His holy habitation, and it shall not be moved.  I hear that as if it is a supernatural law of physics.  Nobody is powerful enough to move God’s holy habitation because God is in it.  The presence of God makes something immovable. 

Steady. 

Rock solid. 

The presence of God is significant.  The nations rage around us.  People’s opinions are a dime a dozen – even their opinions on our life!  In America, we’re about to enter a time and a place where everyone is going to “become an expert” on politics, foreign affairs, and the economy simply because it is an election year.  Turmoil will abound.  Yet the place or person in whom God dwells shall not be moved.  Thanks really cool.

“Be still, and know that I am God,” the Lord says.  He breaks the bow.  He shatters the spear.  So often I hear the emphasis of those lines as being upon the nouns, but I think the real emphasis is upon the verbs.  He breaks and shatters them.  He makes the implements of our rage and turmoil useless against Him.  That’s power.

Reading through this psalm, I am really inspired to be a rock for God.  Yes, I know I will have my days of faltering.  But this psalm really inspires me to be a rock for God.  I want to be someone that is ready to be used by God to stand firm for His ways.  I want to be the person that can see God everywhere and use everything to be that teachable moment about God.  I want to be that holy habitation that is immoveable and unshakable simply because God is present inside.  Who’s with me?

Psalm 47

As we move along into Psalm 47, I am equally inspired.  Yes, absolutely this is a song about praising God.  This is absolutely a song about God’s glory.  Above all else, this is a psalm attributing greatness to God.

However, the place where I am truly inspired is in the humbling beginning of this psalm.  “He chose our heritage for us.”  He allowed us to know Him.  He called us to be sons and daughters of God through His Son.  That’s incredibly humbling.  As great as God is, He chose us to be with Him.  That thought drops me to my knees in recognition of how undeservedly I am in His presence.

May His name be glorified!  May His name be praised!  He has indeed done marvelous things!  And He has seen fit to call our heritage to be with Him!  Give praise to the Lord today!

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Year 2, Day 191: Psalm 45

Psalm 45

Psalm 45 is a wedding psalm in many respects.  It begins by talking about a king and ends by talking about the king’s bride.  Let’s look at its structure and see what we can learn.

If we speak to the opening verses, we can see a neat dynamic for human interaction.  The human author of the psalm desires to write words that are pleasing to his king.  He wants the psalm to be a blessing upon him.  He is genuinely seeking to please the authority figure in his life.

Of course, this can be taken too far.  We shouldn’t want to please people for the wrong reasons.  Neither should we seek to please people in lieu of giving praise to God.  But as human beings we should desire to have genuinely pleasant relationships with each other.  We should seek to be a blessing to those who have charge over us.  We should desire that our presence in their life is a good thing rather than a bad thing.

I have more than a few friends in my life who are police officers, so as I wrote the above paragraph I couldn’t help but think about how my words really impact my relationship with them.  In many respects, the police and other legal keepers of the peace (judges, military, etc) are authority figures in my life.  Certainly they do not rise to the level of God’s authority.  But they are an authority figure.  As a person under their care, I should be living my life with an attitude such that they look forward to interactions they have with me.  So I have to ask myself … is that how I live my life?  Am I living my life so that the people who are in authority over me in this world genuinely appreciate my presence in their life?  Of course, then I have to ask the same question about the culture I live in.  Do the majority of us live with that same perspective?

It’s simply a perspective of caring about the other before myself.  When what I want negatively impacts my relationship with the genuine authorities in my life, things are wrong.  When my life impacts the authorities in my life positively, then things are good.  That is the general attitude of the psalmist that we see in this psalm.  The psalmist desires to positively impact the authority in his life – the king and future queen.

Speaking of the queen, let’s leave the early verses of this psalm and turn to the end of the psalm, beginning with verse 10.  Here is another call to respect authority.  The queen is called to love her soon-to-be-husband.  She is called to prepare herself to raise her children and be the teaching authority that they are going to need.  Again we hear the importance of joy between a person and an authority figure in their life.

When we take the words spoken to the king and to the queen we get a consistent message.  Our relationships should be a benefit to those who are in our life – especially those who are put in authority over us.  Then shall our name be praised.

This being said, I’ve saved the best for last!  Did you notice the subject of the verses between the set of verses about the king and the set of verses about the queen?  The subject of those verses is God.  Verses 6-8 are all about God.  God’s kingdom will endure forever.  God’s kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness.  God’s anointing is the anointing about which we should care.

This is such a neat statement when it comes to a faithful representation about marriage.  If God is not in the center of the marriage, then it will not work.  If God is not seen as the stuff that binds the man and the woman together, then it will fall.  If the man and the woman do not see themselves as God’s subjects first and foremost, they will experience trouble.  If the man and the woman are not jointly working through their marriage to bring glory to God, then the marriage will have conflict.

God deserves to be the center of everything, especially marriage.  He is the one who brings glory.  His plans are the only ones that can be made with His grand perspective and thus are the only ones that deserve to be followed.  He is the only source of grace and love and mercy that will not fade.

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Year 2, Day 190: Psalm 44

Psalm 44

Psalm 44 begins with a really neat perspective that I do not believe we have heard at all in the psalms this far.  “We have heard with our ears.”  Psalm 44 begins with a discourse on the importance of hearing stories about faith.  Psalm 44 reminds us to pay attention to the faith stories of the generations that have come before us.

The psalmist talks about how he has heard the stories of how God planted the Hebrew people in the Promised Land after driving out the rebellious nations.  He heard stories about how it was not their own power that saved them, but God’s miraculous power at work in their lives.  But what is important is that these stories have impacted the life of the psalmist.

Is this not one of the reasons that we must be active in talking about our faith experiences and the experiences of those who have come before us?  Is this not one of the main reasons that the Word of God can be such an incredible instrument to our life?  Is not the Word of God a massive collection about the faithfulness of God in the midst of people’s lives – some of whom who were righteous, some of whom were rebellious and repented, and some of whom were rebellious and never repented?  The Word of God is a timeless witness to us because it is story after story of how God has worked throughout all of humanity and it is a book that therefore promises that God will continue to work within us!

I know that I’ve said this before, but I think it is worth saying again.  I’ve met people who say, “The relationship I have with God is private between Him and me.”  Now, I understand that there are some things that a person only shares with God.  But should we not be actively talking about how we pray, how we read God’s Word, and the lessons we learn along the way?  Should we not be talking about how God teaches us through our service and our giving?  Should we not be vocal about the blessings of our relationships with others and with God?

As we move through the psalmist’s remembrances, we come upon a few verses of hope that are simply amazing.  Psalm 44:8 speaks of boasting in God continually and giving thanks to His name forever.  This line reminds me of Psalm 145 – especially Psalm 145:2 and Psalm 145:21, noting the emphasis that Psalm 145 places upon the communal declarations of faith.  This also reminds me of the way that Daniel begins his response to God when God allows him to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2:20.  You see, God’s name will be blessed forever.  We may come and go.  The generations may pass and fall before God.  But His name will be praised forever.  The things in which we wrongly put our hope will come and go, but the true source of strength will always remain and will always deserve our praise.

However, it is at this point that the psalm takes on a much more ominous tone.  The psalmist believes that the Lord has abandoned them in their time of need – and claims that they have not forsaken their God.  The psalmist seems to struggle with the question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

This is a very difficult question to answer because there are so many possible answers.

• Perhaps the good person is not quite as good as they think they are.  I find this explanation almost universally true.  How many of us are ever as good as we really think we are?
• Perhaps God has sent a challenge into our life so that He can demonstrate His righteousness and His steadfastness to us?
• Perhaps God is teaching someone else and we’re just experiencing unfortunate “collateral damage.”
• Sometimes this world is simply under the influence of tremendous evil and we have to deal with the consequences of it. 

I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons that could explain why bad things happen to good people.  The truth is that this is a question that none of us can answer unless we look at each specific context.

However, there is a truth that this psalm brings out.  No matter what happens in this world, we cannot be separated from the love of God.  See Romans 8:31-39, as this psalm is the basis for the theology that he presents there.  In those moments where the world is treating us unfairly and we have legitimately not forsaken God, is there any better place to turn than calling upon God?  In those moments where we come upon evil consequences through no fault of our own, is there anything more than God that we can trust to make sense of life?  Even when bad things happen to good people, can any of those bad things take away the hope and salvation that we have found in God?

That is the wonderful truth that this psalm has for us.  God is our rock, our strength, and our shelter.  In those times when we are suffering through no fault of our own, we should turn to Him.  In those times where we might be suffering through our legitimately earned consequences, we should turn to Him.  In those times when we celebrate – whether through our own consequences or through some undeserved blessing – we should turn to Him.  In doing so, we will be proclaiming God’s nature and our relationship with Him to the generations around us.

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Year 2, Day 189: Psalm 43

Psalm 43

This psalm begins with a psalmist in a dark place.  The psalmist is feeling a bit of persecution.  He is feeling like he is the victim of deceit and unjustness.  He is feeling like he needs to come to the Lord and place his case before God.

This is actually a really good response.  We will all feel persecution at some point.  Whether it is from deceit, greed, anger, or just flat-out evil – we will all feel persecution.  If it is going to happen, we need to prepare ourselves so that we can respond to this reality appropriately.  That is what is so good about this psalm.  The psalmist is facing difficulty and he turns to the Lord.

This is a fairly good spiritual discipline to talk about today.  We cannot always control the things that come in and influence our life.  However, we can certainly control the way we respond to the things that do come into our life.  We are responsible for our reactions.

How can we react?  Well, almost all of us have the immediate response.  This is the fight vs. flight response.  Unfortunately, in most human beings the “fight” side of that equation is strong so long as actual physical harm isn’t present.  We are quick to argue.  Our tongue is one of our sharpest weapons are we are unafraid to use it!  We are quick to respond in the same manner as we are being treated.  We often act in a “do as you’ve been done unto” manner instead of a “do as you would have others do unto you” manner.

The problem with this reality is that most of us don’t have the world’s best immediate reactions.  Most of us spend a fair amount of time apologizing for our knee-jerk reactions {Or if we don’t apologize, we should!}.  The pattern of behavior that the psalmist is giving to us is far superior.  The psalmist turns to God and focuses on God.

Look at the place that the psalmist finds himself by the end of the psalm.  “Send out you light and truth and let them lead me.”  “Let them bring me to Your holy hill.”  “Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”  Do you hear the change in the psalmist?

The psalmist begins focused on his trouble.  Then He begins to realize that he’s not in a healthy place.  He confesses that he needs to be led back to God by God’s truth.  As the meditations of his thoughts are focused back upon God, he remembers that his hope and salvation are in God, not in his own ability to solve his own problems.

Now, that’s a really healthy reaction.  There’s absolutely nothing knee-jerk about that reaction.  The psalmist turns to God and focuses upon God instead of responding to his troubles in a less-than-profitable reaction.  The psalmist allows perspective and patience to color his thoughts instead of pure human reaction.

As I said in the beginning, all of us will know the place of persecution.  We’ll all have people coming before us to try and tear us down.  What we can control is our reaction.  But in order to react well, we’re going to need to prepare and make ourselves ready.  We need examples like this psalm in our life.

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Year 2, Day 188: Psalm 42

Psalm 42

A note of reflection is due as we begin Psalm 42.  In many Hebrew texts, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 comprise a single psalm.  So, just to be clear, my psalm ends after the 11th verse.  If you have another 5 verses to Psalm 42 than I do, I’ll be talking about those verses tomorrow and calling them Psalm 43.

I hope as you began this psalm you were mindful of the old familiar song that borrows these words.  “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you.”  This got me thinking.  What exactly is a deer panting for water?  Being a dog owner, I have this mental image for panting that involves breathing in and out of one’s mouth in an attempt to cool oneself down.  But this is not at all what it means.  Another use of the verb “to pant” is “to yearn for.”  I think we all probably knew that, but I just wanted to make it really clear.

That also got me thinking about the history of the Hebrew people we spent a good part of last year reading.  God called Abraham.  He followed God, but his kids and the generations after them followed less and less until they found themselves in bondage in Egypt.  Then they realized just how much they needed God.  So they were brought out of Egypt and in a last great rebellious act God let the generation wander in the wilderness until they were dead.  But there was a remnant in the next generation that took God seriously.  They became devoted to God and God led them into the Promised Land.  They were faithful for a while, but soon the Hebrew people had forgotten God again.  They fell away in faith and eventually fell once more into oppression under the Assyrians and Babylonians.  But there was that faithful generation that God restored.  God restored a remnant out of captivity that desired His Word.  Then the people fell away again.  From a Christian perspective, God then sent His Son as His people were falling away and Jesus took the small faithful remnant and once more empowered them.

Each of those small glimmers of faith in the history of the Hebrew people is the equivalent of panting.  Those moments where we need relief so much that we actually yearn for it.  And yes, I absolutely mean to phrase it in those terms.  As human beings, we aren’t very good about genuinely yearning for God, God’s Word, and God’s ways until we have fallen pretty hard.  Yes, we give God great lip service.  But do we really yearn for Him?  Just like the moments of communal faith are rare in the history of God’s own chosen people, so are the moments of genuinely panting for God rare in the life of the individual.

I’m not trying to say any of us are pretend Christians.  That’s for God to decide.  But I am saying that I could do a better job at genuinely “panting” after God’s Word and God’s ways and God’s presence.  I could do a better job and having my soul genuinely desire Him.

The remainder of the psalm focuses on the psalmist genuinely asking a question of himself.  “Why are you downcast, oh my soul?”  In other words, what reason do you have to be downcast?

This is actually a really great question – especially if you happen to be a person like me who suffers from the occasional bout of depression.  Sometimes I am just sad … and I don’t know why.  There are days when I am just sad without explanation.  I’m willing to bet that while we may not all share the same frequency of sad days – we all know what it is like to have the occasional day where we just feel sad for whatever reason.  It is on those days that this psalm can be important.  “Why are you downcast, oh my soul?”

The truth is we really don’t have any reason to be downcast.  God loves us.  God knows we are not perfect and He has provided a way for us to be imperfect yet still be found in His love.  God has given us the ability to draw breath each and every day of our life.  God has given us a beautiful creation to enjoy.  And He has given us one another to enjoy it with Him!

Why are you downcast, oh my soul?  With God, there is no good reason to be downcast.  God can work through everything to His glory.  We can be a part of that.

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Year 2, Day 187: Psalm 41

Psalm 41

After our short stint into the writings of Paul, we now return to the psalms.  Today we focus on a single psalm: Psalm 41.

David begins this psalm with a bit of a look at blessedness.  What is it that David considers to be blessed?  Today, David focuses on generosity.  The blessed person is the one who gives of himself to those who do not have enough.  Sounds remarkably like “It is better to give than to receive.”  It sounds remarkably like “The Lord loves a cheerful giver,” too.  God loves when we receive gladly and gladly give out of what we have received from Him.

Why does David have this focus?  Personally, I think David is in a moment of persecution and he is looking to the Lord for a little help.  He knows that he has been generous in the past and he is counting on the Lord to remember his peace and generosity when he was in a time of receiving.  I’m not saying that David was generous with a self-centered bent.  I don’t think David was generous and thought, “Gee, this way I can come back to God and force Him to be generous to me when I am down on my luck.”  Rather, I think David is generous in times of prosperity because he knows God will carry him through the lean times.  When you don’t have to worry about the down times, you can be far more generous during the good times.

This is a really great lesson on faith.  It’s really the same theological argument about doing good works.  Do I do good works because I am going to try and prove to God how good I am?  Or do I do good works because I know how good of a person I am not and I am thankful that I can rely upon God instead of trying to rely upon myself?  The same is true about generosity.  Am I generous because I’m at a time in my life where I know I have extra (and am thus leaning upon my own strength) or am I generous at all times because I am truly relying upon God?

Then David goes on to speak about the people around him.  His words are also true about us and our predicament in life.  Every one of us has known the experience of having an enemy, I’m certain.  If you’ve been through middle and high school, I’m sure you’ve had someone who didn’t like you.  It’s even true in the adult world.  Perhaps not all of us have had the pleasure of having someone say, “When will he die, and his name perish?”  But I’m pretty sure we’ve all felt at one time or another that people are whispering about us in the shadows.  I’m sure that every one of us has had a close friend turn on us and work against us.  I think every single one of us has had the experience of feeling like the people around us are just waiting for us to get out of their lives.  It’s just life.  We don’t always get along with people and for good or for bad our agendas do not always match up with the agendas of other people.

What are we to do in those times?  Are we to speak maliciously of those who rise up against us?  Are we to react violently against them?  Are we to seek out ways for harm to cross their path?

How is it that God has dealt with His enemies?  Are we not all enemies of God at some point in our life?  Does God cast us aside and look for ways to bring harm into our life?  If He wanted to, He certainly could!  No, God seeks to love us.  God desires that we turn to Him while we are alive.  Yes, there will come a day and a place where He will judge us.  But until that judgment is necessary He desires to love us and He desires for us to turn and come to Him in repentance so we can know His forgiveness.

So how do we respond when people are waiting for us to die – or at least go away?  How are we to respond while our friends turn and stab us in the back – as David suggests happened to him?  We are to love.  And we are to be patient.  And we are to let God deal justly with them as only God can do.

However, that’s not all that we can do.  We can also turn to God and focus on His gracious nature.  We can focus on His salvation.  We can focus on His love.  We can focus on how all of these characteristics (and more!) of God will endure forever.

As the old familiar song by Helen Lemmel goes:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace

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Year 2, Day 186: Philippians 4

Housekeeping Reminders

As we get to the final chapter in Paul’s letter, we are going to have a feeling that Paul is wrapping up a bunch of loose ends.  His main goal for writing the letter has been accomplished.  He has told the Philippians how pleased he is with their spirituality.  He has thanked them for their thoughtfulness and dedication to the work of the Lord.  He has warned them about false teachers.  Now he has a few “housekeeping” issues before he can close.

• The first housekeeping issue is a reminder to stand firm in the Lord.  That should always be at the top of our list with respect to housekeeping issues.
• The second housekeeping issue is to deal with an apparent conflict within the Philippian church.  It is nice to see this in the letter, because it tells us that even the great houses of spirituality are not without their problems and issues.  The Philippians church had two women who were not getting along for whatever reason.  It could be that they both wanted power or control.  Maybe they had a personality conflict.  It could be that they were jealous of each other.  Whatever the reason, these women were having difficulty.

Challenge Among Division

I find a great amount of challenge in Paul’s words.  First, Paul tells these women to get along.  Then, he asks the church to help them get along.  You’ll notice what Paul doesn’t do.  He doesn’t ask the Philippians to find a way to construct their life so that these women can choose to not solve their problem.  So many times that is our solution as a church.  Instead of dealing with the conflict, we find a way to live so that the area of conflict just doesn’t come up in conversation.  I know I’m really guilty of that – more frequently than I would like to admit, honestly.

I don’t know many of us who really enjoy conflict.  Most of us have enough natural conflict in our life that we become really good at innately sidestepping conflict.  We learn subconsciously that it is easier to ignore conflict and change ourselves so conflict doesn’t happen rather than address the real problem and affect change in the person who really should change.

However, there is a dynamic in the Philippian church that allows Paul to deal with the conflict rather than sidestep it: spiritual authority.  The Philippian church is spiritually following Paul.  He has genuine authority in their life.  They are genuinely following his spiritual leadership.  Without this sense of authority and leadership, conflict is not something with which we can deal.  Who will listen to someone tell them to change if they do not consider the other an authority?  Which of us tolerate being told we are wrong and have to change by anyone other than an authority?  And even then, sometimes it is tough!

More Rejoicing

Paul then moves on to a perspective of rejoicing.  We have much in our lives for which we can rejoice.  God has provided for much in our lives.    We have a salvation that cannot be revoked by this world.  We have God’s Word.  We have our loved ones.  We have places where we can worship and people with whom we can worship.  We have every reason to remember to rejoice in the Lord.

Final Greetings and an Amazing Revelation

Then we get to the closing words of Paul’s letter.  He greets them and encourages them to pass along his greeting to everyone in Philippi.  And then he drops a huge theological bomb upon us.  All the saints greet the Philippians – especially those in Caesar’s household.*

What this means is that Paul likely wrote this letter from Rome.  While we should not take the words “Caesar’s household” and imply that Caesar himself or any of his offspring were turning to Christ, it can certainly imply that there are those working it the office or house of Caesar who were turning to Christ.  Perhaps the guards who were in charge of Paul’s safety were converting.  Perhaps some of the servants and message carriers who were going between the court of Caesar and Paul were converting.  The roots of Christianity had already begun to grow into the Roman Empire.

But that is not the most amazing thing to me about these words.  These words are a huge clue to the possibility that Paul wrote this letter from prison – probably during his time of house arrest in Rome.  {See Acts 28:30-31, which gives us the impression that Paul’s time in Rome was not in jail but in more of a house arrest situation in which he could readily receive and talk with visitors.}  Paul was in Rome, waiting for his time to go before Caesar and explain the crimes for which he had been accused.  Paul knew that it could potentially be the end of his life.  Paul knew that word would eventually come from the Jews and they would likely bring out trouble for him in Rome.  It is in this situation that Paul writes such an encouraging letter to a beloved church.

Even in the midst of the unknown we can love one another and encourage them.  In fact, it is often the case that the more that we find ourselves in the unknown we also find ourselves pouring out love and supporting one another.  I think this is another endearing quality that I find with Paul.  He suffered trial after trial and was involved in argument after argument.  But he never once stopped loving those who were genuinely in Christ.

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*There are those that say “Caesar’s household” is a term that could apply to the “Roman government.”  This would mean the Roman government in any city, not necessarily in Rome itself.  This is certainly possible, although I believe Paul meant more by these words than simply the Roman government in whatever city he was in.  Yet, even if this take on the words is true, it does show the penetration of Christianity into the Roman government structure, which is still significant. 

Year 2, Day 185: Philippians 3

Rejoicing in the Lord

As we begin Philippians 3, Paul speaks of rejoicing in the Lord.  And then he immediately proceeds into speaking about a warning.  Before we get to the warning, let’s be clear.  Regardless of the threats that may come, we can rejoice in the Lord.

False Teachers

However, our ability to rejoice in the Lord does not mean that we will be free from threats.  As we study the words of Paul, Jesus, and Peter in the New Testament one of the greatest sources of threats seems to be false teachers.  We know that Paul dealt with false teachers quite regularly.

I believe we still deal with false teachers quite regularly in the church.  Ever meet someone who said, “Unless you do _____, you must not be saved.”  There is only one acceptable way to fill in that blank: believe in Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit.  However, all kinds of people want to fill that blank with all sorts of other things.  Some people think we all have to worship the same way, or pray the same way, or speak some divine language, or read the same translation of the Bible. Some people think you have to be a particular gender or even be baptized a certain way.  While there is nothing wrong with those things where appropriate, none of those things is the basis for salvation.  Whether I speak in tongues or not, I can be saved.  Whether I read the same Bible translation as you, I can be saved.  Whether I am immersed, dunked, or sprinkled in baptism, I can be saved.  My – our – salvation is based on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, not anything else.

A Test Scenario

To prove his point, Paul talks about how much reason he should have to be confident in his flesh.  He is a member of the tribe of Benjamin – the same tribe as King Saul.  He was a Pharisee in good training under the law.  He was circumcised under the law.  He was zealous for the God’s desires.

Then Paul makes a really neat statement.  All of this is nothing when compared to salvation through Christ.  We can lose status.  We can lose prestige.  We can lose social standing.  We can lose power through regime change.  We can lose money in all kinds of manners.  But what we cannot ever do is lose what we have rooted in Jesus Christ.  Everything can be lost and we still have Christ.  Therefore, we consider everything to be lost.  We consider them to be a loss so that we might truly learn what it is to be spiritually reliant upon God.

Then Paul makes a comment that really draws me in to Paul’s theology.  He gives a little warning about himself.  He says that he has not arrived.  He’s still learning.  God is still bringing him into a new creation.

Does that sound like the arrogant man that many seem to claim him to be?  The dynamic that this brings us to understand is humble confidence.  We should be confident in God.  We should be confident in God’s theology and His promises.  But we do not need to be arrogant about it, either.  We should strive to get to a point where we are comfortable talking about our faith without forgetting that we are not yet perfected by God.

Enemies of the Cross

Paul then ends this chapter by speaking about those who are enemies of the cross of Christ.  Look carefully at the people that Paul describes.  Paul doesn’t go off talking about those who persecute Christians.  He doesn’t talk about “followers of Satan.”  Rather, Paul speaks about those whose God is their belly.  Paul talks about the people who pursue their own desires.  These are the enemies of God.

If we think about it, this whole chapter does come around to a whole cohesive unit.  We rejoice in Christ, but we do so humbly.  What is the enemy of humbleness to God but self-centeredness!  Here again we see the importance of recognizing the self-monger and resisting him.  The self-monger – the one who is interested in pursuing his own agenda – is the enemy of God.

It’s a scary thought when you think about it.  Do you know any self-centered people?  When is the last time you thought of them as an enemy of God?  Have you acted self-centeredly lately?  How does it make you feel to realize that at those times you are an enemy of God in those moments?  You don’t need to be some radical persecutor of God or some cultist to be an enemy of God.  All you need to be God’s enemy is to be more interested in your own life and your own desires than you are interested in God’s ways.

Sounds like a good time for me to go about doing some repentance.  The Lord knows that I’ve had my fair share of selfish thoughts lately.

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Year 2, Day 184: Philippians 2

Creed

Philippians 2 contains my all-time favorite creed.  It is my favorite for many reasons.

• First, it is probably the oldest creed of which we know. 
• Second, it is a part of Paul’s letters and that’s always a good thing in my book. 
• Third, and most importantly, it really focuses in on Jesus Christ and His humbleness. 

So let’s look at this text.  For the record, the creed is Philippians 2:6-11.  It is typically referred to as the “Christ Hymn,” so if you ever hear anyone mention the Christ Hymn they are speaking about these six verses of Philippians 2.

Before we actually get to the Christ hymn, let’s look at the way Paul sets up these words.  Paul is speaking to a congregation that already knows Christ’s love and they are already spiritually engaged with one another.  So what does Paul do? He encourages them to increase in that love.  He encourages them to be like-minded and united under Christ.  He encourages them to be humble and to put aside personal agendas.  Following Christ is fundamentally about “killing the self-monger within” and then picking up the cross in order to follow Christ.

If we are to follow Christ, then we must know the example before we can follow it.  Who is Christ, and for what did He stand?

• He was God in His very essence (nature).
• He did not consider the form of God something that should be forcibly held onto.
• He emptied Himself and took upon Himself the humble form of a man.
• He took on the form of a slave (yes, slave, not servant).
• He humbled Himself in obedience to God.
• He was obedient even to the point of dying upon a cross for our sake.
• God exalted Him because of His humble obedience.
• Every knee will eventually bow to Him
• Every tongue will confess that He is Lord.

What are the predominant images of Jesus Christ in the earliest of confessional creeds?  Humbleness.  Obedience.  Relationship with God.  That is what we are to strive after!

We are to follow the Christ.  We are to be like Him.  We are to see His example and “go and do likewise.”  What does that mean?

Imitating Humbleness

Quite simply, it means understanding that God will exalt us not for our greatness but for our humble service to Him.  It means desiring God’s exaltation for our humble service more than any kind of self-exaltation we can make for ourselves in this world.  Fundamentally, this means that we must be obedient to God.  We must consider ourselves the same as slaves consider themselves.  We must want what He wants.  We must be willing to give up everything for Him – whatever He asks – even our life. 

Think about it.  We see here why Christ was so special in life.  What about the Apostle Paul?  Yes, Paul is special first and foremost because of God’s work in him.  My point?  Paul was obedient.  Paul sacrificed his life for God.  What about Peter?  The same is true.  And James? Philip?  Stephen?  The rest of the disciples?  Isn’t it true that this is the example that we see set before us?  If we want to follow Christ, do we not need to follow this example of destroying the self-monger within and living for God’s desires?

To emphasize this point, what does Paul say immediately after the Christ Hymn?  “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now.”  Paul’s focus is on obedience.  What is the trademark characteristic of the Christian?  Humble obedience to God.

Working Out Salvation

Then Paul speaks about “working out” one’s salvation.  This needs a moment, because it is easy to hear these words and confuse them with “works-based salvation.”  The word for “work out” is a word that is hard to translate.  It means something like “to be in a particular situation” or “to be is a certain state.”  Thus, Paul is telling the Philippians that they should work out the state of salvation in which they find themselves.  Paul is not telling them that they are saved because of their works.  Rather, he is telling them that because they are in the state of salvation they need to do something about it.  It goes back to obedience.  We are not saved because of our obedience.  We are obedient because we are in a state of salvation.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

Paul then turns to give praise to Timothy and Epaphroditus.  I’ll speak about Epaphroditus first.  Epaphroditus was from Philippi and he brought the Philippians’ offering to Paul.  He grew sick along the way and as Paul says, he almost died.  Paul exalts his service and his willingness to put his life on the line.  Again we hear the theme of obedience and genuinely following Christ.

Paul also talks about Timothy.  Here is a great character.  As Paul says, there is none like him.  He is compassionate.  He is strong in the Lord.  Remember that Timothy was picked up when Paul went to Lystra and did ministry there.  He was trained in the faith by a loving mother and a loving grandmother before meeting Paul.  He is an exemplar in what it means to be a disciple and to be a mentee underneath a great spiritual mentor.  But we also see here that Timothy is making the transition from mentee to mentor.  Paul is sending him to Philippi on his own.  Here is a chance for Timothy to come out from underneath the shadow of Paul and do what God has called him to do.  Timothy is a great character in the Bible and can show us a tremendous example of discipleship in humble obedience in Christ.

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Year 2, Day 183: Philippians 1

Background on Philippians

We’re going to take a 4 day break from the psalms and head into the book of Philippians.  So let me give you a little background.   Philippians is a book that overflows with joy and thanksgiving because it was written by Paul to one of his most successful church plants.  Paul’s reason for writing to the church in Philippi is to thank them for a gift that he received from them.  Remember that Paul was collecting money to bring to the orphans and widows who were dealing with a famine in Jerusalem.  It was Epaphroditus who had brought their gift to Paul.

Slave

As I reported when we studied Paul’s letter to the Romans – another letter written out of joy to Christians on the right path – Paul begins by calling himself a “slave of Christ.”  Most modern American translations choose the word servant, but the Greek word in the text is slave.  There is a big difference between a servant and a slave.  Paul uses the word slave here because he knows what he is.  God is the Master.  God sets the agenda.  God oversees the work.  Paul is but one of His slaves.  Yes, Paul serves God.  Paul serves Him willingly as a slave underneath Him.

There is a reason that this is important.  You see, ultimately a servant has the ability to come and go as they please.  If I am a person’s servant and I yearn for a new job, I can quit (or resign my position) and move on.  But if I am someone’s slave, I am their property.  I have no right to move on because they own me.  This is the point that Paul is making when he introduces himself time and time again as Christ’s slave.  Paul genuinely considers himself the property of God.  It is that humble submission even to the level of being property that makes Paul one of the greatest evangelists to have ever lived.

You’ll also notice that Paul doesn’t use a statement of his apostleship here as he does in practically everything else he has written.  In all the other letters Paul wrote, he needed to remind people (or introduce himself) that he is a genuine apostle and someone who is following Jesus Christ.  There is absolutely no need to do that here in this letter.  Paul knows the Philippians’ hearts.  He knows their genuineness to serve God.  He knows that there is no need to worry about whether or not they are going to listen to him.  This customary “missing piece” of a letter from Paul actually says much regarding their friendship and unity they have in Christ.

Outpouring of Love

Then Paul moves into words of genuine flowing love.  Paul prays for them without ceasing because of their partnership with him in the Gospel.  Paul is confident that on the day of the Lord (otherwise known as Judgment Day) that God will finish the work of sanctification that He has begun in the Philippians.*  Paul yearns for them.  Paul prays that their love would know no ends.  Paul prays that their spiritual discernment would grow.  Paul looks lovingly upon them and rejoices at their spirituality.

Advancing the Gospel

Then Paul moves to the ultimate conversation: advancement of the Gospel.  I have a few interesting linguistic notes about the word “advance.”  This is originally a military word.  It is the word to describe what happens when a well-trained column of soldiers heads into the battlefield and drives back the ranks of the enemy.  For Paul, proclaiming the Gospel is warfare: spiritual warfare.  Additionally, in religious terms this word was adapted to imply a “change in the state of things for the better.”  Paul is telling the Philippians how God has been at work in him to make spiritual warfare upon this world under the realization that every person who genuinely receives the Gospel puts this world in a better condition.  What an incredible perspective on God’s call for us as Christians in this world!

As we prepare to finish this chapter, we get one of the more famous quotes from Paul’s writing: “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”  The cool thing about this sentence is that in the Greek it has no verbs.  We all know that the verb is the lifeblood of any language.  Thus, to compose a sentence without any verbs shows either brazen ignorance or incredible brilliance.  If nothing else, what it does is draw the reader’s attention to this fact.  You may remember my footnote to the blog entry on Ephesians 5:22, another famous verse of Paul’s in which there is no verb.  If you don’t, go back and refresh yourself.  You should find it in the archive – to the right of this post – for May 2012.  In that discussion we learned that when a sentence has no verb you either use a verb of being or bring the most recently used verb into the sentence.  For the record, the most recent verb is found in verse 20 and it is the verb “to glorify” or “to honor.”  In verse 20 it is future tense and passive voice.  So we would get the following readings for verse 21:

• For to me, life will be to glorify Christ and death will be to glorify gain.  OR
• For me, life is Christ and death is gain.

Honestly, both sentences have similar points.  Life is about Christ.  Death is about gaining God’s eternal life with Christ.  However, in this case you can see why translation editors go with the latter translation – because it reads far more cleanly.  But in either case, Paul’s point is clear.  Death is about gaining the rewards of God.  Life is about Christ.  For the true slave of God, life is about Christ.  It is about doing His will.  It is about accomplishing His purposes.  It is about following His marching orders.

Life is not about us confessing some belief in God and then going out and living the life we want to live.  Life is not about claiming a belief in a God who can heal the sick, raise the dead, and justify the sinful while we then turn around and live a life in which God apparently makes no difference in who we are.  To the slave of Christ, “to live is Christ.”

It is a very difficult teaching to be sure.  How many times a day do we sit back and think, “I would like _______?”  To be a slave to Christ means that we now think, “Christ would like _____, therefore my goal today is to want the same.”  This verse is another great verse in the argument of why self-mongerism is the enemy of God.  To be a slave of Christ, we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and want what Christ wants.  As Paul says later on in the chapter, “only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel.”

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*This is a point that really made me think a lot today.  I remember as a child, one of the most important things that I needed was reassurance from my spiritual mentor (my dad) that he believed I would genuinely be found in God’s salvation.  Not that I was codependent, mind you.  He was my mentor, and I genuinely sought out his opinion on my life and the things in my life that I might be doing wrong.  It makes me wonder … how many people in this world genuinely care if anyone else thinks that they are saved?

In my experience, people are more apt to say, “I believe I’m saved, that’s what matters,” far more often than they would have a spiritual mentor to whom they could ask with consistency, “Not that you are the ultimate judge, but do you believe I am living a life of having received God’s grace?”  If that’s true, I think it shows a dynamic of arrogance in American Christianity.

Year 2, Day 182: Psalm 40

Psalm 40

I stand greatly convicted by the opening verses in Psalm 40.  I’ve spoken frequently about the need for us to completely put our trust in God.  But what is ultimately challenging is David’s words in verse 4.  Blessed is the one who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, or go astray after a lie.

At first, these words might not sound so challenging.  After all, there is a lot of truth in them.  In fact, there is absolute truth in them!  That’s what is so challenging, actually.

How many of us cannot claim to chase after a lie?  How many of us have ever fallen under the belief that the ways of the Lord are too hard?  Or maybe we fall prey to pride and believe that the ways of the Lord don’t apply to us?  I don’t know about you, but I know that I am guilty of that from time to time.  My own agenda takes the place of God’s ways.  My own desires take the place of God’s overarching plan.

You see, the next stanza of verses really does talk about how important this line of thinking really is to God.  What does David say?  It is neither sacrifice – that is, the blood sacrifice of animals – nor offerings that God genuinely desires from us.  In this I am reminded of Psalm 51:16-17 or Hosea 6:6.  What it the quality that He desires of those who come into His presence?  God desires that we delight to do His will.  God desires that His Law – His ways – is inscribed upon our hearts.

So I must return back to the questions that I brought up two paragraphs ago.  Do I really pursue the ways of the Lord?  Or do I simply speak a belief in God but not actually live out that belief?  Now I am reminded of Isaiah 29:13 or its New Testament versions in Mark 7:6-8 and Matthew 15:1-9.  This is getting to the essence of what made David a man after God’s own heart.  Yes, David made many mistakes.  In his passion for living, he made many rash decisions.  But He repented of them.  He genuinely wanted to follow God’s ways.  David genuinely proclaimed the ways of the Lord and the greatness of following them.

When David sinned, he didn’t make excuses.  He didn’t try to justify himself.  He repented and he began to proclaim the greatness of God’s ways and the foolishness of his own.

In the end, this is all that any of us can do.  Every single one of us will make poor choices.  Every single one of us will follow our own hearts.  We will follow our own passions.  We will think our own desires and our own passion is more important that God’s plan for us.  It’s called sin.

But we can repent.  We can see the error of our ways.  We can stop pursuing our own desires and begin to once again proclaim the ways of God as good through both our words and actions.  As David says, we should not hide His deliverance in our hearts and we should speak of His faithfulness. 

All of this should lead us to the place where David finds himself: in God’s mercy.  How many times do we rebel against God?  How many times do we pursue our own desires instead of God’s ways?  Yet God is merciful.  He is patient.  He forgives us when we repent.  We have every reason to rejoice and be grateful.

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