Psalm 27, Loving God with All Your Heart (3)

If we love God with all our heart, then we must have singleness of heart.  If “out of the heart are the issues of life” then there is not an issue of life that lies outside our love for God.  Consider …

Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. (Col. 3:22)

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart. (1 Tim. 1:5)

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8)

Sometimes we speak of our job as part of our secular lives, and not part of our spiritual or religious or sacred life.  But that is not true!  The commandment Paul refers to is to teach only sound doctrine and not fables or endless genealogies that cause dissension and don’t build us up.  Everything that enters your mind is an issue of loving God.  Their can be no double-mindedness or dirty hands if we are to have pure hearts.  But we are to draw near to Him! 

And how do we draw near?  How do we pursue singleness of heart?  It must begin with the word.  Consider what God’s word will do for your heart.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart! (Ps. 19:8)

The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. (Ps. 37:31)

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. (Ps. 119:11)

          Then contemplate the value of prayer, of waiting on the Lord.  This also is critical to the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3).

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord! (Ps. 27:14)

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:6-7)

Our hearts will be strengthened and guarded from what might otherwise destroy it.  “Forgive us Lord for think that prayer is about us, our needs, our list of desires.  May it come from a heart of love for You, that loves to be in Your presence, that loves to glorify You for your answers, especially those that are not what we were anticipating.”  May it ever be: When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Ps. 27:8)

2 Cor. 5:14-17; 1 Pt. 1:22-25 Loving God with All Your Heart (2)

Consider Nicodemus and Jesus words to him, a teacher of the Jews (John 3:3-7,16).  First He said you cannot “see” the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and yet it operates in the world, wherever there are those who have put their faith in Christ.  These “kingdom” people have a different perspective about what is going on.  They “see” things differently because they are focused on that God is doing in His kingdom rather than what men are doing in the kingdom of this world.  Jesus said Nicodemus did not have the ability to see what was true because he needed a new heart; he needed to be born again.  Further, He said Nicodemus could not enter the kingdom of God unless he was born of the water and Spirit.  I take this to refer to physical birth (water of the womb) and spiritual birth.  You may take it in another way, but in the end the point is made: you cannot enter God’s kingdom unless you are born again, born from above.  Nicodemus, as a Jewish teacher, assumed he knew all that was needed to be right with God.  He forgot God had not given him a heart to perceive the things of God.

This “new heart” is, of course, provided for believers in Christ who live under the New Covenant.  2 Cor. 5:14-17 says that when we put our faith in Christ we become new creatures, new creations.  There is something there that was not there before and that requires the Creator’s work.  But look at what Paul says is the result of this new creation: from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  In other words, we can “see” the kingdom of God, see people through God’s eyes.  Peter says that “having been born again” we now have the ability to “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Pt. 1:22-25).  The difference is that, in the New Covenant, being born again we are indwelt by the Spirit of God.  Israel in the OT had the word of God but did not have the indwelling Spirit.  This is what God promised He would do for Israel, and He fulfilled that promise in Christ.  On the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus crucifixion, the Spirit was poured out.  Those who put their faith in Christ were born again by the Spirit and now had a heart to perceive.

Let me conclude with this quote.

For the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, not something added now and again to produce a de luxe type of Christian once in a generation.  No, He is for every child of God a vital necessity, and that He fill and indwell His people is more than a languid hope.  It is rather an inescapable imperative. (A. W. Tozer in The Divine Conquest, p103)

The word of God is impotent in my life apart from the Spirit of God.  Even as the Spirit of God is useless to me apart from the word of God!  In Christ we are new creations; all things have become new!  Amen!!

John 3:3-16, Loving God with All Your Heart (1)

What Jesus called “the Greatest Commandment” was given in Deuteronomy 6:5 and then quoted in Matt. 22:37 and Mark 12:30. Moses said to love God with all your heart, soul and strength.  Jesus in Matthew said love God with all your heart, soul and mind.  Jesus in Mark said love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  The differences are not significant in my view.  Matthew was his own eye-witness, having been present when Jesus said these words.  Jesus was agreeing with Moses, to love God with all your being.  Mark’s source may have mentioned all four aspects so as to include what Moses said and what Jesus said.  No one would call any of these a “misquote.” 

What I do want to consider is, what does it mean to love God with all your heart?  Why settle on this one?  Perhaps because, as Solomon said, out of the heart are all the issues of life (Pr. 4:23).  Jesus said your treasure is so designated a “treasure” by your heart (Mt. 6:21)!  He also said, Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things (Matt. 12:34-35).  The heart is the big issue!

Having said that, there are a couple of things to address in some detail, primarily by giving you Scripture to read.  It doesn’t need much comment in my view.

First, if I am going to love God with all my heart, I need a new heart!

Consider God’s word to Israel by Moses as they were about to enter the land.

² Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— ³ the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴ Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. (Dt. 29:2-4)

Israel would struggle because the people did not have a heart to perceive.  This is why Paul could conclude that the law entered that sin might abound (Rom. 5:20). The law could not make a man righteous nor could a man attain to the righteousness of the law (Rm. 8:3; 9:31).  Therefore, God promised a new heart.

 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deut. 30:6).

David prayed for this: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psa. 51:10).  Jesus told Nicodemus that he could not see the kingdom of God nor could he enter without a new heart (John 3).

2 Cor. 8:8-15, The Gaze of the Angels

Charles Spurgeon A Wondrous Mystery

This book contains daily advent devotions from Spurgeon and was edited by Geoffrey Chang published by New Growth Press in 2024.

    Oh, how surprised angels were, when they were first informed that Jesus Christ, the Prince of Light and Majesty, intended to shroud himself in clay and become a babe, and live and die!  We know not how it was first mentioned to the angels, but when the rumor first began to get afloat among the sacred hosts, you may imagine what strange wonderment there was.  What! was it true that he whose crown was all adorned with stars, would lay that crown aside?  What! was it certain that he about whose shoulders was cast the purple of the universe, would become a man dressed in a peasants garment?  Coult it be true that he who was everlasting and immortal, would one day be nailed to a cross?  Oh! how their wonderment increased!  They desired to look into it.

        And when he descended from on high, they followed him; for Jesus was “seen by angels” (1 Tim. 3:16), and seen in a special sense; for they looked upon him in rapturous amazement, wondering what it all could mean.  “For your sake he became poor.”  Do you see him, as on that day of heaven’s eclipse he did ungird his majesty?  Oh, can you conceive the yet increasing wonder of the heavenly hosts when the deed was actually done, when they saw the tiara taken off, when they saw him unbind his girdle of stars, and cast away his sandals of gold?  Can you conceive it, when he said to them, “I do not disdain the womb of the virgin; I am going down to earth to become a man?”  Can you picture them as they declared they would follow him!  Yes, they followed him as near as the world would permit them.  And when they came to earth, they began to sing, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  (Lk. 2:14) Nor would they go away till they had made the shepherds wonder, and till heaven had hung out new stars in honor of the newborn King.

* * * * *

Oh, Son of Man, I know not which to admire most, your height of glory, or your depths of misery!  Oh, Man, slain for us, shall we not exalt you?  God, over all, blessed for ever, shall we not give you the loudest song?  “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor.

What do the angels desire to look into? 1 Pt. 1:12; Ex. 25:20; Dan. 8:13; 12:5-6; Eph. 3:8-12; Rev. 5:11-12.

Ex. 11:4-7; 12:12-13, When I See the Blood …

Expositions by Alexander MacLaren

Again, commenting on the Passover.

In the hurry and agitation of that eventful day, it must have seemed strange to the excited people that they should be called upon to observe such a service. But its institution at that crisis is in accordance with the whole tone of the story of the Exodus, in which man is nothing and God all. Surely, never was national deliverance effected so absolutely without effort or blow struck. If we try to realise the state of mind of the Israelites on that night, we shall feel how significant of the true nature of their deliverance this summons to an act of worship, in the midst of their hurry, must have been.

The domestic character of the rite is its first marked feature. Of course, there were neither temple nor priests then; but that does not wholly account for the provision that every household, unless too few in number to consume a whole lamb, should have its own sacrifice, slain by its head. The first purpose of the rite, to provide for the safety of each house by the sprinkled blood, partly explains it; but the deepest reason is, no doubt, the witness which was thereby borne to the universal priesthood of the nation. The patriarchal order made each man the priest of his house. This rite, which lay at the foundation of Israel’s nationality, proclaimed that a restricted priestly class was a later expedient. The primitive formation crops out here, as witness that, even where hid beneath later deposits, it underlies them all.

We have called the Passover a sacrifice. That has been disputed, but unreasonably. No doubt, it was a peculiar kind of sacrifice, unlike those of the later ritual in many respects, and scarcely capable of being classified among them. But it is important to keep its strictly sacrificial character in view; for it is essential to its meaning and to its typical aspect. The proofs of its sacrificial nature are abundant. The instructions as to the selection of the lamb; the method of disposing of the blood, which was sprinkled with hyssop-a peculiarly sacrificial usage; the treatment of the remainder after the feast; the very feast itself,-all testify that it was a sacrifice in the most accurate use of the word. The designation of it as ‘a passover to the Lord,’ and in set terms as a ‘sacrifice,’ in Exodus 12:27 and elsewhere, to say nothing of its later form when it became a regular Temple sacrifice, or of Paul’s distinct language in 1 Corinthians 5:7, or of Peter’s quotation of the very words of Exodus 12:5, applied to Christ, ‘ a lamb without blemish,’ all point in the same direction.

1 Peter 1:13-21, Our Passover Lamb

A. C. Gaebelein, Annotated Bible

Commenting on some of the many connections between the Passover and the Lamb of God.

The Passover Lamb is a most blessed type of the Lord Jesus Christ in His work. He is the Lamb of God and our Passover (John 1:29; 1Corinthians 5:6-7; 1Peter 1:18-19). … The spotless character of our Lord is indicated in that the lamb had to be without blemish. Taken out, separated, and a male; all has a meaning. For four days the lamb had to be set aside before it was to be killed. This was done to discover if there would be a flaw, some defect in it, which would unfit the lamb for the sacrifice. Here we are reminded of the four Gospel records in which the holy, spotless life of Him is told out who gave His life for a ransom. The lamb was to be killed by the whole congregation, even as it was with Christ. It was to be killed “between the evenings.” That is between noon and the night, the afternoon; that is when Christ died. And what more could we say of the roasting with fire and other instructions, which all foreshadow the death and suffering of the Lamb of God? We call attention to the fact that Satan did not want to have the Lord Jesus put to death on the Passover feast. Satan knew He was the true Lamb, and he tried to prevent His death at the predicted time (Matthew 26:5; Mark 14:2). But the Lamb of God, the true Passover, died at the very time appointed, thus fulfilling the Scriptures. The shedding of the blood and its application is the prominent thing in the Passover. The word “pesach” means to “pass through,” and “to pass over.” God passed through Egypt in judgment; it was also liable to fall upon the people Israel . They were guilty before God and had deserved the same judgment which was about to fall upon Egypt . But Jehovah provided a sacrifice and in the shed blood a shelter and complete deliverance. The blood secured all they needed as a sinful people and as it was sprinkled in obedience to Jehovah’s command perfect peace and rest was obtained. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The blood was the token for Jehovah. They were not to see the blood, but He in passing through saw the blood. Faith in what Jehovah had said and what had been done gave peace to all in the dwellings. The blood of Christ is thus blessedly foreshadowed. Peace has been made in the blood of the cross. Upon the Lamb of God, the holy Substitute, the sentence of death was executed and now whenever God sees the blood there He passes by, no more condemnation, but perfect justification. Wherever there is faith in the blood, there is the enjoyment of perfect peace.

Psalm 80

Here we find another amazing prayer in time of difficulty.  It comes from a citizen of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and specifically one who pleads for the leading tribes of the NK: Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh (v1-2).  These tribes had left the kingdom after the reign of Solomon and established their own idolatrous religion.  Their idolatry eventually led to their removal from the land by the Lord in the time of the Assyrian ascendancy. 

So here is a man, part of a nation in despair, who nevertheless …

·         Pleads to the God who dwells between the cherubim (v1).  This is the language of true worship for Israel.  He refers to the Holy of Holies in the temple where sat the Ark of the Covenant, site of the mercy seat between the two golden cherubim.  There were not many in that kingdom that sought the true God but here was one.  This man was faithful to God in a deviant society.

·         Pleads to God as a part of His vine and vineyard (v8-11).  This is truly remarkable.  Again, the northern Ten Tribes had been taken captive and dispersed among many nations.  To this day, they are simply known as the diaspora, seemingly lost tribes of Israel (not lost from God’s point of view).  And yet this godly man knows different.  He pleads with God to restore the vineyard, Israel, the vine He brought from Egypt.  This man believed in a faithful God!

·         Pleads the glory of the Messiah (v17-18).  Some would suggest that these words apply to the desperate nation, that “Israel” is “the man of Your right hand.”  That may initially be the primary meaning.  But as in the Servant Songs of Isaiah, the only true fulfillment for Israel is bound up in the exaltation of the Messiah.  Israel is nothing apart from Messiah.  She will only be truly saved in the context of the reign of Christ.  Think about this.  God told His Son to sit at His right hand while He made His enemies a footstool for His feet (Psalm 110:1).  Indeed, the Lord (Messiah) at God’s right hand will execute kings in the day of His wrath (Ps. 110:5), the answer to the very prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 80.  The prayer in Ps. 80:14, visit this vine, is answered in the incarnation of Messiah, when God became Man!  When the Messiah is glorified then Israel will be glorified.  And we in the Church think the same way.  We share today in His glory (John 17:22) but this cannot be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18) when He is revealed in glory!  All we are is bound up in Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord!  He alone became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

How could this man, from the dispersed nation, have such faith, such insight?  You might want to read the backdrop, 2 Chron. 30, when Judah held a great Passover in the time of Hezekiah.  They made a special point to invite what was left of the Northern Kingdom to come and share in the feast.  The essence of the invitation was, “Return to God and He will return to you” (2 Chron. 30:6).  Psalm 80 contains a chorus, given three times (v3,7,19) that pleads with God to RESTORE US.  The Hebrew word for “return” in 2 Chron. 30 and “restore” in Psalm 80 is the same as well as the word "return" in v14.  The text tells us that most people scoffed at the invitation from Hezekiah, but a few responded (2 Chron. 30:10-11).  This man was one of those few.  He did not need to be part of the populist majority to worship truly.  So do not pray “restore me O Lord” if you are not willing to return to Him!

John 17:20-26, Our Lord Prays for His Own

From Our Lord Prays for His Own: Thoughts on John 17, by Marcus Rainsford.

Commenting on John 17:21-22:

“Union with God Almighty is the greatest and fullest of all conceivable blessings, and the source and spring from whence all other blessings must flow.

“There are four unions revealed to us in the Word of God …

First, the incomprehensible union … the mutual union and indwelling of the three Persons in the Godhead; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the triune Jehovah, immortal, invisible, possessing all divine attributes – eternity, omniscience, omnipotency.  The second, the mutual union and indwelling of the Man Christ Jesus with the second Person of the blessed Trinity, the Son of God, making one glorious Person, God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Captain of our salvation, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  The third is the mutual union and indwelling between Himself and His believing people; as the members of His mystical Body, He having taken our nature into heaven, we are one with Him there, and He with His Holy Spirit dwelleth within us evermore, He is one with us here.  The fourth is the union and mutual membership and intercommunion of all of the believing people of God one with another; and this union obtains, whether we speak of those who have gone before, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc., or those who are at present upon the earth, believing, or of the future ingathering of all who shall at any time believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; for He says, ‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one.’” (p406)

Commenting on the “union binding the children of God to each other,” he says there are seven grounds for this union.

1.    In Eph. 4:3, “the unity of the Spirit.”  The same Holy Ghost dwells in all.

2.    In Eph. 4:13, “the unity of faith.”  All the children of God have their trust, hope and confidence fixed on the same Father; all speak of the same righteousness, all plead the same blood; they are all born of promise, and are ‘children by faith.’

3.    In Acts 4:32, we read of the early believers (a picture of the case as it ought to be), “they were of one heart.”

4.    In Col. 2:2, “knit together in love.”  Love united the children of God, wherever they meet; whenever they recognize each other they cannot help loving one another, notwithstanding all their peculiarities, and all their differences.

5.    In Eph. 4:3, “the bond of peace;” sweet peace, of which our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.”

6.    In 1 Cor. 1:10, “perfectly joined together in the same mind.”

7.    And in the same judgment.

John 3:9-16, Lifting Up the Son of Man

 Today’s post is from Arthur Pink in his Exposition of the Gospel of John.  It relates to the connection in John 3:14-15 of the cross and the snakes in the wilderness.

* * * *

 1.    They were not told to manufacture some ointment as the means of healing their wounds.  Doubtless, that would have seemed much more reasonable to them. But it would have destroyed the type.  The religious doctors of the day are busy inventing spiritual lotions, but they effect no cures. 

2.    They were not told to minister to others who were wounded, in order to get relief for themselves.  This, too, would have appealed to their sentiments as being more practical and more desirable than gazing at a pole, yet in fact it had been most impracticable.  Of what use would it be for one to jump in deep water to rescue a drowning man if he could not swim a stroke himself!

3.    They were not told to fight the serpents.  If some of our moderns had been present that day they would have urged Moses to organize a Society for the Extermination of Serpents!  But what use had that been to those who were already bitten and dying?

4.    They were not told to make an offering to the serpent on the pole.  God did not ask any payment from them in return for their healing.  No, indeed.  Grace ceases to be grace if any price is paid for what it brings.

5.    They were not told to pray to the serpent.  Many evangelists urge their hearers to go to the ‘mourner’s bench’ or ‘penitent form’ and there plead with God for pardoning mercy, and if they are dead in earnest they are led to believe that God has heard them for their much speaking. … Oh dear reader, do not make the fatal mistake of substituting prayer for faith in Christ.

6.    They were not told to look at Moses.  They had been looking to Moses, and urging him to cry to God on their behalf; and when God responded, He took their eyes from off Moses, and commanded them to look at the brazen serpent.  Moses was the Law-giver, and how many today are looking to him for salvation.  They are trusting in their own imperfect obedience to God’s commandments to take them to heaven.

7.    They were not told to look at their wounds.  Some think they need to be more occupied with the work of examining their own wicked hearts in order to promote that degree of repentance which they deem a necessary qualification for salvation.  But as well attempt to produce heat by looking at the snow, or light by peering into the darkness, as seek salvation by looking to self for it.  To be occupied with myself is only to be taken up with that which God has condemned, and which already has the sentence of death written upon it.

Just as the bitten Israelites were healed by a look of faith, so the sinner may be saved by look to Christ by faith.  Saving faith is not some difficult and meritorious work which man must perform so as to give him a claim upon God for the blessing of salvation.  It is not on account of our faith that God saves us, but it is through the means of our faith.  It is in believing we are saved.

2 Cor. 4:7-18, “Authentic Christianity”

For the next few posts I would like to share the writings of other people, people who have been helpful to me in recent days, not only in my preaching but most importantly in my walk with Christ.  We begin with Ray Stedman.

* * * *

Ray Stedman was a well-respected pastor, for 40 years at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, CA.  He was born in N. Dakota and grew up in Montana (Miles City; for a brief time in his youth he was a bull-rider).  These quotes are taken from a web page that PBC has maintained since his death in 1992.

In Ray's book Authentic Christianity, he tells the story of Paul's escape from Damascus by being let down over the wall in a basket. Ray commented that Paul was useless to God until he became a basket case! He adds that we also are useless until we are 'utterly bankrupt before some demand of life, and then discover it to be a blessing,' because it forces us to 'depend wholly on the Lord at work in you.'

In a sermon he preached just a year before his death, he quoted Paul's statements about our "light affliction" working in us "an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory" and followed that with a call to break out of the limitations of this-world thinking:

"The world tells us, if you don't take it now, you're never going to get another chance. I have seen that misunderstanding drive people into forsaking their marriages after 30 or40 years and running off with another, usually younger, person, hoping they can still fulfill their dreams because they feel life is slipping away from them. Christians are not to think that way. This life is a school, a training period where we are being prepared for something that is incredibly great but is yet to come. I don't understand all that is involved in that, but I believe it, and sometimes I can hardly wait until it happens."

In the same message, Ray spoke of being readied for "something tremendous" and warned his congregation, "Don't succumb to the philosophy that you have to have it all now or you will never have another chance. You can pass by a lot of things now and be content because you know that what God is sending you now is just what you need to get you ready for what he has waiting for you when this life is over. One of my favorite quotations is the words of Robert Browning, which you sometimes see carved on sundials:

Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made."

Acts 15:36-41, Commended by the Grace of God

Paul and Barnabas had a contentious situation over John Mark.  They split, and both went their way in the service of Christ.  We are not told about Barnabas’ ministry.  He never comes up again in the NT, although we do find that John Mark eventually became very useful to Paul in ministry (2 Tim. 4:11), suggesting that Barnabas might have had some good ministry with him.

What we know about Paul is that he was sent by the Antioch Church, with Silas, to continue his missionary work.  But not until they commended him to the grace of God.  Are you, am I, commended by the grace of God for ministry?  They had so commended him before his first journey (Ac. 14:26).  And Paul so commended others to ministry (Ac. 20:32)  This is an absolute necessity. 

·       Rom. 12:3-8: Paul spoke out of the reservoir of the grace of God.  He was exercising his “gift,” often called a “spiritual gift” but much more properly called a “grace” gift.  The word is “charisma,” and has the word grace (charis) in it.  It is literally a “thing of grace.”  In this passage he reminds us that all believers have a piece of God’s grace in the form of a gift, and our service for Christ will be empowered by God’s grace as we use the gift.

·       1 Cor. 15:1-11: Again, Paul spoke, preaching the gospel, out of the grace of God.  Paul considered himself the least of the apostles, yet what he was he said was by the grace of God.  “By the grace of God I am what I am.”  Paul said he worked harder than all the other apostles, yet this was not bragging but an acknowledgement that, “the grace of God was with me.”  If we are not commended to the grace of God then service for Christ becomes self-centered.

·       1 Tim. 4:12-16: Paul encouraged Timothy with several bits of advice.  But at the center was this: “Do not neglect the gift that is in you.”  Again, “charisma.”  It was the gift that Timothy had received.  Being commended to God’s grace would make it possible for Timothy not to let people despise him in his youth. 

·       2 Tim. 1:3-7: Timothy’s family background was helpful for him.  But the key to continuing ministry was to, “stir up the gift of God which is in you.”  Charisma.  Through prayer, personal study, personal growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ, Timothy could continue to serve out of God’s grace.

·       1 Pt. 4:10-11: If you are a believer in Christ, you have a gift (Rom. 12 above).  If you have a gift (charisma) then you are to minister “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”  It is manifold.  It comes with many encouragements, many varieties in ministry.  Some involve speaking, some involve service.  But all involve the grace of God.

Your brothers and sisters in Christ (the local church) are used by our Lord, through their acknowledgement of how he has gifted us, and by their prayers, to commend us to the grace of God!  Don’t serve the Lord without it.

Psalm 2; Prov. 30:4-6, Addendum, Who is God's Son?

 Solomon, perhaps under a “pen name” Agur (Pr. 30:1), asks these questions:

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know?

Why would he ask the name of “His Son” along with all these other questions that are designed to demonstrate the greatness of God?  Because Solomon is very familiar with Psalm 2:7-8, where the great plan of God is revealed:

“ ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

One application for Psalm 2 is, Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way!  If you don’t know who the “Son of God” is then you are in trouble.  How can you submit yourself to Him?  The Son of God is Jesus Christ.  He is currently sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet (Ps. 110:1; Mark 12:36; Heb. 1:3,13).  Do you know the Son of God?

2 Tim. 1:1-2,8-12; 2:1-10, Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus

There is a thought that many have that in the NT the references to “Jesus Christ” and to “Christ Jesus” are intentional.  I have a hard time denying that thought, even though none of the NT writers explained this.  My view of “verbal-plenary-inspiration” (every word inspired) says it makes sense.  On the one hand, putting “Christ” first refers to His heavenly calling.  Putting the earthly name “Jesus” first indicates an emphasis on His Incarnation. 

You can think about this.  All I want to share is what I noticed in my recent reading of 2 Timothy.  As I list each use I will also the Greek “case” (type of speech).  It will be either “genitive” or “dative.”  The Greek genitive case means the subject of the phrase has it’s origin in Him (1:1: apostle of Jesus Christ).  The Greek dative case means the subject is being attributed to Him (1:1: promise of life which is in Christ Jesus).  Here is a list with a few brief comments.

Jesus Christ

·       1:1: Paul an apostle of … (genitive; his ministry calling originated in the Incarnate One)

·       1:10: now the appearing of our Savior … (genitive; no Savior without the Incarnate/“appearing” Word)

·       2:3: endure as a good soldier of … (genitive; ministry in the Body of Christ rests in Jesus’ ministry; He gave the gifts after His ascension, Eph. 4:7-12)

·       2:8: remember Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, raised from the dead (accusative, it identifies the subject; Davidic line and resurrection are Incarnation realities)

·       4:1: the Judge of the living and the dead, our Judge, the one before whom we live our daily lives is the Lord … (genitive; I don’t remember any references to the “Lord Christ Jesus,” not that there might not be; His Lordship, and thus His Judgeship, is rooted in the finished work; cf. Phil. 2:5-11)

·       4:22: the Lord Jesus Christ be with you (nominative case, identifies a noun or pronoun; His presence with us was promised as we serve Him, Mt. 28:19-20, as we love Him and keep His word, Jn. 14:23; these and the promise of the indwelling Spirit came at the end of His earthly life and ministry)

Christ Jesus

·       1:1: according to the promise of life in … (dative; prior to Jesus’ appointment of Paul was a promise of life from God, a promise made by God that would be require the sending and giving of His Son).

·       1:2: grace, mercy and peace from … (genitive)

·       1:9: before time began God’s grace given to us in … (dative)

·       1:13: faith and love are in … (dative)

·       2:1: be strong in the grace that is in … (dative)

·       2:10: the elect obtain salvation which is in … (dative)

·       3:12: all will suffer persecution who desire to live godly in … (dative; our life is in Christ Jesus; check Col. 3:1-4 to see the significance of this)

·       3:15: faith for salvation is in … (dative; in Ch. 3 Paul speaks of very “earthly” things about Timothy and his salvation, but in the process he reminds Tim that who he is, is rooted in the One in heaven)

What is the purpose of all this?  It is to offer some meditation time on who we are and what we have IN CHRIST JESUS, as well as how we live our lives by the One who lives in us, who is the source of our life.  I hope you take the opportunity.