A People for His Name

Be Strong and Manly

July 1, 2011

Reading in Joshua 1 in the LXX today, I was reacquainted with a correlation in biblical Greek that I consider worth noting. Four times, Joshua is challenged with the same two imperatives (1:6a, 7a, 9b, 18d):

ἴσχυε καὶ ’ανδρίζου (“Be strong and quit thyself like a man”; 1:6a, 7a; “Be strong and courageous”; 1:9b, 18d; LXE)

In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul challenges believers with two imperatives (one is the same imperative used four times in Joshua 1, and the other expresses a similar idea to the other one in Joshua 1):

’ανδρίζεσθε, κραταιοῦσθε (“Quit you like men, be strong”; 16:13c, KJV)

Because Paul does not explain what he has in view with these commands, how should we understand what he intends? It would seem that the parallel nature of his statement with those in Joshua 1 indicates that we should understand 1 Corinthians 16:13c in terms of the explanation of the commands given in Joshua 1.

The Lord commanded Joshua to be strong and manly for the sake of his prospering in the vital calling of God for his life (1:6b, 7b). He also commanded him to be strong and manly because He would be with him wherever he would go (1:9d). Finally, the people of Israel whom Joshua would lead exhorted him as well to be strong and manly in view of their declaration that they would follow him as they had followed Moses (1:16-18c).

Based on the parallel between 1 Corinthians 16:13c and the statements in Joshua 1, we should understand that God commands His men to be strong and manly for the sake of our accomplishing His will for our lives, especially in our faithfully leading others (cf. Matt. 28:18-20a). Furthermore, we should be strong and manly because Jesus has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age (cf. Matt. 28:20b).

Let us be strong and manly, as God desires us to be.

In Discipleship, Interpretation

Amazingly Quick Relief From a Bothersome Problem

June 30, 2011

Today, I had the unpleasant experience of going to the doctor to have wax buildup removed from both of my ears. The nurse had to use the cleaning device about twice as many times in my left ear as she did in my right ear.

When she was done, there was immediate relief in my right ear, but my left ear felt as if I now had an earplug in it. It actually felt worse than it did before the treatment.

For several hours, I had the same sensation. No matter how hard I tried to shake my head to force what I thought must be some left over water out of my left ear, I was not able to relieve the problem.

By late afternoon, I was quite concerned about my left ear. Providentially, I had to return to the same doctor’s office in the afternoon to take my mom for an appointment.

My nurse and doctor from the morning quickly worked me in to check out my ear. I found out that a little bit of water was right on my left eardrum. The doctor said to put 2-3 drops of a 50-50 solution of rubbing alcohol and vinegar in the ear to resolve the problem.

I did not have any vinegar at home, so I was not able to use the remedy until later in the evening when I borrowed some from a friend. Within a very brief time after putting the drops in my ear, I felt the problem dramatically resolve itself.

I am amazed at how effectively and quickly the vinegar and alcohol mixture took care of my ear problem. I think that this instance may have been one of the fastest cures that I have ever experienced for a bothersome health problem.

I thank God for a qualified physician who knew precisely what was needed to handle my problem. This experience seems to me to serve as an excellent illustration for a far more important truth in the spiritual realm: the wonderful effectiveness of our heeding the remedies for the problems of our soul that God, our great Physician, infallibly prescribes for us.

In Discipleship, Health

Absolute Certainty about One's Own Salvation

June 29, 2011

At the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), Peter cited what God did through him in Caesarea in bringing Gentiles to salvation (15:7-11) as definitive proof that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses to be saved (cf. 15:1, 5). In his citation, Peter made a remarkable statement:

“And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us” (Acts 15:8).

Here, Peter declared that God, who infallibly knows the hearts of all people, supernaturally testified to the saving faith of the people in Caesarea to whom Peter preached the gospel (10:31-48). God did so by giving them the Holy Spirit.

Based on this statement, Peter and the other six witnesses who were with him (11:12) had absolute certainty that Cornelius and the rest of Peter’s hearers on that occasion had been saved. Moreover, Cornelius and all who were with him themselves thus had absolute certainty about their own salvation.

God supernaturally gave these people such certainty, and they would have never needed to have any doubt about their own salvation. Although God does not do so for us today with supernatural testimony that is outwardly visible, we, too, individually can and should have the same certainty about our own salvation through the ministry of the Spirit of God in our own hearts (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6).

In Discipleship

Guitar Playing and Music Ministry Update

June 28, 2011

I have been playing the guitar for more than 25 years. In the past few months, noticeable progress in my playing has been very encouraging to me.

I have been able to play the soprano and alto parts together from 4-part music fairly well for quite some time now. Now, I’m finally attaining some proficiency on my guitar in playing other combinations as well: tenor-base and soprano-tenor.

Playing these various combinations has also had a very exciting side benefit that I had not expected—my ear is getting better at hearing different parts, and I’m being able to sing the tenor part better! I also have developed a new strumming technique that has given me something that I have wanted for some time as a complement to regular strumming and fingerpicking.

This past Sunday, for the first time ever, I accompanied all the congregational singing in church services for both morning and evening services. I also played a guitar offertory for the first time using a new style that I invented for filling out measures when I play two parts together from hymns.

Counting this past Sunday, I have now ministered 10 times this year with my guitar in church services! Praise God for His goodness in allowing me to make much improvement recently in using my guitar for His service!

In Music

"God is No Respecter of Persons"

June 27, 2011

To convince the apostle Peter that He was no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), God acted miraculously in a remarkable way. First, he sent an angel to inform Cornelius, a Gentile centurion, that He had heard his prayers and remembered his alms (10:3-6; 22; 30-32; 11:13-14). Because He had done so, the angel directed Cornelius to send people to summon Peter to come and present to him the words by which he and his entire house would be saved (11:14).

Meanwhile, God granted Peter a supernatural vision (10:9-16; 11:5-10) to show him that he was not to “call any man common or unclean” (10:28). What’s more, the striking events in the vision were repeated three times (10:16; 11:10), undoubtedly, to emphasize to Peter what God had done.

God then arranged that the men whom Cornelius sent to Peter would arrive at Peter’s place immediately after he had the vision (10:17; 11:11). After this, the Holy Spirit spoke directly to Peter to inform him that He had sent the three men who were seeking him (10:19) and that therefore he was to go with them without any doubting (10:20; 11:12).

Meeting Peter, these men told him how Cornelius had been directed by the angel to send for him (10:22). After going with them and arriving at Cornelius’ house, Peter received from Cornelius a second report of his encounter with the angel and his actions because of that encounter (10:30-32).

Peter thus had three supernatural indicators given to him that God wanted him to be at Cornelius’ home at that time to minister to him: (1) his vision; (2) the Spirit’s speaking to him; and (3) the report of the angel’s directing Cornelius to summon him. Because of the cumulative effect that the remarkable supernatural work of God to direct him in this manner had upon him, Peter opened his gospel message to Cornelius by saying, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him” (10:34-35).

The opening words of Peter’s message show that he was now fully convinced that God is impartial in His dealings with all people. As the readers of Acts, we are given an even stronger presentation of this truth than Peter was because we are given multiple accounts of not only the three supernatural events prior to Peter’s message but also of how the Spirit supernaturally concluded Peter’s message (10:44-46; 11:15; 15:8). Through our reading of how God thus gave these Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit, we learn that God unmistakably testified to the salvation of Cornelius and all those who were with him on that occasion (15:8).

Moreover, Luke informs us through Peter’s later testimony that God “put no difference between [the apostles, who were all Jewish] and [these Gentiles], purifying their hearts by faith” (15:9). We, therefore, have every reason to be convinced even more than Peter was that God is no respecter of persons!

He accepts in every nation the people who fear Him and work righteousness, and He desires that believers give such people the words by which they will be saved. Let us be diligent, therefore, to be impartial concerning whom we are willing to go to and witness to them “the word of the gospel” (15:7).

In Evangelism, Gospel, Interpretation

Saved by Grace through Faith

June 26, 2011

At the Jerusalem Council, Peter rehearsed God’s working in the Gentiles at Caesarea to save them as definitive evidence that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised and commanded to keep the Mosaic Law in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-11). Rather, he said that God purified their hearts by faith (15:9) and that they (and the other Gentiles who had become believers up to the time of the Council) would be saved “through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” (15:11).

Later, James added that Peter had “declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name” (15:14). Based on these authoritative statements by these two top church leaders on that crucial occasion in church history, we understand the following concerning the salvation of people:

People must hear the word of the Gospel to be saved by grace through faith. (15:7).
People must believe the word of the Gospel that they hear to be saved by grace through faith (15:7).
People who hear and believe the word of the Gospel are saved by grace through faith so that they will be a people for His name (15:14).

In Evangelism

Words That Weary God

June 25, 2011

The prophet Malachi indicted God’s people with some amazing words: “Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, ‘Wherein have we wearied Him?’ When ye say, ‘Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them’; or, ‘Where is the God of judgment?'” (Mal. 2:17). Craig A. Blaising comments,

The Jews in Malachi’s day had failed to learn such hope [of God’s future punishment of evil people and rewarding of the righteous when He comes] from the Scriptures. They questioned God’s justice by saying that He delights in evil people and by asking, Where is the God of justice? Yet they were the guilty ones; they were the ones who were unfaithful to Him. Here too God responded by referring to His forthcoming judgment (Mal. 3:1-5). However, unlike the answers by the righteous biblical writers mentioned earlier [Job 24, 27; Ps. 73; Eccl. 8; Jer. 12; Hab. 2-3; mentioned in the previous paragraph in the commentary], the judgment which Malachi referred to was to be against the hypocritical questioners as well.

—BKC: OT, 1583; bold and italics in the quote are from the original
When we are tempted to question God’s justice, we would do well to allow this indictment (2:17) and God’s response to the people’s questioning His justice (3:1-5) to turn us away from yielding to the temptation to do so.

In Discipleship, Quotes

Witnesses of His Resurrection

June 24, 2011

The book of Acts opens with Luke relating to us how Jesus appeared repeatedly to His disciples over the 40-day period between His resurrection and His ascension (1:3). Luke then provides a key account of one of His appearances to them (1:4-11).

At that time, Jesus commanded His apostles to “wait for the promise of the Father” (1:4). The record of the subsequent conversation between Him and His disciples (1:6-8) concludes with His declaring, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (1:8).

What did Jesus mean when He instructed them that they would be witnesses unto Him everywhere in the world? To answer this question properly, we should allow the book to interpret itself by following the flow of thought in the book concerning the witness of the apostles.

The next occurrence of the word witness is at the conclusion of Luke’s record of Peter’s authoritative direction concerning the replacement for Judas (1:15-22): “Beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection” (1:22). Here Peter, who was present when Jesus declared the statement that Luke recorded earlier concerning the apostles being witnesses unto Him (1:8), reveals to us what was central in their being such witnesses—they were to be witnesses of His resurrection!

The first account of apostolic evangelistic testimony to Jesus (2:1-40) confirms this interpretation. In his message on Pentecost, Peter powerfully testified to the resurrection of Christ (2:24-32).

Every subsequent lengthy record of apostolic evangelism also highlights apostolic proclamation of His resurrection (3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30-37; 17:31). These accounts show that testimony to the Resurrection was part of the essential content of all the major evangelistic messages of both the Christ-appointed leaders of the Church, Peter (Acts 2, 3, 4, 5, 10) and Paul (Acts 13, 17).

Based on this data, as well as much other Scripture (e.g., Luke 24:46-48; 1 Cor. 15:1-15) we can be certain that Christ would also have us to be witnesses of His Resurrection!

In Evangelism

For Whom Should a Preacher Preach?

June 23, 2011

In most cases, a preacher will be preaching to a mixed audience of both genders and people of widely different ages and levels of both spiritual knowledge and maturity. Given this great diversity in his hearers, for whom should he preach?

Should a preacher construct and deliver his sermon in such a manner that his entire audience equally will be able to follow and understand all that he says? Although such a goal may initially seem a worthy thing to aspire to, is such a goal really what a preacher should aspire to? What’s more, how attainable is such a goal and what would a preacher have to sacrifice to attain such a goal?

In order for young children and even less mature believers to understand his entire message to the same extent that adults who are very mature believers would understand it, a preacher would have to greatly simplify nearly everything he would say. Such simplification would make thorough and accurate handling virtually impossible for much of Scripture.

My current thinking is that the preacher should not aim for equal understanding for his entire audience. Rather, he should preach as much of the text as he can as thoroughly as he can, making sure that his major ideas are so clear that as many people as possible will understand them.

In his development of his message, however, the preacher should not overly simplify what he says merely for the sake of simplicity. Such an approach may often result in many of the more mature and knowledgeable believers in his audience profiting little from his preaching.

Although God intends for all believers to profit from His word, it is impossible that all of them will profit equally. Believers at different levels of understanding will profit at differing levels from the Bible; the preacher should understand that the same would be true for his preaching as well.

The preacher, therefore, should aim to profit believers at all levels, and the best way of doing that is to preach thoroughly and accurately whatever text or texts he preaches. Beyond that, he should pray that God would illumine and enlighten the minds of his hearers.

Having prayed, prepared, and ministered in such a manner, the preacher should trust God to give understanding to his hearers at levels that will be suitable for each one.

In Ministry, Preaching

"Read Therein All the Days of His Life"

June 22, 2011

God’s instruction to His people about when they would come into the land that He had promised to give them (Deut. 17:14) and seek to set a king over them concluded with vital teaching (17:18-20). In these three verses, He declared and explained the necessity of the king’s daily interaction with His words.

The king would have to “write him a copy of [God’s] law in a book” (17:18). He then would have to have the copy with him and read in it “all the days of his life” (17:19a-b).

Through such lifelong daily interaction with God’s own words, the king would learn to fear God, as he should, “to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them” (17:19c-d). His reverence and awe for God developed in him by reading God’s words every day of his life would direct him to obey God comprehensively.

Such comprehensive obedience would serve vital purposes in his life: it would keep his heart from becoming “lifted up above his brethren” (17:20a); and it would ensure that he would not deviate from God’s commandments in any way (17:20b). Being humble with respect to his brethren and walking obediently along the straight way of God, he would prolong his reign and that of his children over Israel (17:20c).

From this teaching, we should learn the necessity of our feeding on God’s Word all the days of our lives. Only through such feasting on Scripture itself will be able to fear God, comprehensively obey Him, be humble, and walk in His ways, as we should.

For us to enjoy the quality and length of life that God intends for us, we must richly partake of His words every day and allow that partaking to accomplish all His purposes in our lives. Doing so, our descendants and we will be what God wants us to be: “A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that [we] should show forth the praises of Him who hath called [us] out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:10)!

Let us read our Bibles all the days of our lives with these things in mind.

In Bible reading

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