Isaiah 44:19 Worshipping a Block of Wood

 Ancient peoples had a hard time figuring out what to think about God.  You may say, why didn’t God reveal Himself to them like He revealed Himself to the Israelites?   It seems the Israelites had the same problem even after God did reveal Himself to them.

Ancient people were closer to nature than most of us are, so they were more aware in their everyday lives of human’s small place in the world.  They created idols to represent the various powers behind what they saw in nature, but the idols in their minds became what they represented.  So that in Isaiah 44:19, God mocks them as though they are saying to themselves: “I have burned half of [this tree] in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!”

We may look back them with a smirk, but we do a similar thing today.

We may talk of Mother Nature as though nature itself is a thinking entity that consciously behaves in certain ways.  We don’t see anything higher than nature itself, as though nature was able to bring itself into being.

We see this today in our attitude toward science.  We forget that science is on a journey and is not the destination.  Science is our investigation into all that there is, but it can never know all that there is. 

But with it, we no longer feel the need for anything more than that, as if science can answer every question.  Science can tell us where we are but not where we should go.  It can describe what something is in substance, in incredible detail, but not its essence or significance.  I have a lot of paper in my house with ink on it, but science can’t tell me its value.

Our country is going through an extraordinary crisis right now, but we never think to look any further for answers than other human beings.  We don’t create idols out of wood, stone, or metal anymore, but we worship anything but the One who created all of this.

 

 

Ephesians 5:18-22 Fixing a Broken Spirit

 A long time ago, I came down with lymphoma.  About six months before I found out about it, God began to work on my heart and to mend the places that were broken.

One of those places was my spirit.

Proverbs 15:13 says that when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.  And then Proverbs 17:22 says that a broken spirit dries the bones.

Of course, I knew all these verses, but God brought them to my mind in such a way that I knew He was talking about me.  My heart was sad, my spirit was broken, and thus my bones were dry or getting there.  Whatever that means

What is interesting here is that I was scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy in a few days when this happened.  But then the test was postponed for a week or so.  Like God was giving me some time to work on this.

So I asked God: how do I fix a broken spirit? 

The answer was Ephesians 5:18ff. 

I think this passage is greatly misunderstood.  And for several reasons.

The only spirit mentioned in this passage is the Holy Spirit.  Not the human spirit.

Or is it?

The New Testament was written originally in Greek.  There is nothing in the Greek texts that would indicate whether this is the Holy Spirit or the human spirit.

Being filled with the Spirit is a common expression in the Bible, but in the Greek, this is not the expression that is used.  This expression appears only here. This verb is not used in any other place in that sense.  In the New Testament, the expression being filled with the Spirit is found only in Luke-Acts, and like I said, it’s a very different expression.

But why would I think the verse is talking about the human spirit?  One reason is that you can’t command a person to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  That is simply not in your control. 

A second reason is that the verb ‘filled’ is followed by 5 participles, and if it was talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit, then these participles would all speak of the results of being filled.  And Greek participles do not have a future function.  But they don’t make much sense either.

A person filled with the Spirit would speak to themselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs?  He wouldn’t speak them out loud?

The participles are too explicit.  They are not the way anyone would describe the results of being filled with the Spirit.

These are things YOU do to fill your spirit.  YOU speak to yourself with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, YOU sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord, YOU give thanks always for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and YOU subject yourself to one another.  That is, you give yourself to serving others, living for others, doing things for others, and THAT will fill you with joy and meaning.

And I should mention this here as well.  I am very fussy when I use English translations.  When I see one, I use this passage as a litmus test.  If they get this right, they pass the test.

Verse 22 is a part of this sentence.  It’s one long sentence in Greek.

Verse 21 reads: being subject to one another in the fear of Christ, wives to your own husbands as to the Lord.

The words “submit” does not appear in verse 22.  The verb is implied.  It is the participle of verse 21.  It’s not a separate command.  It’s all a part of a person filling their spirit, by speaking, singing, and giving thanks.

Paul uses all this as a segue way to a new subject, the relationship between husbands and wives, but the part about subjecting applies to all believers, men and women. 

When I see a translation separate verse 22 off from the previous verses, with no mention of adding any words, and using the imperative ‘submit’, like this is a separate new subject, then it fails the test in my mind. 

Don’t wait for some spiritual prompting to start singing and making melody in your heart to God.  Or wait until things start looking really good before you start giving thanks. 

The command is to be filled in spirit.  This is in contrast with the world that finds getting drunk something to look forward to, a very desirable state to be in.

No, YOU fill your life with praise, thanksgiving, the words of God, and giving yourself for others.  And you will find your life taking on a joy and peace that you didn’t know you could have.

 

 

 

 

Proverbs 4:5-23 Priorities

One of the hard lessons of life is that you can’t do everything.  You have to make choices.

Some things are more important than other things, and we would do well to give more attention to them.

Like wisdom.

If you made out your to-do list today, would you have wisdom on it?  If you made out your errand list, would you have ‘get wisdom’ on it?

The Bible says to get wisdom.  Get understanding.  And with all your getting, get understanding.  Proverbs 4:7

Why is this so important?

Because if you prize her, and she will exalt you.   Proverbs 4:8

If you embrace her, she will honor you.  Proverbs 4:8

If you walk in her way, your steps will not be impeded,

and if you run, you will not stumble.  Proverbs 4:12

You must guard her, for she is your life.  Proverbs 4:13   

Your path will be like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.  Proverbs 4:18

It is life to those who find it and health to all their body, for from it flow the springs of life.  Proverbs 4:22,23

The answer is simple, but it is not easy.  Proverbs 2:3 For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; 5  then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

You won’t just wake up one day and have it.  It’s a direction you take in your life.  You will need to spend a lot of time in the Bible, but it’s not just about gaining Bible knowledge.  Learning the Bible just makes hearing from God a lot easier. 

Learning the Bible is like learning a foreign language in a foreign land.  You will now have the tools you will need to get along in this new place.  You will have taken that big first step.

 

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Psalm 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

A person who says there is no God is foolish, says the Bible, and for two reasons.

One is for the consequences of that choice, and the other is for the reasons for that choice.

Of course, a person who rejects the existence of God rejects also the idea of an afterlife in which he will face the God whom he denies and that he will fare bad for his choices.  But not believing in God doesn’t mean that a person won’t face God.

But then it’s hard to fault an atheist for being foolish, when this whole afterlife thing is out of our experience.

But the Bible does fault the atheist for his choice of not believing in God.

The Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19) and that His invisible attributes are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made, so that those who don’t believe in God are without excuse (Romans 1:18-20).

I have had occasion to have had all manner of medical tests in the last few years, and it has made me more aware of the marvel of the human body.  A simple blood test might look for 30 different microscopic components that must be in perfect balance for a person to function normally. 

All the various organs of the body are dependent on a circulatory system that transports oxygen to every cell of the body, such that you need a fully developed heart and fully developed lungs and a fully developed circulatory system for the whole thing to work.  You can’t have a functioning living thing until everything is in place. 

So it can’t live until you have everything working together, but how can it develop if it is not living?  You can’t have the survival of the fittest until the fittest is living.

It takes far more faith to not believe in a God than to believe in Him.

 

 

Matthew 16:5-12 Forget about Forgetting

Matthew 16:5  And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they forgot to bring bread.

 

Christians know all about that they aren’t supposed to worry about things, but they do. 

Why?

We’re human.  Not that it’s human to worry, but it’s human to have things to worry about.

Like forgetting things.

We think that there is just too much stuff going on in life that it’s easy for us to miss something important, forget something that needs to be done, and we pay the price.

So we worry.

In this passage, which is really about something else, Jesus addresses this problem of worrying. 

The disciples were worried that Jesus was upset that they forgot to bring bread.

And what was Jesus’ response? 

“Why are you discussing among yourselves that you don’t have any bread?”  That word ‘discussing’ can also be translated as ‘considering, pondering, reasoning, arguing.’  OK, this was on their mind and what was concerning them.

But Jesus’ response goes on.  He calls them ‘little faith ones.’  Or as some translations put it, “Ye of little faith.”

They forgot to take bread.  So they didn’t have any bread.

And Jesus said: why is this bothering you?  Don’t you understand or remember when we fed the 5,000?  He didn’t just say: Don’t you remember, but also: don’t you understand? 

And again, when they fed the 4,000?  How is it that you don’t understand?

What didn’t they understand?

That faith in God covers a multitude of human foibles.

When you walk in faith, meaning that you believe that God is in your life and leading your life, you don’t have to keep looking at yourself, hoping that you get everything right, that you make all the right decisions, that you don’t forget anything, or don’t screw anything up.

God doesn’t want you always second-guessing yourself and wondering about getting everything right.

He wants you to approach life boldly, rejoicing that God is leading you and can pick up the loose ends, just like He fed 5,000 people with a few loaves and fewer fish.

 

 get about Forgetting

Ephesians 1:15-19 The Half Bible Lesson

A Bible teacher who is on my short list of favorite Bible teachers of all time has said that Christians should study the prayers of the apostle Paul.  If Paul was inspired to write books of the Bible that we call Scripture, then the prayers that Paul prays that are included in them are prayers that we would do well to pray ourselves.

One such prayer is found in Ephesians 1:15-19:  15 . . . I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the strength of His might . . . .

As I considered this prayer and teaching on it, I realized that no matter what I say about it, you are going to need God to open your spiritual eyes for you to fully understand this.

Like in Luke 24:45, where it says that Jesus “opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.”

I can tell you what things God has to open your mind to understand, but until He does, you will only have a bare handle on the truths that God wants you to understand.

Paul prays for three things, and they are not entirely separate.

He prays first that they (we) might know the hope of God’s calling.

Romans 8:29,30 says that we were predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Notice the past tenses.  Those whom God called, He also justified and glorified.  Glorified.

Where?  How? 

We need to have our eyes opened here.  We too often think of the Christian life as a bunch of sinners that God saved so they can now go to heaven when they die.  That narrative fails to grasp the whole picture of what God has done for us and still has in store for us.  But in Romans, much of that has already been done, and we just don’t see it in our everyday ho-hum lives. 

It’s like you were adopted as a child, and you then discovered that you are actually the child of the richest and most powerful person in the world.  And they want you to come home.  That changes everything.

Then Paul prays that we would know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. 

I think we tend to think of this as OUR inheritance, heaven, but it’s God’s inheritance.

Look at these passages from the Old Testament first:

Deuteronomy 9:29  ‘Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’

1 Kings 8:51–53 51 (for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace), 52 that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. 53 “For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, . . . .

Psalm 28:9  Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.

Psalm 33:12  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

Psalm 78:71 From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.

And someone will say that these verses are talking about Israel.

Yes, and one of the main themes of the book of Ephesians is that God has joined the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, into one new body, partaking of the same covenants.

Ephesians 2:11–15  remember  . . . that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.

We are now God’s inheritance.  And Paul wants us to know the riches of the glory of that, but we’re going to need God to open our eyes to fully see and understand that.

And then, lastly, somehow, in some way, God has exceeding great power which He wants to or is exercising on our behalf.

But, again, we need to ask God to open our eyes to it. 

I wish this lesson could have made you to see the greatness of God’s plans and power on behalf of His people, but at least I think we were able to show what we need to look for and ask for from God.  And that’s a big first step.

Isaiah 31:1-3 Realer than Real

 

Isaiah 31:1–3 (NASB95) 1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD! . . .  3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit; So the LORD will stretch out His hand, And he who helps will stumble And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together.

 

At the time our text was written, the nation of Judah was facing a military enemy that had worked its way through every nation in between them with no one really giving them a serious challenge.

Judah was in trouble, and everybody knew it.

The common answer of the time, and even today, was to form a military alliance with another nation that someday might face the same fate, which in this case was Egypt.

If you were king of Judah, what would you do?

Notice especially God’s words in verse 3: Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit;

This reminds me of when the Syrian army surrounded the city where Elisha was, and his servant saw them first and totally panicked.  1 Kings 6   And Elisha prayed that God would open the servant’s eyes, and he saw the mountains around them full of horses and chariots of fire.  Not horses of flesh but of spirit.

And Elisha was not afraid of an entire army that was out to get him.

When you see the events of the world, or even more so, the events of your life, are you aware of the presence of angels and of God working in your life.

I can’t give you a formula for making that happen, but I would say that you would need to turn down the noise around you.  God speaks in a still, soft voice.  If you’re not listening for it, you’re going to miss it a lot.