Tag: obedience

Numbers 15-16, Psalm 46-48

“Clap your hands all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry. He chooses for us our inheritance – the pride of Jacob whom he loves.” Psalm 47:1,4

As Kyle mentioned yesterday, the book of Numbers is anything but boring. And today, we got acquainted with the interesting – and deadly – story of Korah’s rebellion. In chapter 16, Moses and Aaron are approached by a group of Levites led by Korah who had had enough of Moses and his leadership. He confronted them and said, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s people?” (Numb. 16:3). 

Moses, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, had led the Israelites out of Egypt. Not only was he the main leader, but he also acted as a go-between for the Israelites and God, speaking to God frequently on the Israelites’ behalf and receiving the law and the commandments from God. From the outside looking in, Moses could seem to be a pretentious guy giving meaningless commands to the Israelites people with fatal consequences for the people who broke them like the man stoned to death for breaking the Sabbath in Numbers 15:32-36. Korah, the man at the head of the rebellion, was also from the tribe of Levi and had the support of 250 leaders of the community. At this point, they had probably had enough of Moses’ rules and spoke out against what they believed were unjust commandments.

But, little did they know what that would cost them. Moses cried out to God and trusted in God to deliver him. He prayed that the people would see them who was the true messenger of God based on what God did. When they both came to present offerings in firepans to God, the ground opened up and swallowed Korah and all his household with all of their possessions and they went “down alive to Sheol” (v. 31-35). Then, fire came from the Lord and killed the 250 leaders who were presenting offerings in firepans to God. The Israelites, who still believed that the real men of God were Korah and his followers, began to complain about Moses and Aaron. God sent a plague to kill the Israelites, and that plague killed 14,700 before Moses put a stop to it by standing between God and the people. 

This chapter in Numbers is a whirlwind, full of intrigue, suspense, and vengeance. What’s striking to me is the complaint of Korah that sparked this chain of events that led to the death of close to 15,000 people. Korah and his followers complained about Moses and Moses’ power. And like I said, from an outsider who didn’t understand the true purpose and meaning of the law, those complaints would seem valid. But, Korah was missing the whole point of the message Moses was communicating, because that message centered around God. Korah wanted to the power for himself. He didn’t realize that Moses wasn’t doing those things for himself, but instead, he was acting in complete humility and obedience to God. To Korah, those commandments seemed meaningless, arbitrary, and harsh, because he didn’t truly know God. Thus, he wasn’t willing to be obedient to his commands. 

The world looks at the message of Christ and says similar things. It asks us, “Who do you think you are? Don’t you know we all have a little bit of God in us? How dare you try to tell us what to do?” Little do they know that the message we are following is not based on us and our likes and dislikes. It’s not something just made up by human hands. This is a message from God! And that makes all the difference. 

When you find yourself feeling the force of all the world’s questions, you can stop and remind yourself of the promise found in the psalms: You are chosen by God to be his holy set apart people. 

~Cayce Fletcher

Links to today’s Bible reading – Numbers 15-16 and Psalm 46-48

Download the 2021 SEEKGROWLOVE Bible Reading Plan

Matthew 19 & Mark 10

In Tim Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods, he describes the ways that we put other areas of our life in the role of ‘god of our lives.’ Though the handmade idols that the Israelites worshipped – like the Baals and Golden Calves – may not exist anymore, idolatry is still very present in our modern day life. Keller describes how we, as humans, have a tendency to make good things god things, and consequently, we allow those things to turn our focus away from God. Sex, marriage, money, wealth, (self-)righteousness, and status can all be good things, but these things cannot be the ultimate thing. 

In today’s passage, we meet the Pharisees who were trying to trip Jesus up with a question about divorce. They wanted to know if Jesus was going to contradict the law of Moses by saying that divorce was not legal. After Jesus responded that divorce should not happen outside of sexual immorality, the disciples were amazed and said, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry” (v. 10). Jesus agrees with them in v. 12 when he talks about the eunuchs who chose to live that way for the sake of the Kingdom. 

Then, later on in Matthew 19, a rich young ruler comes and asks Jesus what rule he needs to follow to get eternal life. Jesus tells him the thing that he needs to do is give his possessions to the poor. He “went away sad, because he had great wealth” (v. 22). When Jesus tells his disciples that it is incredibly difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom, they are amazed and asked “Who can be saved?” (v. 25). Jesus responds in v. 26, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

In Matthew 19, Jesus focuses on 3 areas of life, and in each case, he shows the disciples that they need to obediently follow what God says, despite how contrary it looks to the world. These 3 areas of life can be areas where we all easily fall into idolatry. They are good things – but they cannot be the ultimate thing. These things cannot be our god, but we try to put them in that place. 

The pharisees (and the rich young ruler) struggle with self-righteousness. They wanted to be good enough to be their own god – so that in effect, they wouldn’t actually need God. Though no one in the story seemed to struggle with marriage and sex, the question the Pharisees asked brings up this next idol that so many people make an ultimate thing. Both of these marriage and sex are created by God, but so often, we do not act with obedience to God’s word in these areas, and we step out of God’s design for us. By doing so, we are making these things an idol. The last area is money and wealth. The rich young ruler had so much wealth that he went away grieving. We don’t know if he made the choice to act with obedience to what Jesus commanded him to do, or if he decided that his wealth was too important to him to follow Jesus and ‘enter life.’ What we do know is that he mourned for his wealth. The disciples were amazed that Jesus spoke so harshly of wealthy people. In a culture that values money and possessions (like our own), the pursuit of wealth always seems like a good thing. However, like we’ve read this past week in the book of Luke, money can become an idol in our life, and the Bible says plainly that we cannot serve two masters: God and money (Matt. 6:24). 

When it’s so easy to fall into idolatry, who then can be saved? Jesus reassures us that “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” If you find yourself in a place of idolatry – putting good things in the place of the ultimate thing, turn back to God. He is the one with whom all things are possible. 

~ Cayce Fletcher

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – Matthew 19 & Mark 10.

Tomorrow, we will read Matthew 20-21.

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Isaiah 13-17

A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.

Isaiah revealed a prophecy against the nations in our reading today.  In some cases those that received these warnings had years before the prophecies would occur. There was time to listen, repent, turn their lives around, prepare and be ready. What holds us back from surrendering everything to God and getting ourselves “right with Him”?

Sometimes it is pride. In Isaiah 13:11 we read “I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.” When we become prideful, we exalt ourselves as our own god. We put our desires and wants as our top priority. We justify and reason that our actions are acceptable because those actions are “right” in our own eyes (Proverbs 21:2). As I grew up, I had friends that rejected following God because “they wanted to do, what they wanted to do”.  They viewed God’s commands as restricting them instead of seeing Him as a loving Father providing the best way for His children to live life. Pride tells us that we know what is best for ourselves. We think that God does not understand who and what we are. C.S. Lewis stated that “Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

In Isaiah 14 we see so clearly that the leaders in the world appear to have power, but they cannot defeat death. Those leaders claimed that “I will make myself like the Most High” (v.14), but only God has power over death. In the following chapters we see that the great cities and wealth of nations will not last. The armies of vengeance and wrath destroyed the cities and carried the wealth away. Punishment was administered to nations. In fact we explore that God is the only One who controls nature, which provides our food source. Though they planted the finest plants and imported vines, yet they did not have a harvest. These illustrations should show us that God is ultimately in control. We need to be humble before Him. Isaiah 17:7 contains the answer. “In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.”

That is the answer for us today. We need to come to God humbly, honoring Him as the absolute authority. God is sovereign. He is the supreme authority and all things are under His control.

We need to turn our attention away from the raging nations of the world, and turn to Our God who gives love, wisdom and salvation.

~ Rebecca Dauksas

 

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to on Bible Gateway.

Tomorrow, we continue reading the history of Israel in Isaiah 18-22 – as we continue the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

2 Chronicles 28 & 2 Kings 16-17

Storing up treasures in heaven is greater than receiving momentary glory and recognition.

Wishing blessings to everyone this week and all the time. Watching quizzing at FUEL on Tuesday was always a joy, and I always would feel the adrenaline on the edge of my seat watching many friends compete for the championships. At the end of the night watching brothers and sisters in Christ hoist up their trophies and see their hard work come full circle inspired me to want to know the word better and to celebrate them in their accomplishments.  

 

Looking at 2 Chronicles and King Ahaz, we see a young man become king when he came into a place of power. He angered the Lord because his deeds were for his own self and never gave glory to God nor sought the Lord’s guidance in his actions. Ahaz wanted glory for himself and provoked the Lord. He built alters and offered sacrifices that disgraced the Lord.

As humans we want to be known and want some of our deeds to bring us our own glory and recognition. Ahaz came to power when he was only twenty. He did not follow in the steps of his father, David. Sometimes we want to do things that honor us and get us recognized in front of our friends and others. It feels good, makes us feel worthy. Even when Ahaz tried to make amends, the Lord gave Judah over to those lands surrounding it. It continued with Hoshea as his deeds were evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 17). God calls us to rely on him and give the glory to him for through him we accomplish all good deeds. God gives and he can also take away. God gave the Israelites what he promised them in the promised land. However, because of their disobedience and pride, God took it away.  2 Kings 17:12–13 explains why God let Israel fall as they turned from him. God wishes for us to seek and give glory to him and perform services in his honor. Doing such deeds brings more delight to him and feels you with spiritual delight than any earthly recognition. Storing up treasures in heaven is greater than receiving momentary glory and recognition. God has called you; do not forget these things as we read about others who forgot who their deliverer was. 

Right now, even though we aren’t close to one another, we can still celebrate the accomplishments and the deeds of our friends scattered around the US. This isn’t normal for us right now, but I want you to know I cannot wait for the time to celebrate, laugh, worship and hug everyone glorifying the Lord once again in the future and especially when the kingdom comes. 

“For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.” ~ ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:15‬ ‭NASB‬‬

~ Evan Grant

 

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to on Bible Gateway – 2 Chronicles 28 & 2 Kings 16-17.

Tomorrow, we continue reading more about the history of Israel in Isaiah 13-17 – as we continue the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

 

 

Learning from Obedience & Disobedience

Deuteronomy 3 & 4

Deut 4 9 NIV

We live near apple country. In the fall we have driven to the mountains and visited apple orchards. The taste of ripe apples from the tree is amazing. The apple trees are pretty hanging with the delicious varieties of apples and the views are really beautiful. In Deuteronomy 3, Moses is told that he can “Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.” Imagine Moses standing on the mountain looking at the Promised Land. He would not enter the land because of his former disobedience. I think this consequence was important for the Israelites. Moses was so close to God and was an example for the entire Israelite community. He was their appointed leader and they followed his example. They could also learn from his disobedience. Experiencing this consequence of not entering the land probably made a big impact on the Israelites and Joshua. In fact, God tells Moses to “charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.”

I grew up with siblings. I had an older brother and sister and I learned from their example. If they did something good at school or church, they were rewarded with awards and praise. It was great because I learned what I should do by their example.

In Deuteronomy 4, Moses is giving his all to make the people understand the importance of obedience to the LORD. Not only will the Israelites and their children be blessed by obeying, but if they keep the decrees and laws they will have wisdom and understanding. They will set an example for other nations. People will hear these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?”

Our personal obedience to God can be a positive example for others. Obedience leads to blessings for us and for others.

Rebecca Dauksas

 

Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+3-4&version=NIV

Tomorrow’s reading will be Deuteronomy 5-7 as we continue the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

 

 

Jesus Says Go

Mark 16

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Jesus was nailed to a tree, he breathed his last, the curtain was torn.

The stone was rolled away, sin lost its stronghold, death was defeated.

This story holds so much power, whether it’s your first time hearing it or your ten thousandth time. Live everyday like you’ve just seen the stone rolled away from the tomb with your very own eyes. Let that excitement, awe, and wonder overflow from your heart.

We know the power of the empty tomb, so now what? When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, he appoints them to a certain task: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15).

Jesus said go, so the disciples went.

Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it (Mark 16:20).

Jesus said go, so the disciples went, and God showedup.

God saw the disciple’s obedience as usability. When we go, we obey Jesus’ calling on our life, and God can work through us. Look at everything God accomplished through the disciples after Jesus’ ascension into heaven:

Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed (Acts 5:14-16).

Jesus said go, so will you obey? Will you let God work through you?

You don’t have to go far, but you do have to go. Go sit in your front yard and engage your neighbors walking by in conversation. Go to the grocery store and be extra friendly to your cashier. Go to church and mentor the newly saved Christian. Go to work and be eager to strike at every small opportunity to share the hope of the Kingdom.

You have a mission field. Your mailman, your coworker, and your next-door neighbor, need to hear the gospel. You have a message to share! If not you, then who?

 

-Mackenzie McClain

Go! Fight! Win!

1 Corinthians 9

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize_ Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9: 24)

Being competitive is sometimes presented in a negative light.  Probably because competition can bring out the ‘jerk’ in people.  That’s too bad, because in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is telling them (and us) to lean into that competitive spirit.

Paul is using this as an analogy, by the way, he’s not telling us that we are in competition with other believers.  He uses two phrases that I hope will inspire you as you run your race.

“strict training”

Athletes preparing for a big competition don’t eat whatever they want and binge Netflix all day.  What do they do instead?  They do things that will help them succeed in their goal.  (Winning!)  Paul’s goal, and ours, is “a crown that will last forever.”

How do we train for eternal life?

The word obey comes to mind.  In order to obey we need to really know Scripture.  If we want to hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant,” we need to know what the Master expects of us.  And we need to do it, even when it’s hard.  Just like the athlete in training gets off the couch and goes to practice, even when he’s tired, we need to obey even when it doesn’t make sense to our human sensibilities.

“do not run aimlessly”

If you’ve ever been to a kid’s sporting event, you know that there are players that do not have their head in the game.  They are wandering around the field, chatting with friends, maybe even picking flowers in the grass.  Adorable.

Not so adorable when it’s adults in an Olympic competition and not cute when we’re talking about forever.

So many of us say that we are sharing our faith by they way that we live our lives.  But how much of that is a cop-out because we’re not comfortable evangelizing?  If we are actively sharing our faith through our life, we will be intentional in planning ways to do it.  We won’t just be going about our life, wandering aimlessly along.

I encourage you today to make a training plan.  How are you getting ready for Christ’s return?  I also encourage you to make a game plan.  How are you looking for ways to share your faith with those around you?

-Susan Landry

 

 

Wise About What is Good

Romans 16

Romans 16 19.png

Welcome back!  Hopefully yesterday’s question brought about some quality reflection time after reviewing the passages.  I hope today’s thoughts do the same as well!

Thought #1 – Vs. 1-16: Wow!  I’m impressed that Paul remembered so many individuals within the church and took the time to greet them all.  I am very fortunate to be part of a small church, and I LOVE the fact that I know everyone by name there.  But, I don’t feel that I truly know every individual that is in my congregation.  Certainly not well enough to greet personally if I were writing a letter from someplace far away!  We recently lost a very prominent, “behind-the-scenes” member at my church.  I knew him well enough to know the amazing impact he had on our church, but not more than outside of seeing him Sundays and Wednesdays.  His funeral was packed with friends and family members, and it struck me how little I truly knew about this man that I had basically “known” since birth.  This, along with these verses, got me thinking; How well do we really know the people inside of our own church body?  Clearly Paul thought it was important to individually know those within the body, as he even brought up some deeper connections he had with them as a reminder and personal touch.  How awesome do you think those believers felt when Paul called them out in a positive way?  They were probably encouraged, and motivated to keep on doing the good things they were already doing.  My aunt Susan likes to say, “If you see something good in someone, say it!!”  People love positive recognition for things they do.  And generally speaking, they’re not going around asking for it!  I challenge you, along with myself, to seek out those deeper connections within your church so that you are able to call out the good in those around you!

Thought #2 – Vs. 17- 19:  There are some pretty strong words used by Paul here.  He calls out some people and intentionally tells believers to keep away from them because they are not serving Christ.  Excuse my Minnesotan here, but… Ufda.  I would NOT want to be one of those people!!  Despite this slight shock of criticism, I love how Paul finishes his little warning with a praise and a reminder: “Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”   We are to rejoice in our obedience, and in the obedience of other believers.  But we are also told here to be wise about good things, and innocent about evil things.  How can you be wise about the good, and innocent about the evil?  I think first you must recognize the difference.  We can still be innocent about evil things without being naïve to the world.  We can also be very easily pulled into a deeper and unnecessary knowledge of evil if we’re not careful.  We need to know enough to stay away, but not enough to compromise our innocence.  How can you grow your wisdom of good things to increase your obedience?  How are you keeping your innocence of evil while still being aware of what it is?

I hope these questions got you thinking from maybe a new perspective on our texts today!  Tomorrow we get to start the book of John together!

To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ!

~Sarah Blanchard

More Grace?

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6

In the past couple of chapters, we looked at how we are justified by faith, and being saved while we are sinners.  So, the natural question is whether it matters if we sin.  I love the way Paul answers this question after he asks it.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

In my head I hear this with a lot of passion in it.  Then Paul says basically the same thing in verse 15:

15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”

Again, I hear so much passion in this statement.  This is obviously an important point, and something that needed to be talked about when Paul wrote this letter.  It is something that needs talked about and understood now too.  I am confident that Paul spent this much time on this topic because it is so easy to think that “this” sin will be okay.  I’ll be forgiven, and then I won’t do it again.  Then, the next time it is again easy to think that doing it one more time won’t hurt.  I’ll be forgiven again.

That is an extremely dangerous place to be.  It is easy to cross the line into sin, and can be very difficult to cross back.  We need to stay as far away from that as possible.

16 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”

We are either slaves to sin or to obedience resulting in righteousness.  We each must make that choice.  We are justified by faith, and then that faith should lead to obedience.  It is all really summed up in the last verse of chapter 6:

23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

– Andrew Hamilton

Resurrection and Loyalty

 

1 Corinthians 15 22

In today’s section we’ll look at verses 20-28 of I Corinthians 15. Did you know that you’re a king or a queen? So many blessings and riches are made available to us “in Christ” and in today’s section Paul speaks of another gift that comes with being “in Christ” – resurrection.

Paul begins by affirming that Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead, given the sad reality of if he hadn’t (v. 12-19). He then proceeds in verses 21-22 to compare Adam to Christ. Just as by a man came death, so to by a man came the resurrection of the dead. Paul clarifies this saying in the next verse by identifying the two men. In Adam all die but in Christ all live. This is a critical teaching of Paul about the dichotomy between Adam and Christ. By default all of us are in Adam, that is, we are identified and participate in the sphere of Adam which is rebellious and God hating. This inevitably results in death. But you and I can go from being “in Adam” to “in Christ”. When we are found “in Christ” that is our new identity (II Cor. 5.17) and this inevitably leads to life, specifically, resurrection and immortality (II Tim. 1.10). The way we can go from being “in Adam” to “in Christ” is by repentance, acceptance of the gospel, and obedience to Jesus as Lord. For more on the Adam-Christ teaching read Romans 5.12-21 and all of Romans 6 for what it means to be “in Christ” (“in Christ” is a technical term found often through Paul’s epistles that is rooted in his understanding of Adam and Christ). But Paul specifies that there is an order to the resurrection: Jesus first then those who are his at his coming.

Then Paul says literally “then the end”, when Jesus hands over the kingdom to his God and Father when he has abolished all rule and authority. In other words, when Jesus comes back he will dismantle and overthrow every human authority and government and establish his Father’s rule and reign with him as king. Then concluding, Paul says after this happens Jesus will hand over the newly established rule to his God and father, being subjected to him, so that God may be all in all forever and ever.

To be “in Christ” means so much more than just ‘I’m saved’ it’s larger meaning is that we get to participate in the sufferings and victories of Jesus. Specifically, because Jesus was raised from dead, we will be raised from the dead (I Cor. 15.20,23). Because Jesus ascended to God’s right hand and has been given all rule and authority, we too are seated with Christ and share in Jesus’ power and authority (Eph. 1.20-21, 2.4-7). You are a king and queen in the making whom God is making ready to rule and reign through our Lord Jesus Christ by means of the resurrection!

-Jacob Rohrer

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