November 12

Ezekiel 24-26

Hebrews 11:1-16

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 27:14

I have to be honest: I've been having a hard time reading Ezekiel. I read about the unfaithfulness of Israel and Jerusalem and Samaria and how vile and wretched it was in God's eyes. He gave everything to His people and they responded with ungrateful, sinful behavior. It's been difficult to read because I might as well substitute Israel's name with my own. My behavior is no different. God has given me everything and how do I repay him? By putting him at the bottom of my priority list, by spending my time on anything but Him, by thinking of things that have nothing to do with Him, by squeezing him into my busy important schedule and then thinking that I did a good thing. 

I started feeling terrible again when I was reading Francis Chen's book "Crazy Love" earlier this week. There is a chapter called Profile of the Lukewarm. In Revelation 3, Jesus says that He will spit the lukewarm out of His mouth. Lukewarm people are partially committed, halfhearted, distracted. The more I read about being lukewarm, the more I saw myself and I felt even worse.

Thankfully, I kept reading. In the next chapter, Francis writes that he doesn't want us to doubt our salvation. "I'm not saying that when you mess up, it means you were never really a genuine Christian in the first place. If that were true, no one could follow Christ."

What it boils done to is love. God's love for us is so great and so indescribable and so infinite that we could never sin so much that He would stop loving us. Just look at Hebrews 11 and the great examples of faith. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David. How many of these people were perfect? How many times previously this year have we read about these individuals and how they would fall flat on their faces? And yet here they are praised for their faithfulness? How can this be? Because God loves them and His love transformed sinful, faithless, ungrateful, wretched, lukewarm people into great men and women of faith. And He can do the same for you and for me.

Don't be discouraged when your faults are pointed out to you. When we become aware of our sinfulness, we should not sink into despair and hopelessness and self-pity. The correct response is to run to the God who loves us despite our weakness. Turn from your old ways and love Him for all that He is and for all He has done and for all that He continues to do for us.

What are steps we can take to prevent ourselves from being lukewarm? Is it possible to do this on our own?

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Monday Blog Post (11/11/13)

 

Monday, November 10, 2013 [Getting His Attention]

Psalm 109

 

I remember going to a birthday party for one of my wife's high school friends and talking to different people in the crowd.  You know that point in a conversation with someone that you just met when they ask you, "So, what do you do for a living?"  I always get the same response when I tell people what I do.  It's always a little embarrassing for most people because just before they heard my answer they were getting really comfortable using all of the creative four-letter-words in their vocabulary.  Well, this happened several times at this birthday party.  As the conversations continued I would hear things like, "I haven't been in a church since I was five.  After all of the stuff I've done I'd probably melt a church if I walked through the doors."  It has amazed me how many people feel this way.  There is this lie that says you have to be a "good" person before you can go to church, before Jesus will pay any attention to you.  But, that's not what we see in the Scriptures.  Check this out:

 

"Rescue me because you are so faithful and good.  For, I am poor and needy, and my heart is full of pain." (Psalm 109:21-22)

 

What stuck out to me in Psalm 109 (NLT) today was this phrase in verses 22 "poor and needy."  How poor is a king?  What could David possibly be in need of?  He wasn't lacking material resources – He was acknowledging his deep need for God because of his low spiritual resources.  And, David didn't come to God on the basis of his own "good"-ness.  He came to God for help acknowledging that it is God who is faithful and good.  This is what gets God's attention – brokenness, the reality of our deep need for Him.

 

"The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: "I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.  I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts." (Is. 57:15)

 

What gets God's attention is when I admit…

…that I am a mess that only God can clean up

…that I've gone so far away that I can't find my way back on my own

…that I need more than what I have the power to provide; etc, etc.

 

Is there some obstacle that is keeping you from admitting our deep need for God in your situation? 

How do verses 22 and 31 empower you to overcome that obstacle?

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"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26)

Kenny Sullivan

(201) 218-0751

שלום

November 10

Ezekiel 21-22

The Deadliness of Sin

One more time Ezekiel shouts out the message of the deadliness of sin. The prophet charts the history of their rebellion in chapter 20. He warns the people of Jerusalem about the imminent judgment they are facing because of their sins. And what is their response to all of these warnings?  

Ezekiel 20:49  Ah... he is just telling parables!!

Chapter 22 deals with the specifics  ... Ezekiel actually enumerates them...

Bloodshed of innocent babies

Politicians misusing power

Breakdown of the family

Oppression of the alien and the poor

Mistreatment of the orphans and widows

Not setting one day aside for the Lord

Sexuality without boundaries

Bribes in the marketplace

and finally the whole culture forgetting God. That is a pretty long list.

What I found so fascinating is the response, "He is just telling parables."  There was no sense of the deadliness of sin. To many people, sin is not cosmic treason against a holy God; it is just an error in judgment, a mistake, a mess up that is really is no big deal. That is why they called it a parable.

I hate to point out the obvious, but there is a great similarity between 590 BC and today. The problem today is that sin is no longer considered deadly. We now view sin from our own perspective rather than from how God views it.   The culture says sin is failing to be true to ourselves; it is not reaching our full potential. The standard by which we now view sin is through the eyes of Jerry Springer, Stamford's most famous citizen.  

But we know that sin is deadly because of two facts.

1. Jesus had to come to this planet and give his life for us to be forgiven. If sin is just a psychological issue, that is a huge price to pay.

2. Hell is in the future of everyone who does not buy into the way of escape created by the cross of Jesus. The existence of hell doesn't match with the modern view of sin.

In the end it takes more than moral or psychological therapy to deal with sin. It takes the blood of Jesus to atone for it. The drift in the culture in 2013 is just as dangerous as it was in Ezekiel's day. Sin is not just a parable; it is a cosmic treason against God.

 

With God's help, what sin do you want to work on defeating today?   

 

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"Multiplying leaders to change the world"

November 9: A lesson from swim meets: no false starts

Ezekiel 20:1-49

Hebrews 9:11-28

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 27:11

"Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness,

   prisoners suffering in iron chains,

 because they rebelled against Gods commands

   and despised the plans of the Most High.

 So He subjected them to bitter labor;

   they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

   and He saved them from their distress."

- Ps 107:10-14

When someone is in utter darkness, do they know where they are?  Probably not.  The prisoner in this instance, all he probably knew was he was bound, unable to free himself from the chains he could not even see.  

I've found myself in that situation - trapped by my circumstances, seeking progress I am decreasingly able to achieve, longing for something I do not know, unable to pursue it for reasons I do not understand.

Weekdays I get up, and as I have for most of the last 13 years, catch the 5:55 train to New York City, where my work day begins at 7AM . I catch the 5:30 train home and, some nights, pick up Christian from swim practice and head home for dinner, then hopefully a workout before maybe another hour of work and bedtime at 11, exhausted at the day and at the prospect of having to do it all again 6 hours later.

Weekends I get to sleep in a bit later; I get up around 6 am or so, but still immediately feel the need to rush off.  I try to make breakfast for the family, then the kids have their activities.  Till recently, Sophia typically had volleyball practice at 9:30 AM; Christian has swim practice from 10-12 (I try to get a workout in at the same time), and Thomas has tennis from 2:30-3:30.  There are chores and errands - the grocery, the cleaners, the laundry, the ironing...and I find myself at the end of Saturday typically exhausted, cranky, and wondering how my day felt both so exhausting and so futile.  

For the longest time, this life was increasingly a struggle, for reasons I could not understand.  It was the bitter labor God was permitting me, because I did these things because I chose to, not because I had submitted to Him and this was what He wanted me to do.  And so I sat in the darkness of utter certainty that the desire to provide a good life for one's family was the paramount goal, not knowing that, by refusing to consult with Him, I was rejecting His plans for me and for my family, bound to a life of struggle by the chains of my good intentions.

Not all days are bad, though - in fact, an increasing number of them are really good.  What makes the difference?  I find that the days I choose to start with prayer and scripture may contain exactly the same things, but they go so much more smoothly, so much more contentedly.  Perhaps it is because, on days I start with God, He has the opportunity to tell me the ways I should go.  Those are the days I start crying out to Him in my worry, and He saves me from my distress.

How different are the days you start with God from the days you don't?

11/8/13

11/8/13

Then another message came to me from the Lord : "Why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel: 'The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children's mouths pucker at the taste'? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb anymore in Israel. For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die. (Ezekiel 18:1-4 NLT)

What I am thinking about today is an incident that happened in the New Testament, with Jesus' own disciples:
'As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means "Sent"). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.' (John 9:1-7 BOOKS)

Even the disciples of our Lord didn't get it. They were judging by the effect, not the cause. And they were still set in the ideas prior to Eziekiel's ministry. But still they were judging. They assumed that since the man was born blind, that his parents must have sinned. But Jesus knew this man before he was conceived, and he knew that this encounter was going to happen, and that His glory was going to be revealed. Jesus had a plan for this man all along. I think, we too, can get too caught up on "sin vs. punishment," when we aught to get caught up in His grace.

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Thursday, November 7

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Ezekiel 16:42–17:24

Hebrews 8:1–13

Psalm 106:13–31

Proverbs 27:7–9

 

 

“Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.”

 

“And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.  If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law.  They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning:  ‘Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.’” (Hebrews 8:1–5)

 

The writer of Hebrews has built steadily on the superiority of Jesus the Christ:  above the angels, above Moses, and above the sacrificial system that both fulfilled the Mosaic law and pointed to the Lamb of God to come.

 

In Chapter 8, the author discusses how Jesus has completed the Second Covenant.  Unlike the high priests of the Old Covenant, He does not need to repetitively offer sacrifices for the sin of God’s people.  Instead, in Himself, He has made fully sufficiently sacrifice through giving His life on the cross.  Instead of serving in the earthly Temple – only “a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven” – Jesus has prepared complete atonement (“the setting aside of wrath by an offering”) through His body and blood,

 

While Moses and other Old Testament believers took these promises on faith, knowing that God would provide full atonement in His timing, we have the evidence of Scripture and history to remind us of these realities.  We have the reliable testimony of the Scriptures and the fact of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  The entire early church had intimate experience with the Risen Christ, who appeared to more than 500 people at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:3–6).  He later appeared to the Apostle Paul and thousands of others (even to the present day) through visions and dreams, verifying and confirming the realities set forth in the Scriptures.  Our faith is anything but blind; it is rooted instead on rock-solid evidence.

 

 

“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.  For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.” (Hebrews 8:6,7)

 

The writer of Hebrews continues to explain that this New Covenant “is established on better promises.”  He argues that the mere existence of the second covenant suggests the shortcomings of the first covenant.  As an aside, this logic follows closely after the “ontological” argument for the existence of God:  it is far better to exist than not to exist.

 

This New Covenant would involve a much deeper knowledge of the Holy One.  The promises of God would become more fully realized for His people, and their love-relationship would become more intimate and palpable.  God’s people would not relate to Him at a distance, but He will welcome them as a loving Father:  “I will be their God,/ and they will be my people.”  The cycle of rebellion would give way to intimacy and obedience.

 

We understand from other portions of the New Testament that these revelations of the New Covenant have emerged progressively.  While we treasure that which God has already revealed, we may know more deeply in the full revelation of heaven:  “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

 

Still, we have the great pleasure of interacting daily with the Lord:  hearing His voice through His Word and prayer; speaking with Him through prayer and meditation; and serving Him by encouraging and helping His people and giving our lives to glorify Him in word, thought, and deed.  As we walk with Him, the Holy Spirit will transform us and allow us to become more conformed to the image of Christ and according to His will:  “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

 

Let us rejoice in the revealed and to-be-revealed promises of this New Covenant, even today!

 

Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your sacrifice and for establishing the New Covenant in which we may participate.  Fit our lives for Your service and Your purposes.  We are grateful that all Your promises have come to pass or will become fully realized.  Thank You, Lord, for being fully trustworthy, faithful, and true.  We love You and worship You today.  In Jesus’s Name, Amen.

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Ezekiel 14:12-16:42, Hebrews 7:18-28, Psalm 106:1-12, Proverbs 27:4-6

Ezekiel 14:12-16:42, Hebrews 7:18-28, Psalm 106:1-12, Proverbs 27:4-6

 

            When I think back to all my years of schooling, I can think of one teacher from high school who had the greatest impact on my life.  Ms. Sal literally glided with grace in her classroom from one side to the other as she inspired us with Renaissance art, we were emotional remembering the trenches of World War I, and discussed the differences in of Greek and Roman architecture.  I am who I am for many reasons because of her.  I am a romantic and a history lover because she taught me how to see, learn, and be passionate about the past, because it shapes our present and future.  I will always love her for that.  In these chapters of Hebrews and especially Psalm 106, I thought about this love of history and some of her lessons echo in my mind.  Psalm 106 is a small chronicle of the Jewish nation and their history.  It is a representation of who they were as a nation, and this picture is what we think of the, today. 

 

            The first point that jumped out of me was God as the main character.  All

Glory goes to God first and is an example of how we should respond to Him.  Praise the Lord. Give thanks.  Why?  Because He is Good.  Thinking of history, there is a well known story about Corrie Ten Boom from World War II.  She and her family were imprisoned by the Nazis because they hid Jews.  When in their jail cells, she was separated from her sister and the prisoners would pass messages back in forth by whispering to each other…a large game of telephone.  One of the messages that the Ten Boom sisters shared to each other was "God is good."  Even in a cold, scary, hopeless Nazi prison, they still knew the goodness of God.  Sigh,  Such faith.  The author of this Psalm had the same faith and love in God.  They knew and proclaimed that God's love never fails and never gives up even though we all have lives and histories that constantly turn our backs to God. 

 

            Psalm 106 shows the character of God as Savior – verse 4 asks for God's aid WHEN he saves.  The next few verses transition into the beginning history of the Hebrew nation by leaving Egypt and slavery.  The fact that God is love and that He saves will be the hope and relief after each mess up if highlighted.  The chapter mentions rebellion, deliverance, rebuking, and being lost.  It also follows up with repentance, praise, and worship.  This is the beginning and a reminder of what we have been reading all year, and WHY we have been reading all year.  We are in the middle or our own chapters.  We are living our own histories.  This has had me thinking of what my chapter would look like.  What will Nikkie's history story say?  Will it reflect worship, love and obedience?  As verse 3 says, "Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right."  Or will the chapter be heavily coated with the mess ups, the doubt, the rebellions, the lost wanderings of my own?  Well, I know the answer, and of course it's both.  As I think about it, I'm thankful for those lost times, the rebellions, and the hopeless journeys, because just like Israel, those moments were followed with repentance and FORGIVENESS, and always filled with God's love that never fails.  We are living our histories, our stories.  My prayer is that during the bad times and during the great times we will always be able to whisper or shout that God is Good…that God Saves…that God's love never fails.