The Shaker

Occasionally, I watch an episode of either Intervention or Hoarders on TV.  Both shows break my heart so badly that I don't watch either of them often.  Yesterday, flipping around, I landed on Hoarders. The commonality in each show is that the central character is "where they are" because his or her soul is badly broken.  The sweet, older lady with the worst hoarding problem I've ever seen had developed her mental illness in her middle years.  But, it became exacerbated after the death of her sister, with whom she was very close.  When asked by the clean-up team, most of whom were her relatives, how she could have let things get into such a mess, she earnestly replied, "I don't know!" While the show was going on, an earthquake occurred there on the set.  As the house began to shake, the team ran out in case the house fell down around their ears.  I thought of all this as I read today's passage from Hebrews 12:25-29 (ESV).

25See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.

Hoarders have control issues.  That should be obvious.  But, in the midst of working through the illusion of control, God demonstrated who is really in control when He began to shake the earth on which that poor, troubled house sat.  Both here in Hebrews and at Mt. Sinai we are reminded that the One who spoke the universe into existence can easily shake the earth with the mere sound of His voice.

Today's passage describes the people of God, Jesus Christ's own, as "unshakeable".  He refers to us as an unshakeable kingdom.  Why is that?  Is it because we are "in control"?  Hardly!  We are unshakeable because we have put our trust in The Unshakeable One, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This means that, despite the trials and storms of this life, those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus cannot be upended.   We may be buffeted and strained and tested and tried.  But, if the Anchor for our souls is Jesus, we will not become unmoored to drift away into apostasy.  For the true Church salvation, both now and forever, is secure.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us of our appropriate reaction in light of this glorious certainty:
gratitude (vs. 28)
reverence (vs. 28)
awe (vs. 28)
worship (vs. 28)
obedience (vs. 25)

The first response generates the other four.  This passage speaks to me deeply this morning.  I had always sort of rolled my eyes at people who would say, "The Lord gave me a specific word for this year; it's ______ ."  But then, that happened to me at the start of 2017.  He spoke to me clearly and the word was "gratitude".  He has been teaching me on that theme, especially through the loss of several loved ones who are now in His arms; but, believe me, I have so much more to learn!

Reverence and awe....I especially miss the boat on this one.  Yes, the Lord wants to have an intimate heart relationship, but may we never lose sight of His majesty, His "otherness", in comparison to our pitifulness.

This idea of our God as "a consuming fire" is first mentioned in Scripture in Deuteronomy 4:24, where the Lord God is warning His people against idolatry, a warning that is still applicable to us, His Church, today.

…23"So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded you. 24"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25"When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger,…

Deuteronomy 4:23-25 (NASB)

Even while a redeemed people, we can still be prone to idolize other, lesser "gods" on the thrones of our lives, other than the One who bought and paid for us with His own blood.  This is where the obedience mentioned in Hebrews 12:25 comes in.  Our God is still a jealous God over us, His beloved Church.  And, when we give the love and adoration, the worship and obedience which rightfully belong to Him - - when we give those to someone or something else, He is going to get angry about it.  He has not changed in that respect, even though our "polite Christian society" tries to pretend otherwise.  Our holy God is jealous over us.  His Holy Spirit within us will call us to return to Him, and He will sometimes impose extremely adverse consequences for our sins, in His efforts to draw our hearts back to His own.

Lest you think otherwise, His actions toward us, no matter how they may chafe and pain us, are acts of perfect love.  Were He not so very concerned about our souls, He would leave us to our spiritual philandering.  Aren't you thankful, Christian, that He loves you enough to draw you back in?  That He is our firm foundation?

1. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
   My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
   The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
   Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
2. “The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
   I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
   That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
   I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”
1. American Hymn, "How Firm a Foundation", 1787, Anonymous, public domain

  

Visible Sign of an Inward Grace

Good morning,

We are still in 1 Corinthians 11, with the focus being on verses 17-34.  I won't reproduce them here for the sake of space.  Just open another browser window and google the text.  It will pop right up and you can then switch back and forth as needed.

Let me take a moment for a "programming note".  After we finish this chapter, I will be taking a brief hiatus from 1 Corinthians.  I had wanted to finish the book.  However, I am feeling the pressure to prepare for my upcoming Peru mission trip, and I will be exploring topics here related to that trip over the next few days.  I'll be doing some Bible teaching in the Cusco area, and I'd appreciate your prayers for the trip, overall.

What is a "sacrament"?  Wikipedia1 defines it as "a Christian rite recognized as of particular importance or significance".

Ok, so here was the situation in Corinth.  The believers would routinely have the evening meal together.  We see this mentioned in Acts 2:42 and 46.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  46 And day by day,attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.

It appears that, as part of the evening fellowship meal, they would celebrate the Lord's Supper together.  So far, so good.  Not a bad plan, right?

But, unfortunately, the divisions and spiritual immaturity of the believers were causing problems at these occasions.  People were behaving in a cliquish manner, separating themselves according to who followed whom, was baptized by whom, who brought the best food to the table, etc.  This behavior caused shame to the visitors and to the believers who had less to bring.  It also led to some getting drunk and embarrassing themselves.  Then, when it came time to have the Lord's Supper, people were already in a carnal state.  They were not approaching the Lord's Table with the reverence it deserved.

So, there were two main problems here, both stemming from carnality and selfishness.  The first was that these believers were at a family reunion, but not acting like family.  The second was that they were not celebrating the Lord's Supper the way Jesus intended.  There was no self-examination preceding the eating of the bread and wine elements.

This is hard for us to relate to because we don't live communally, as did the Corinthian believers, nor do we usually partake of the Lord's Supper after we have eaten a meal together.  However, I am sure that, if we did, we'd be tempted to act as these young believers did.

The element of self-examination before taking the elements of the Lord's Supper, though, IS relevant to us.  The Roman Catholics believe in a doctrine called "transubstantiation", which means that the elements of bread and "wine" (or grape juice, in some Christian denominations) literally become the body and blood of Christ.  I don't believe this to be true, but I do believe that there is something mystical and supernatural about the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.  Jesus commanded His followers (us) to do it (Luke 22:19), as a way to commemorate His sacrifice and to remember it.

What should we do before participating in the Lord's Supper sacrament?
1.  We should look inward.
We should honestly examine our hearts and confess our dependency on God.  We should confess and vow to make right any unconfessed sin in our lives.
Paul says in verse 31 that we are to "judge ourselves" by the standard of holiness that God has established.  By that standard, none of us is, in and of ourselves apart from Christ, worthy to step up to the Lord's table.
2.  We should be remember and be thankful.
Christ's sacrifice is the only remedy for our fallen state.  His finished work of redemption on our behalf was unfathomably costly to Him and to Father.  We can never be thankful enough.  When we participate appropriately in this ceremony, we are providing to ourselves and to the world a visible sign of an inward grace.  His grace was lavished on us at the moment of our accepting His finished work for us. We carry that grace with us always now.  We are proclaiming the Lord's death until He returns (vs. 26).

Oddly, Paul says that approaching the sacrament of the Lord's Supper inappropriately will bring judgment from God on us.  In verse 31, he says that we can either judge ourselves, as described above, or we will be judged by God for our cavalier attitudes.  Paul explicitly said that the Corinthians were experiencing sickness and that some had even died ("sleep") because of their lack of reverence for the Lord's Supper.  That is a mystical thing, but I'm not going to question it.  Better to just do as commanded.

I want to close by pointing out that the Bible does not command how often we should participate in this sacrament.  Some Christians do it every day.  Others do it once a week.  Others do it once every 3 months, and so on.  "How often" is not the point.  "How reverently" IS the point.

Father God, thank you for Your Son, whose body was broken for me, whose blood was spilled for me.  I am grateful that Your Son, Jesus, gave us, His church, this way to remember His unbelievable sacrifice for us.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:
1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrament

My Heart is Fixed

Good morning!

Psalm 57:7-11

My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms. Awake, my glory; awake, lute and harp: I will wake the dawn. I will give thee thanks among the peoples, O Lord; of thee will I sing psalms among the nations: For thy loving-kindness is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let thy glory be above all the earth!

Psalm 73:25-28 

Whom do I have in heaven but you? I desire no one but you on earth.

    

My flesh and my heart may grow weak, but God always protects my heart and gives me stability.

    

Yes, look! Those far from you die; you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you.

    

But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. I have made the sovereignLORD my shelter, as I declare all the things you have done.

This morning I got to fulfill a dream that I've had for many years - - to watch the sun rise over the Grand Canyon.  I tried to post a picture along with this blog post, but have been unable to figure it out.  (Have you noticed that this is not a technology blog?)  When I share the post to Facebook, I will try again there.

My beloved husband rose with me this morning, and we went out together, mugs of coffee in hand.  I sat on the rim of the canyon and read the psalms, some of them aloud, praising God for beauty which words and even pictures cannot adequately capture.

Tears streamed down my face as we worshipped.  

Regardless of where you are today, and regardless of your circumstances, God is there, waiting for you to call out to Him.  If you already belong to Him, as His beloved child, He is waiting for you to draw near to Him today and to exalt Him!  If you have yet to meet Him, draw near to Him and call out to Him in believing faith; ask Jesus to make you His very own.  

Dear Father God, in all I say, in all I do, may You be exalted, may Your glory shine forth in me.  May my life be resplendent with Your glory!  In the name of Jesus, the Christ, my Savior, Amen.