Category: Devotions

WEDNESDAY May 22^nd

 

Ephesians 1:15

‘For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. . .’

 

The second reason Paul gives for wanting to pray for the Ephesian believers is ‘because of your love toward all the saints’.

 

Our faith not only brings us into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and with God whom we can now call our Father, who art in heaven, it also brings us into a new family, the family of God which is made up of every blood brought believer, we have become the Church which is the body of Christ, we have become living stones that have been joined to one another and one of the things that keeps us bound is love and what Paul could see in the church at Ephesus should be seen in every gathering of local Church, ‘love toward all the saints’.

 

Jesus had said to his disciples that he was giving to them a new commandment and it was that they were to love one another, John 15:12. In fact the measure of our love for one another is not based on the same feelings that we have regarding human or earthly love but should be based upon the measure of the love of God. Again, in John 15 Jesus said that as the Father had loved him, so he had loved the disciples, and that was also to be the basis upon which we love each other. The love of God is the purest love because he himself is love. It is a selfless love, it is a love that gives, it is a love that cares, it is a love that is eternal.

 

In his epistles, John, when writing them, must have often thought back to this commandment of Jesus to love one another, for he touches on the theme a number of times,  in 1 John 3:1 he speaks about the manner or the kind of love that the Father has given to us, then in in verse 14 he says that we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers, in 1 John 4:7 he calls us to love one another for love is from God, and it shows that we have been born of God and know God. Then in verse 11 he says ‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another’.

 

Faith and love the apostle Paul says, it is as if they cannot be separated, if we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it surely must be evident by the love we have for one another.

TUESDAY May 21^st

 

Ephesians 1:15

‘For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. . .’

 

The words ‘For this reason’, could be looking back over what Paul has already written in chapter 1, which is all about the spiritual blessings which believers have been blessed with in Christ (v3). For in verses 13-14 Paul reminds the believers that they had heard the word of truth, and believed in Jesus and therefore had been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of the inheritance until we acquire possession of it. He wants to pray for them because of their being in Christ, but more specifically I think that ‘For this reason’ points to the two reasons he gives for praying for them, 1) Because he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus, 2) Because he had heard of their love toward the saints. Because of your faith and your love, he says ‘I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers’, (v16).

 

Verses 3-14 of Ephesians chapter 1 are just one sentence in the Greek, thankfully broken down into the English for us in several verses, and one author has commented that they are verses of praise, whereas the next verses, 15-23 are verses of prayer.

 

But I want to highlight the two reason. Their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love towards all the saints.

 

Faith in the Lord Jesus is essential before we can come to know the many spiritual blessings that he has spoken about in the previous verses. It is only once we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus that we know what it is to be in Christ. It is only once we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus that we are incorporated into what Paul terms as the church, which is his body later in this prayer in verse 22-23.

 

I grew up under some who taught that a person doesn’t become a part of the body of Christ until they have been filled with or baptised in the Holy Spirit, I cannot subscribe to that, I believe that inclusion into the church, becoming a part of the body of Christ happens immediately that a man or women is born again, but the desire should be for each member to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 3, Paul says in verse 6, ‘This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’ How are we members of the same body? Paul says through the gospel, that is through coming to faith, personal belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And although I readily accept the promise of the Father which is to be baptised in the Spirit, the Spirit is already given to everyone the moment they believe, we are born again by the Spirit, there cannot be believers who are in the body of Christ and another group of believers who are not in the body of Christ. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

 

Faith in the Lord Jesus is the key. Can you say that you know that you are ‘In Christ’, have you come to the place of saving faith, having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

MONDAY May 20^th

 

As we start a new week, we are also going to move to another of Paul’s letters and if you were in our prayer meeting just a couple of weeks ago, or at the church the Sunday morning following, you will be familiar with the verses I am going to turn to. They are two sections from Ephesians which I read from on both occasions, and suggested in the prayer meeting that they would make a good sermon, but rather than do that I am going to take us through them over the next few days.

 

Both sections of verses are prayers that Paul made for the saints at Ephesus. For today, we will use the devotion to read the verses again, in the devotions that follow I will just quote the section that I will be looking at.

 

Ephesians 1:15-23

‘For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.’

 

Ephesians 3:14–21

‘For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.’

FRIDAY May 17^th

 

1 Corinthians 1:30–31

‘And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”’

 

The final word in these verses reminds us that Jesus has become from God our redemption. Oftentimes, theologians seem to argue or discuss the order of events in our being saved, but to me the wonder is that we can be saved and have been saved as we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul brings us to the point of reminding us that it is Christ Jesus who is our redemption.

 

In Ephesians 1:7, we read ‘In him we have redemption through his blood’. This automatically nullifies the means of redemption as being from any other person or through any other means. I say, and you if you have come to faith can say ‘Christ Jesus is my redemption’, or ‘I am only saved because of what Christ has done for me’. And to any who may read this devotion who have not come to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot and will not be redeemed until you have come to Jesus. He alone is our redemption or means of redemption from God.

 

I am reminded again of the words of the hymn I mentioned a few devotions ago, ‘Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed by his infinite mercy, his child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed, redeemed, his child and forever I am.’

 

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20 ‘for you were bought with a price’, we have been redeemed, purchased at a cost, the cost was the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that redemption is not only about being set free from the sin that entrapped us and had we remained in it would have condemned us, but it also means that we now belong to Jesus. He has purchased us to be his own possession through the shedding of his precious blood. I quote Ephesians 1:13-14 from the NIV ‘And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.’ The ESV reads ‘In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, ^*to the praise of his glory.’ (with a footnote that says ^* until God redeems his possession)

 

To conclude these verses, because of the message of the cross, and our coming to see it and accept it as the power of God unto salvation, we have been born again, Christ Jesus who died and who rose again, has become to us from God, our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption. It is in him we live and move and have our being, he is all we need! The hymn that gripped me as a youngster still grips me today, and I will quote it in full.

 

Jesus Christ is made to me, all I need, all I need,

He alone is all my plea, He is all need.

 

Wisdom, righteousness and pow’r, holiness for evermore,

My redemption full and sure, He is all I need.

 

Jesus is my all in all, all I need, all I need

While He keeps, I cannot fall, He is all I need.

 

He redeemed me when He died, all in I need, all I need,

I with Him am crucified, He is all I need.

 

To my Saviour will I cleave, all I need, all I need

He will not His servant leave, He is all I need.

 

He’s the treasure of my soul, all I need, all I need

He has cleansed and made me whole, he is all I need.

 

Glory, glory to the Lamb, all I need, all I need,

By His Spirit sealed I am, he is all I need.

 

Oh, the precious blood of Christ, all I need, all I need,

It’s the perfect sacrifice, he is all I need.

 

Chas. P. Jones

THURSDAY May 16^th

 

1 Corinthians 1:30–31

‘And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”’

 

We have already considered Jesus as our righteousness, and very closely linked to it is justification. Today’s word is also closely linked, the word sanctification. Jesus has become to us, sanctification from God. Being declared righteous, the act of being justified is a one-off event that happens immediately when we are saved, but when it comes to sanctification there are two aspects. The first is that the moment we are saved we are also sanctified, which means we are made holy the second is that we need to continually be sanctified, be kept clean.

 

Christ is holy, he has been sent from the Holy God and the purpose is that we too may be made holy. But, once saved, we still live in an imperfect world, therefore although we are justified, and have been sanctified, we are still open to temptation and to sin. Even though we have been made into new creations (1 Corinthians 5:17), we soon discover that there is a battle taking place between the old nature and that which is new in Christ Jesus.

 

But thankfully, we have the help of the Word of God, for the word sanctifies us, (‘Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth’, John 17:17), we have the help of the Holy Spirit, (‘But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth’, 2 Thessalonians 2:13), and we have the help of the One who is himself our sanctification, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Paul has already said this in the same chapter 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 2 ‘to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’.

 

We cannot make ourselves holy, there is no ritual that can make us holy, it is only by coming into a real and genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be made holy because he is our sanctification, he has done all that is required on our behalf for us to be sanctified. And once saved, we ensure that we remain in that relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ to continue to be made holy. In the same letter to the Church at Corinth, chapter 6, Paul lists the immoral behaviour of the unbelieving world, he then says to the believers in verse 6, ‘But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’.  What we must do is to be willing to put off that which is of the flesh, the old nature and put on all that Christ our sanctification has made available for us to be able to walk according to the ways of the Spirit and not according to the flesh.

WEDNESDAY May 15^th

 

1 Corinthians 1:30–31

‘And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”’

 

As we turn to the second of our four words today, we come to righteousness. I start by using the words of a song, ‘He is all my righteousness, I stand complete in him and worship him’. Remember, I mentioned last week about what comes to mind when we consider what we are ‘in Christ’, I referred to being a new creation, here in Christ because of his righteousness I am complete! You are complete.

 

The opposite to being righteous is to be unrighteous, and that is what we all are in the eyes of God outside of Christ, our biggest efforts towards righteousness fall short and are as Isaiah says like filthy rags and the reason being that we are sinners, cut off from God, and thus as such all fall short of the standard he demands. And not one of us from out of ourselves could do anything about it, but the good news concerning the message of the cross is this, there was one who lived sinlessly, he lived up to the standard that God demands and was able to stand in the gap as it were and become the substitute and the propitiation for our sin. The righteous and holy Son of God gave himself as a ransom for us as sinners, and God accepted the sacrifice that he made, therefore we do not have to strive to earn salvation, we simply come by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we believe in all he has done for us, his righteousness is imputed or counted to us, we are declared as righteous. Romans 4:3-5 ‘For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness’.

 

So, we are not made righteous because of anything that we have done, but purely according to what Christ has done for us. Christ has become our righteousness. What we could never do, he has done for us and on our behalf. Therefore, by faith we are saved, and again in the letter of Paul to Rome, Romans 4, it says, ‘[Abraham] grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteous.” But the words “counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification’, (verses 20-25). To be justified means that God has declared us as not guilty, he declares us as righteous.

 

Paul will have the final word, and what he says for himself stands for you and me as well, ‘and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith’, Philippians 3:9.

 

‘He is all my righteousness; I stand complete in him’.

TUESDAY May 14^th

 

1 Corinthians 1:30–31

‘And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”’

 

‘‘Wisdom, righteousness and power, holiness for evermore; my redemption full and sure, He is all I need’, you will recall I quoted these words in our previous devotion from the Redemption Hymnal, reminding us as Paul does in our text, that Christ being from God, has become to us as we are found in him, all we need. He has become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. So, without any shadow of doubt Jesus really is all I need, Jesus is really all you need.

 

We will consider these four points over this week, today wisdom.

 

In Colossians 2 Paul is writing to encourage the believers so that they would be united, and that they would begin to understand something of the mystery of God, of which he says, ‘which is in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’, (verse 2-3).

 

You will recall that earlier in 1 Corinthians 1, that Paul had said that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, his intention was not to suggest that God was foolish in any way, but to help us to understand that the wisdom of men is sub-standard in comparison to the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of God is to be seen in the message of the cross and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He, that is Jesus became to us wisdom from God. In fact, in verse 24 Paul has said that Christ is not only the wisdom of God, but he is also the power of God.

 

So, in Christ, through the activity of the cross, and the resurrection, we see wisdom at work. God’s wisdom, and the fruit or the benefit of this wisdom, is that we who are saved, are beneficiaries of the power of the cross which gives to us or brings to us, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

 

Imagine if mankind had been left to decide what was to be done to bring about redemption, well, we can see it manifested in some of the other religions of the world, good works, idolatry, pagan sacrifices, a plethora of gods to represent almost anything and everything, sun gods, moon gods, rain gods, a god for love, penance, indulgences etc. And yet with all of what would be summed up as man’s wisdom, or attempts toward salvation, it is utter foolishness, for as a result not a single human being would ever be redeemed.

 

But in his wisdom, God had a plan, which he revealed through his Son, a wise plan that is considered foolishness to mankind, but nevertheless it is an effective plan, it is the only plan, because God is wiser than all the wisest of men added together, and his plan being outworked through Christ means that the day is coming when myriads will stand before his throne, as we saw last week, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. A person is justified, not by the law. Or by any other means but through faith in Christ Jesus. As we have believed Christ has become the wisdom of God to each one of us. What others see as foolishness we see the power of God and the wisdom of God at work.

 

I will repeat the words from the hymn I mentioned recently, ‘Redeemed how I love to proclaim it . . . redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.’

MONDAY May 13^th

 

1 Corinthians 1:30–31

‘And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”’

 

‘Because of him’, takes us back to verse 29, because of God, although we are saved because of what Jesus has done for us at Calvary, it all took place because of God—in the words of a well-known hymn—’God sent his Son, they called him Jesus’. In Galatians 4:6, Paul says ‘But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth his Son . . . to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons’. God sent, therefore because of him, you (we) are in Christ Jesus. I have mentioned a few times over the last four years while preparing the devotions something about these two words ‘in Christ’ and it would make a good study to consider who we are, and what we have received as we are found in Christ. Obviously for me, my favourite verse immediately comes to mind, in Christ we have become new creations. I wonder what comes to your mind.

 

But that is not where we are going today, but rather to see from these verses what Christ has become to each one of us. Paul lists four things—wisdom, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The result being that we of ourselves have absolutely nothing to boast about. It is all of Christ, all from Christ, we are found to be in Christ, not through any merit or effort of our own, but solely upon what Christ has done for us, therefore Paul concludes, ‘let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’.

 

I can imagine Paul as he is writing these words, thinking back over his spiritual journey, pre-conversion, he had reached great heights as a Jew, as a Pharisee, he probably even thought he was doing God a favour when he went about persecuting those who had begun to follow Jesus, until he had his life transforming conversion on the road to Damascus, then as he set out on this new journey, he began to realise that not a single one of his achievement counted toward who he had become in Christ. It was all from God and through Jesus. Therefore, he counted everything else as loss, or dung, worthless, he stood no longer under condemnation only by and because of the amazing grace of God through Christ Jesus.

 

And the same counts for each one of us, my father-in-law used to say, ‘It is all of grace and not of Chase’ (Chase being his surname), Now my surname doesn’t rhyme with grace, and it will be the same for most who will read this devotion, but each one of us must come to the place of recognising that it is nothing of us or from us but it is all because of his grace. I think of the words of the hymn, ‘Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling’.

  I have also mentioned this before, but when I was a youngster, it was lethal for the leader of the service in the church I attended to ask for a choice of a hymn, for I wouldn’t hesitate to give out a number and it was nearly always the same hymn, (it was also the same if he asked for a choice of Chorus—that would have been ‘His name is the best name’) it would have been from the Redemption Hymnal, number 642, ‘Jesus Christ is made to me’ and the chorus of this hymn, well, it is based on our verses today, ‘Wisdom, righteousness and power, holiness for evermore; my redemption full and sure, He is all I need’

FRIDAY May 10^th

 

 

1 Corinthians 1:26–30

‘For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.’

 

Although I have given a few verses here, it is the last part that I want us to consider, ‘. . . so that no human being might boast in the presence of God’.

 

In Revelation 5 we have the scene that John saw in his revelation of Jesus Christ, most of us will know it well, a question is asked, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’, the eventual answer comes, when one of the elders says, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’ And John saw a Lamb standing, as though it has been slain.

 

A few verses later we read that the four and twenty elders sang a new song, it is in verses 9-10 and it is a song that rejoices that because of the Lamb being slain, there was around the throne of God people from every tribe and language and people and nation But, how did they get there? What qualified them to be found there?

 

Well, the answer is found in the song that was being sung, ‘for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God’ (v9). That is the ONLY answer, and it is the ONLY way that any man or woman can be found in the presence of God, by being ransomed by the blood of the Lamb that had been slain, and the name of Lamb, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in this chapter that we are looking at, that no man will be able to boast in the presence of God.

 

When we come to stand around the throne of God, not one person will ever be able to say ‘Well, I am here because of what I have done,’ no one will be able to say ‘I worked well and earned my salvation, that is how I am here’, no one will be able to say ‘I prayed regularly to Mary and went to confession, that is why I am here’, and no one will be able to say ‘I am here because of what (and they could list any religious figure they like) did for me’.

 

Every single person in the crowd around the throne, which we see later in John’s revelation is numbered a great multitude that no one could number (7:9) will only be there because of what Christ has done, and that was through the shedding of his blood and of they themselves being washed in his blood. As Paul says elsewhere, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast’, (Ephesians 2:8-9). Peter reminds us that we have been ransomed from our own futile ways, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, we have been ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).

 

As I was preparing this devotion I had some music playing and the song being sung was ‘I need no other argument, I need no other plea, it is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me’, I got the hymnal out to sing along with it then as I was finishing this devotion off, the song being sung was ‘Redeemed how I love to proclaim it . . . redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb’.

Paul says in verse 31 of 1 Corinthians, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’, a verse we will get to next week.

THURSDAY May 9^th

 

1 Corinthians 1:22–25.

‘For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.’

 

Before I move away from these verses and especially the statement ‘but we peach Christ crucified’, we need to understand that there is an ongoing battle taking place in society today that is seeking to undermine, and to eventually attempt to deny completely and overthrow the truth of the gospel. Culture is seeking to replace absolute truth with subjective truth. One of the biggest threats today is that of cancel culture.

 

The result will be that all that we hold onto as the truth of the word of God, the truth of who Jesus really is, the truth concerning the gospel, the truth concerning biblical morality, the truth concerning eternal consequences will be rejected, as being the views of those who will have been labelled as bigots. It is even more serious than this, in that the more society moves this way, those of us who hold to the truthfulness of God’s word etc we will be cancelled by society. In other words, everyone else can hold to their view or ideology, however ridiculous or crazy that it may be, but how dare the Christian hold onto the views that they do.

 

Remember Jesus said to his disciples in the last days before he went to calvary, ‘If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you’, (John 15:18-19).

 

There is no doubt that the hatred of the world towards those who love the true gospel, and the message of the cross is increasing and will continue to increase. Those of us who love the true and the living God, who love the word of God which is the ultimate and eternal truth, who love the Lord Jesus Christ who is not only the way to God, but who is also the truth and life, who love the only message that can save, the message of the cross, need to come to the place of loving the place of fellowship, where we can join with others who like us love truth, so that as a body we can be a means of encouragement to each other which will strengthen us in our faith in these days when we will need more than ever to be willing to stand up for the truth and to stand firm.

 

In the confusion that cancel culture is creating, we need more than ever to be those who hold onto and continue to preach Christ crucified.