Category: Devotions

Tuesday 20th

James 1:3-4

NIV (v3-4) – ‘. . . because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’

ESV (v3) – ‘. . . for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’

These verses could so easily have been pulled from Hebrews 12 where you will remember we are encouraged to run with endurance. The NIV uses ‘perseverance’ here, while the ESV uses ‘steadfastness’, the KJV has ‘patience’.

It is ‘the testing of your faith that produces . . .’ The persecution that the twelve tribes in dispersion were facing was obviously hard and difficult for them and yet at the same time it was of benefit, for as their faith was being tested, they were learning what it was to persevere, to carry on against all the odds stacked against them, knowing that it was working in them to bring maturity and to make them complete in Christ. We who have never faced persecution on a scale as to which they have or on the scale that many are facing in various parts of the world today can be guilty of becoming complacent, too comfortable and we begin to rely on everything we have that makes life comfortable and it possibly distracts us from the true cost of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps some who claim to be followers of Jesus are even guilty of almost neglecting their relationship with the Lord Jesus and treat him more like an insurance policy to turn to in sudden times of trouble or to assure them of the certainty of eternal life at the time of leaving this world. But Jesus made it clear that to be a follower of his means that we have to daily take up our Cross and follow him, and taking up the Cross can mean difficult seasons, trials and persecution. And when they arrive, we need just as those who received James’ letter did, to allow the trials to test our faith and to produce steadfastness, and to bring us to completion in Jesus Christ.

This is what Paul had to say about trials in Romans 5:3-4, ‘Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’  Peter also in 1 Peter 1:6-7, ‘In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’

A few verses later in this first chapter of James we read ‘Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.’ (v12)

I decided to do a search for some quotes about trials as I knew one but was not sure of the wording, but instead found this one from a Christian author from America and I quote it here, ‘“God does not want our faith kept in mothballs, so he sometimes allows trials and testing to come into our lives; the unexpected hardships and heartbreaks that rock us in places we never thought we’d face as a child of God. And it’s in those defining moments that we knock off the cobwebs of our everyday faith and face life with a new and improved one that’s empowered by God Himself.”’*

We will all face trials or difficulties at some time, may we allow them to be used to shape us as God’s children, strengthening our faith and bringing us closer to the heart of God. Perhaps you are reading this devotion and are going through a trial, a difficulty in which you are finding the load hard to bear, keep focused on Jesus, remain steadfast, persevere and allow the trial to achieve what it is that God is wanting to do in your experience and know that he is there alongside you and he invites you to ‘cast all your care and anxiety on him for he cares for you.’

Allow him to come and to minister his sustaining and strengthening grace into your heart. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

^{*Ron Lambros. ‘All my love Jesus: personal reminders from the heart of God’}

Monday 19th

James 1:1

NIV (v1) – ‘James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.’

ESV (v1) – ‘James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.’

Having completed going through the book of Hebrews, we will move into the book that follows and that is James. As I indicated Saturday, from today I will be sending devotions out on Monday – Friday only.

I remember way back in the 1980’s being off work following an accident at work and deciding that I would put together a study on this book, I did start, but I never finished it, well this time I will make a fresh start and will finish it, or at least take us through this book in the same way that we have gone through the others. I still have the original notes I had done in that initial study, but where they are, I do not know, still packed in a box somewhere is my guess!

It is understood that James the author of this short letter was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, having the same mother, Mary. Jude who also wrote a short letter is also another of his brothers. I guess the first thing to note would be to rejoice that some of the family of Jesus believed on him, coming to faith, and contributing something to the Church which still speaks to us today. The question is, what can we learn from this letter from James? We will see.

What strikes me immediately is verse one, where James introduces himself as a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a man who could claim ancestry through his mother to Jesus, a relative, yet he is willing to consider himself as a servant to Jesus, he has acknowledged Jesus as Lord. He has come to know his half-brother in a more powerful way, here is a picture of humility, putting aside any claims to fame for want of a better way of putting it, he has discovered it is more important to be humble and submit to the authority of Jesus in his life and in doing so he becomes a servant from God and of the Lord Jesus to the Church, in this case as we read in verse 2 ‘to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion . . .’

What is also fascinating to me about James is that as he begins to encourage those who he is writing to, he says, ‘Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds . . .’ That seems a strange thing to do, to say to count it a joy to suffer, in our human nature we do not like suffering, we always want the easiest way through things as possible, suffering is not pleasant and surely not joyful? but when it comes to the believer in Christ there is a particular blessing linked to suffering for being a Christian, and it was Jesus himself who said as recorded in Matthew’s gospel ‘”Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”’ (Matthew 5:10-12) It was also Jesus himself who was the greatest example of this as we discovered in our look at the book of Hebrews, ‘. . .  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’ (Hebrews 12:2)

Maybe James had heard Jesus as he taught back then on the mount, or maybe he had picked up snippets along the way, but he knew his spiritual brothers and sisters were suffering for their faith and he wanted to encourage them, to enable them to understand that suffering as a Christian brings great reward. He continues, ‘for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness’. We will look at that phrase tomorrow, but today as I have on other occasions I want us to turn our attention to those who are undergoing trails of various kinds today for their faith, our brothers and sisters in particular who are living in nations that are hostile to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As of today, this is the top ten countries in the world for the persecution of believers, from 1 to 10, North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, and India. How about making a point of praying over the next few days for these places, and for our brothers and sisters that they will know God’s presence and power, his grace sustaining them as they suffer for Christ.

Saturday 17^th

Hebrews 13:20-21

NIV (vv20-21) – ‘Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’

ESV (vv20-21) – ‘Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.’

We end our look at the book of Hebrews today, we have spent 56 days in this epistle, at the start I said that with all that is contained in this book, it is a book that is all about Jesus. We have seen him as the one through whom God has spoken, we see him as the one who is greater and better than anyone and everything, we have seen him as the one who is our Saviour, our great high priest and our great example, we have seen him as the one who is coming again. Here in these closing verses we have a blessing or a benediction that ‘the God of peace will equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight’ and it is all through Jesus Christ, the one who has been raised from the dead and who is the great shepherd of the sheep. The book ends with Jesus, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

It’s all about Jesus, we are what we are because of who he was and is and because of what he has done and is doing, because of him our past has been dealt with and our future has been secured, because of him we have been brought near to God, because of him we have an eternal hope.

I love the phrase ‘who is the great shepherd of the sheep’,in John 10 Jesus called himself the ‘good shepherd’, Peter in his epistle calls him the ‘chief shepherd’ here in Hebrews he is the ‘great shepherd’ so we end this look at Hebrews with a reminder that this Jesus whom the writer has been expounding on so much is the Lord who is our Shepherd. The other day I watched the first of the programmes on television called ‘Springtime on the Farm’, I am always fascinated with these programmes, they bring up so many great memories of growing up on the farm, but more so they give a little snapshot of what our great shepherd is like as he cares for us the flock, the sheep that are in his pasture, he is a caring shepherd, a comforting shepherd, a constant shepherd, a compassionate shepherd, as a shepherd he is our companion, unchanging in his nature toward us, he is faithful and true, he is ever present among us, he is all that we could ever wish for or hope for.

I want to end these devotions from this epistle with the words of a song, may this be our continuing desire.

This is the last weekend devotion, I am going to be making a change and will only be sending out the devotions from a Monday to a Friday.

Jesus, the very thought of thee

with sweetness fills the breast;

but sweeter far thy face to see,

and in thy presence rest.

O hope of every contrite heart,

O joy of all the meek,

to those who fall, how kind thou art!

How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this

nor tongue nor pen can show;

the love of Jesus, what it is,

none but his loved ones know.

Jesus, our only joy be thou,

as thou our prize wilt be;

Jesus, be thou our glory now,

and through eternity.

Friday 16^th

Hebrews 13:9-16

NIV (v9) – ‘Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.’

ESV (v9) – ‘Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.’

The writer has spent so much time encouraging and supporting those who he has written to that he wants to make sure that they remain not just grounded in the faith, but grounded in the truths or the doctrine of the faith. He is coming to the end of his letter and he says to them ‘Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings’. The world was no different then as it is today, with so many choosing to distort the wonderful truths that are found within the Scripture, or which had been taught by the apostles. Seeking to gather around themselves those as Paul refers to as having ‘itching ears’, that is folk who want to hear what they want to hear rather than what the Word of God has to say, or the teaching of those who have received it by revelation and is now recorded for us in what we call the New Testament.  

There are so many offering ‘diverse and strange teachings’ today, we see it in the religions of the world, we see it in the cults and the ‘isms’, but sadly we see it also within what would be considered the Church and we need to ensure that we are grounded in the word of God, with at least a basis ability to be able to discern truth from error. I have mentioned before there are those things that we can consider the non-essentials were we may have a difference of interpretation, but there are those things which are essentials, where there cannot be a difference of opinion, for they are the foundational truths of the Christian faith. Things which are essential to our believing and to the preserving of the integrity of Scripture, faithfulness toward the gospel and of what it really means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we can access so much through books, through radio and through television, and although there is a lot of good, there is also a lot of rubbish, there is a lot of troubling theology being preach and espoused as being faithful to Scripture but when you dig deeper you will find it is a distortion of truth to satisfy the ‘itching ear’ and sadly too often it is to line the pockets of those who are preaching it.

My prayer is the same of that in this word of advice from the Hebrew writer mixed with some words from Paul in Ephesians 4, ‘that we are not led away by diverse and strange teachings’, but rather remain faithful to a proper understanding and exposition of Scripture, ‘that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.’  (Ephesians 4:14-16)

Thursday 15^th

Hebrews 13:8

NIV (v8) – ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’

ESV (v8) – ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’

Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple faith may claim:

Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same;

Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick and lame,

Cheer the mourner, still the tempest—glory to His name!

Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same,

All may change, but Jesus never—glory to His name!

Glory to His name! Glory to His name!

All may change, but Jesus never—glory to His name!

This verse that we have before us today is a wonderful source of strength and encouragement to the believer, it gives to us a confident hope that we have put our faith and trust in something, that is, the effectual work of the Cross and in someone, the unchanging Lord Jesus Christ. And the words of the song lyrics that I have started with remind us that he is the same in his constancy, his consistency, his support, and his sufficiency, his effectualness today is as it always has been, to sum up, in every way, he remains, unchanging and ever present toward those who have put their faith and trust in him.

‘His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus. He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.’

There is no change in his person, there is no change in his love, there is no change in his grace, there is no change in his power, even though we are living two thousand years post Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly the same today as he was then, he has not diminished in any way, he has not become more distant with time, but is as ever present toward us as he was to those who were his first disciples, and still working in every way toward us who have believed.

In the context of this book of Hebrews, he is still the eternal Son whom God has chosen to speak through in the last days, he is still greater than the angels, he is still greater than the prophets, he still has the name which is greater than any other name, he is still the effectual sacrifice, he is still the effectual great high priest, he is still the effectual intercessor, he is still seated at the right hand of God and he is still reaching out to lost humanity as the Shepherd seeking out and finding the lost sheep, he is eternally faithful and true. And he is our Saviour, he is our Shepherd, he is our Lord, he is our great high priest.

All this should give us a confidence assurance as we live in this perverse, foolish  and wicked generation in which we are found that we have an unchanging hope which is also our unchanging foundation, our solid ground in which we can anchor our souls – Jesus Christ the righteous. While all around is shifting sand, he never changes, he is constant in his care towards us, constant in his protection over us, he is the most loyal and trustworthy friend we can ever have.

Wednesday 14^th

Hebrews 13:7,17

NIV (vv7,17) – ‘Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith . . . Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.’

ESV (vv7,17) – ‘Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith . . . Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.’

I have combined both these verses together as they are speaking of leadership and authority in the Church. Although these verses are an instruction to the readers as the community of the Church, the flock as Peter would call them, it is also a challenge to those of us who are leaders. For what strikes me first of all is not the need for obedience and submission to leadership, although that is important, but the need for the leaders to lead and to live lives that are good examples to the flock! See if a leader is not a good example, then they cannot expect the flock to show the obedience and submission that the Scripture calls for. The phrase is used ‘consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith’, I only want to imitate something that is good or of value, and therefore any of us who are leaders need to ensure that the example we are showing in our walk of faith, in our lives, our homes, families, ministry and areas of integrity and morality are good examples, examples that we would be happy for our flock to model their lives upon. It means that we who are leaders in the Church need to stop at times and do a stock take, an honest appraisal of our lives and see what kind of an example we are, this may even mean that we will need to be open to honest criticism or correction from others. Scripture in turn helps us to know that if we want to be good examples, then we must as leaders model our lives upon the One who was the greatest example of all, the Lord Jesus Christ, we see this in Philippians 2:3-5 ‘Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus . . .’

The second challenge in these verses to leaders is that we are to watch over the souls of the flock under our care and as those who will have to give an account. This is another sobering thought that everyone of us who are in a position of leadership will have to give an account as to how well we have cared for the flock under our care! This rules out any form of sloppy leadership or carelessness, for we have a responsibility toward the wellbeing of the souls of those under our care, therefore we need to care for them well, feed them well, with good healthy spiritual food and be there when a need arises. Taking all this into account leaders need to heed Acts 20:28 ‘Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.’

Submission and obedience are ugly words in todays society, we fight for our rights, we fight for our independence, but obedience and submission are very clearly taught in Scripture in a number of places and they help us to understand something of divine order that God has set in place for the wellbeing of mankind.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with an enforced submission and an enforced obedience, but they are responses that freely flow from out of an atmosphere of love and respect between the various parties. For example, if someone who is in a position of authority above me in any form shows to me the respect that I deserve as a person then I willingly submit to and demonstrate obedience to their authority. And God has put this pattern into society from the very beginning at creation and it has followed through into the building of the Church, the body of Christ.

Respect must be earned, but respect must also be shown where it has been earned.

The writer adds these words, ‘let them do it with joy and not groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you’. My imagination has thought of something and it is a poor example I know but I hope it helps, take a piece of machinery, for the machinery to run well, it needs to be oiled, every part needs to be properly fitted into place and in working order and then it can do whatever it has been purposed to do. There has to be an initial start for the machinery to be able to work, for example the key that winds up a clock, it builds up the tension in the spring and then every cog, spindle etc. does its bit as it submits to the authority of the key and the spring and the clock begins to tick and the hands turn and the clock works. The key is like the leader, the spring is like the leadership team, as they set to work playing their part there is an obedience and submission that follows from all the rest that keeps things ticking over like a well oiled machine. It speaks of an essential unity in the Church despite the difference of roles, gifting’s and ministry, as we work in unison together it will be demonstrated by a Church that functions smoothly, can I say with the oil of the Holy Spirit and leadership will be joyous, and submission and obedience toward leadership will also be a joy. I end this devotion with these simple words, whatever our position or responsibility in the Church we all need each other, and I acknowledge here that I most definitely need you.

Tuesday 13^th

Hebrews 13:4-6

NIV (v6) – ‘So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”’

ESV (v6) – ‘So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”’

Before we get to the text above (v6) the author of this letter continues from the verses we looked at yesterday with reminding the readers. and of course it is an instruction to each succeeding generation of followers of the Lord Jesus Christ on the importance of sexual ethics, if there is any area which is being challenged today in society it is in this area, where sexual morality is becoming undermined in every way possible. And it us the Church,  who should be living examples in this world of what God’s standards are in this area. The author also covers the subject of money, and he is not saying that having money is wrong but it is any love for money that consumes us that is the problem, that is when gaining wealth becomes our priority or focus, this is where the teaching of the prosperity movement is so wrong, in its pursuit for being healthy and wealthy, for we are not promised wealth or health rather as we read here we are promised that if we learn to be content with what we have we will know the assurance of the verses ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ (quoted from Joshua 1:5) And so, we will confidently be able to say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’ (quoted from Psalm 118:6) There is nothing wrong with having wealth, but depending on how we handle it, it could be either a blessing or a curse, and of course we would all love to be healthy, and we have our own part to play in this in that we do all we can to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but remembering at the same time that the outward man will perish, we will all have bits and pieces that will wear out, stop working and today even have removed, or parts not functioning as they should, but we have the blessed assurance that the ‘inner man’ is being renewed daily, and that the glorious day is coming when this immortal shall put on immortality, that which has faced corruption and decay will be raised to be imperishable, what a glorious hope we have in this gospel we have come to believe.

Verse 6 takes me to Psalm 121, ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.’

Is it not great to know that as we navigate through this world with its ever shifting moods, and especially today with the rise against Christian morality and the standards that we are taught in God’s word that we have one who is there to be our helper, we can turn to his word, we can turn to him in prayer and we can, as this psalm says lift our eyes towards him, that to me speaks of keeping focused on him, it is similar to what we saw in the previous chapter about being focused upon Jesus, it would be so easy to let the world distract us, maybe if we were not too careful, to divert us and cause us to begin to question the standards of God’s word and then to slip into the same kind of lifestyle that the world follows, but as we keep focused on Jesus and looking toward our Helper he will come to our aid and enable us to live godly lives in this ungodly world. And yes, we may get ridiculed, we may be rejected by certain groups in society, but God will be faithful, he will never leave us nor forsake us. When we need to stand up for what is right, we need to do it with a right attitude, a loving attitude, and a caring attitude, showing not anger, but love toward the sinner.

May God help us to live as such that our lives will become living examples of what it truly means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we will be light in the darkness and salt that can savour.

Monday 12^th

Hebrews 13:1-6

NIV (vv1-2) – ‘Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.’

ESV (vv1-2) – ‘Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’

We have arrived at the final chapter in this Hebrew epistle, and in concluding his letter the writer is leaving his readers with some final words of instruction and encouragement. We will spend a few days in this chapter.

The first thing the author says here is ‘Let brotherly love continue’, In his epistle Peter talks of the importance of brotherly love, ‘For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue . . . godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.’ 2 Pe 1:5–7 In his letters, John also emphasises the importance of love among God’s family, for example 1 John 3:11 ‘For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.’ And of course, we know the familiar chapter in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians on love, chapter 13 which we will quote here in full, ‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’

The world is crying out to be loved and is seeking to find love in all manners of way, but the greatest example of all is in the love that God has shown toward fallen humanity in sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sin, and once we have accepted that love and fallen in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, it should be demonstrated in the love that we have toward others, and in the context of our text today, toward each other as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

The author continues with the importance of showing hospitality to others, that means that we care for even those who we may not know and continues to say to not forget those who are in prison, I think here that Paul is thinking in particular of those who are in prison because of their faith, make sure that out of sight is not out of mind, remember them and pray for them and if possible send gifts of love to them. Hospitality is another theme that crops up in the epistles, for example ‘Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.’  Romans 12:13, ‘Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.’ 1 Peter 4:9,

It was Jesus himself who gave a lesson on being willing to show hospitality especially to strangers in his parables in Matthew 25 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’’ Matthew 25:31–40

To sum it all up as God’s children we should be a loving, caring and sharing people, and the measure we use is that to which God has loved us and cares for us.

Sunday 11^th

Hebrews 12:18-28

NIV (vv28-29) – ‘Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”’

ESV (vv28-29) – ‘Therefore 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, for our God is a consuming fire.’

Three things we see in these verses 1) we will receive an eternal kingdom, 2) therefore we should be thankful and worshipful 3) we should remember who God is and come before him with reverence and awe.

We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken speaks of that which is yet to be, and which is eternal, it is the eternal kingdom of God. What is yet to be is also mentioned in the final chapter of Hebrews in verses 14, ‘For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.’ It is a comparison to the world we live in presently, a world that is full of turmoil as a result of the fall, a world that is ‘groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now’, as the apostle Paul puts it Romans 8:22, a world that eventually will be dissolved to make way for that which will be the promise of God, a new heaven and a new earth in which the righteous dwell. (2 Peter 3:11-13)

This new heaven and new earth is seen again in Revelation21:1-4 ‘Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”’ and we who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb will be there, this is the kingdom that cannot be shaken for anything and everything that is unclean etc. will not exist there for everything that has been in opposition to God will have been cast into the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8) Therefore because of this incredible Kingdom which we will receive or be welcomed into, it leads to the second point.

We should be thankful and worshipful. Referring to the final chapter again verse 15, ‘Through him, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips that acknowledge his name.’ Just stop and pause for a moment and meditate upon what God has done for you in Christ Jesus, the whole spectrum of salvation and the blessings that flow out from it, then consider all that God has prepared for those who love him, the splendour of the new heaven and the new earth, the very fact that we will be there, all the trials of life over, no more suffering, no more pain, no more death, no more despondency and depression, everything made anew, complete and perfect – and God will be there and the Lamb who was slain and we shall be in this place of perfectness and beauty for ever, nothing being able to separate us from the love and the presence of God, surely this should cause us to be thankful and worshipful, our hearts should be overflowing with Joy, with adoration and praise to him who alone is worthy and therefore we;

Come before him with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. God deserves our utmost respect, he deserves our full and undivided attention, when we consider what he has saved us from and saved us to, we should give him absolute honour and respect. One hymn writer puts it this way, ‘nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the Cross I cling’, in other words we consider our unworthiness compared to who God is as a thrice holy God, and realise that without the shed blood of Christ we would be banished from his presence, we would eventually be banished to the place prepared for those who have refused to accept his gift of life through the Lord Jesus Christ, so we come before him with hearts full of humility, gratitude and praise. We come acknowledging that we are standing in the presence of a holy God, we owe him full respect and more, because of who he is and for what he has done.  

Lord:

You deserve the glory,

And the honour,

Lord, we lift our hands in worship,

As we lift your Holy name,

For You are great,

You do miracles so great,

There is no one else like You,

There is no one else like You.

Saturday 10th

Hebrews 12:3-17

NIV (v3) – ‘Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’

ESV (v3) – ‘Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.’

Today’s verse is a continuation from yesterday’s verses encouraging us to run with endurance, the writer continuing by encouraging us to ‘Consider him who endured . . .’ that is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The long list of the heroes of faith in chapter eleven is a great list, all men and women who lived by faith and proved God to be faithful in so many various ways, and by looking at them we have great examples but there is an even greater example and that is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, he is our greatest example. Our verse continues that he ‘endured from such sinners such hostility against himself’, and then continues that it was for us, ‘so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted’.

Consider him, consider Jesus. I wonder who we may have as individuals placed in such a position that we see them as great examples to our faith. Men or women who have inspired us, they may have played an important part in our spiritual lives and they were examples to us so much so that we wanted to be like them or at the least follow their example? It may have been a godly parent or other family member, a pastor or church leader it may even been a friend, it may be a person of historical importance, a godly person of importance, a more recent hero of the faith than the list in Hebrews 11? And if we have set someone up in such a way that is okay, their influence on our lives will be beneficial and will have played an important part in our Christian progress, for myself I am grateful for the Christian heritage I had with godly parents, I think of my grand-father in particular and he was an inspiration to me, the pastor in my teenage years who along with his wife had a great influence upon me, but as good as these various examples may be the greatest and the best is the Lord Jesus himself. ‘Consider him . . .’

He is our great example, if we go back into the Old Testament, we read these words, ‘He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgement he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.’ (Isaiah 53:7–9) In Philippians 2 we read ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.’ (vv5–8).

Then we have the verse here in Hebrews 2:2 ‘. . . who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’

If we were to sit down for a while and stop to consider all that Jesus went through on his journey to Calvary, if ever anyone should have wanted to give up it surely would have been Jesus, the way so many treated him, he was betrayed, denied, beaten, smitten, mocked, lied about, falsely accused, executed by the most horrific means of a Roman Cross, while at the same time taking upon himself the punishment for humanities sin and the wrath of God toward that sin, but he endured it all, he never gave up, in the moment of deep anguish in the garden he cried out ‘Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless not my will your will be done’ he wasn’t on the brink of giving up, he wasn’t having second thoughts but in his humanity he was feeling the anguish in soul that gripped him as he considered what lay ahead, but at the same time as the Son he was going to be obedient to the very letter, he would go through till the last breathe expired from his body, knowing the joy that was set before him. As a result, he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The earlier verses I have quoted from Isaiah 53 and Philippians 2 show us how he responded despite all the hostility that he faced and he is the one we need to consider, he is the one who is our great example that we should follow. He endured so much so that we can endure knowing that he has gone on before us and we are reminded from an earlier verse in this epistle, that he is able to support us while we are tempted because he himself knew what it was to be tempted. He was a man like us yet without sin. Consider him! (See also 1 Peter 2:21-23)