From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Job 1:9
Doth Job fear God for nought?
This was the wicked question of Satan concerning that upright man of old, but
there are many in the present day concerning whom it might be asked with
justice, for they love God after a fashion because He prospers them; but if
things went ill with them, they would give up all their boasted faith in God.
If they can clearly see that since the time of their supposed conversion the
world has gone prosperously with them, then they will love God in their poor
carnal way; but if they endure adversity, they rebel against the Lord. Their
love is the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to
the master of the house. As for the true Christian, he expects to have his
reward in the next life, and to endure hardness in this. The promise of the old
covenant is adversity. Remember Christ's words-"Every branch in Me that beareth
not fruit"- What? "He purgeth it, that it may bring forth fruit." If you bring
forth fruit, you will have to end! ure affliction. "Alas!" you say, "that is a
terrible prospect." But this affliction works out such precious results, that
the Christian who is the subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations,
because as his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus.
Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no stranger to the rod.
Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not, but
rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you
will be weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you will be delivered from
clinging to the present, and made to long for those eternal things which are so
soon to be revealed to you. When you feel that as regards the present you do
serve God for nought, you will then rejoice in the infinite reward of the
future.
Matthew 25:24-27
(24) Then he which had received the one talent came and said,
Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,
and gathering where thou hast not strawed: (25) And I was afraid, and went and
hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. (26) His lord
answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that
I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: (27) Thou
oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my
coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Go to this verse on Bible Tools
The tragedy of the story and the focus of the parable is the man
who hid his talent. From him we probably learn the most. First, the talent was
not his in the first place; it was on loan. Second, Christ shows that people
bury their gifts primarily out of fear. Third, the whole parable illustrates
that regarding spiritual gifts, one never loses what he uses. That is a
powerful lesson: If we use the gifts that God gives us, we cannot lose! The one
who was punished never even tried, so God called him wicked and lazy. His
passivity regarding spiritual things doomed him.
Comparing this parable to the Parable of the Ten Virgins, we see
a few interesting contrasts. The five foolish virgins suffered because they let
what they had run out. This servant with one talent apparently never even used
what he had. The virgins failed because they thought their job was too easy,
while this servant failed because he thought it was too hard. On many fronts
they seem to be opposites.
The servant's true character comes out in his defense before the
master and in the master's condemnation. In verse 24 he claims, "Lord, I knew
you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you
have not scattered seed." That is a lie! Not having this belief, the other two
servants immediately go to work, never suggesting that they think their master
is harsh and greedy. The wicked servant justifies his lack of growth by blaming
it on God. "It was too hard, Lord." He accuses God of an insensitive and
demanding evaluation. That is why Christ calls him wicked. He calls God a liar
and accuses the master of exploitation and avarice. If he did work, he says, he
would see little or none of the profit, and if he failed, he would get nothing
but the master's wrath. The master then asks, "Why didn't you at least invest
my money so that I could receive interest?" The servant, in his justification
and fear, overlooks his responsibility to discharge his duty in even the
smallest areas. Blaming his master and excusing himself, this servant with one
talent fell to the temptations of resentment and fear. Together, the two are a
deadly combination.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The World, the Church and Laodiceanism
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daily devotional
Morning...
John 1:16
And of his fulness have all we received.
These words tell us that there is a fulness in Christ. There is a fulness of
essential Deity, for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead." There is
a fulness of perfect manhood, for in Him, bodily, that Godhead was revealed.
There is a fulness of atoning efficacy in His blood, for "the blood of Jesus
Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." There is a fulness of justifying
righteousness in His life, for "there is therefore now no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus." There is a fulness of divine prevalence in His plea,
for "He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him; seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for them." There is a fulness of victory in
His death, for through death He destroyed him that had the power of death, that
is the devil. There is a fulness of efficacy in His resurrection from the dead,
for by it "we are begotten again unto a lively hope." There is a fuIness of
triumph in His ascension, for "when He ascended up on high, He led captivity
captive, and received gifts for men." There is a fulness of blessings of every
sort and shape; a fulness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace
to sanctify, of grace to preserve, and of grace to perfect. There is a fulness
at all times; a fulness of comfort in affliction; a fulness of guidance in
prosperity. A fulness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love;
a fulness which it were impossible to survey, much less to explore. "It pleased
the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." Oh, what a fulness must this
be of which all receive! Fulness, indeed, must there be when the stream is
always flowing, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich, as full as ever.
Come, believer, and get all thy need supplied; ask largely, and thou shalt
receive largely, for this "fulness" is inexhaustible, and is treasured up where
all the needy may reach it, even in Jesus, Immanuel-God with us.
January 27
Evening...
Luke 2:19
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
There was an exercise, on the part of this blessed woman, of three powers of
her being: her memory-she kept all these things; her affections-she kept them
in her heart; her intellect-she pondered them; so that memory, affection, and
understanding, were all exercised about the things which she had heard.
Beloved, remember what you have heard of your Lord Jesus, and what He has done
for you; make your heart the golden pot of manna to preserve the memorial of
the heavenly bread whereon you have fed in days gone by. Let your memory
treasure up everything about Christ which you have either felt, or known, or
believed, and then let your fond affections hold Him fast for evermore. Love
the person of your Lord! Bring forth the alabaster box of your heart, even
though it be broken, and let all the precious ointment of your affection come
streaming on His pierced feet. Let your intellect be exercised concerning the
Lord Jesus. Meditate upon what you read: stop not at the surface; dive into the
depths. Be not as the swallow which toucheth the brook with her wing, but as
the fish which penetrates the lowest wave. Abide with your Lord: let Him not be
to you as a wayfaring man, that tarrieth for a night, but constrain Him,
saying, "Abide with us, for the day is far spent." Hold Him, and do not let Him
go. The word "ponder, ' means to weigh. Make ready the balances of judgment.
Oh, but where are the scales that can weigh the Lord Christ? "He taketh up the
isles as a very little thing:"-who shall take Him up? "He weigheth the
mountains in scales"-in what scales shall we weigh Him? Be it so, if your
understanding cannot comprehend, let your affections apprehend; and if your
spirit cannot compass the Lord Jesus in the grasp of understanding, let it
embrace Him in the arms of affection.
Morning...
Colossians 1:28
Perfect in Christ Jesus.
Do you not feel in your own soul that perfection is not in you? Does not
every day teach you that? Every tear which trickles from your eye, weeps
"imperfection"; every harsh word which proceeds from your lip, mutters
"imperfection." You have too frequently had a view of your own heart to dream
for a moment of any perfection in yourself. But amidst this sad consciousness
of imperfection, here is comfort for you-you are "perfect in Christ Jesus."In
God's sight, you are "complete in Him;" even now you are "accepted in the
Beloved." But there is a second perfection, yet to be realized, which is sure
to all the seed. Is it not delightful to look forward to the time when every
stain of sin shall be removed from the believer, and he shall be presented
faultless before the throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing? The
Church of Christ then will be so pure, that not even the eye of Omniscience
will see a spot or blemish in her; so holy and so glorious, that Hart did not
go beyond the truth when he said-
"With my Saviour's garments on,
Holy as the Holy One."
Then shall we know, and taste, and feel the happiness of this vast but short
sentence, "Complete in Christ." Not till then shall we fully comprehend the
heights and depths of the salvation of Jesus. Doth not thy heart leap for joy
at the thought of it? Black as thou art, thou shalt be white one day; filthy as
thou art, thou shalt be clean. Oh, it is a marvellous salvation this! Christ
takes a worm and transforms it into an angel; Christ takes a black and deformed
thing and makes it clean and matchless in His glory, peerless in His beauty,
and fit to be the companion of seraphs. O my soul, stand and admire this
blessed truth of perfection in Christ.
Colossians 2:9-10
(9) For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (10) And ye
are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
At every turn, it seems, the main object of Gnosticism was to twist the
nature of Christ. Some Gnostics believed that Jesus was a man, but that Christ
entered into Jesus when He was baptized and left Him right before He died.
Other Gnostics believed that Jesus did not really die—because, after all, if He
died, then He was not really God. Others believed that He could not have been
perfect and sinless because He created matter, which Gnostics believed to be
evil. And there were also those who believed that Jesus Christ was a created
being—an idea that is still affecting the fringes of the church of God today.
So if we want to counter Gnosticism, we must begin with the truth of
Jesus Christ. Paul emphasizes this in verses 9-10: Jesus was the fullness of
the divine nature in bodily form, and He is the head, the leader, the
sovereign, of every principality and power. Though the Gnostics in their
various views always twisted or denied some aspect of the nature and role of
Jesus Christ, these truths brought out by the apostle are bedrock beliefs for
true Christians.
Also foundational to countering Gnosticism is the truth that Jesus
brought. To combat the false knowledge that threatens to plunder our spiritual
riches, we must take the Bible as the complete and inspired Word of God,
against which we can test any concept, tradition, doctrine, or philosophy, no
matter how good it sounds on the surface. Gnostics would not readily accept the
Bible as God's inspired revelation, or if they did, they also held that other
ancient, secret writings were on par with Scripture, and could be trusted to
provide greater insight.
In addition, Gnostics were also avid proponents of "progressive
revelation," the belief that God is continuing to reveal His will to mankind,
but with the implication that Holy Scripture is not as important as hearing
directly from the spirit world. Thus, some today, while not entirely rejecting
the Bible, believe that "God" is personally revealing things to them—things
which often contradict what He has already given to mankind in the His written
Word.
David C. Grabbe
From Whatever Happened to Gnosticism? Part Two: Defining Gnosticism
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