From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Ephesians 1:19, 20:
The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe according to the
working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him
from the dead.
In the resurrection of Christ, as in our salvation, there was put forth
nothing short of a divine power. What shall we say of those who think that
conversion is wrought by the free will of man, and is due to his own betterness
of disposition? When we shall see the dead rise from the grave by their own
power, then may we expect to see ungodly sinners of their own free will turning
to Christ. It is not the word preached, nor the word read in itself; all
quickening power proceeds from the Holy Ghost. This power was irresistible. All
the soldiers and the high priests could not keep the body of Christ in the
tomb; Death himself could not hold Jesus in his bonds: even thus irresistible
is the power put forth in the believer when he is raised to newness of life. No
sin, no corruption, no devils in hell nor sinners upon earth, can stay the hand
of God's grace when it intends to convert a man. If God omnipotently says,
"Thou shalt," man shall not say, "I will not." Observe that the power which
raised Christ from the dead was glorious. It reflected honour upon God and
wrought dismay in the hosts of evil. So there is great glory to God in the
conversion of every sinner. It was everlasting power. "Christ being raised from
the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him." So we, being
raised from the dead, go not back to our dead works nor to our old corruptions,
but we live unto God. "Because He lives we live also." "For we are dead, and
our life is hid with Christ in God." "Like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life." Lastly, in the text mark the union of the new life to Jesus. The same
power which raised the Head works life in the members. What a blessing to be
quickened together with Christ!
Morning...
Jeremiah 33:3 I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which
thou knowest not.
There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, "I
will shew thee great and fortified things." Another, "Great and reserved
things." Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience:
all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There
are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope,
which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture,
of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the
common dwelling-place of believers. We have not all the high privilege of John,
to lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven.
There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the
eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can
bear us there; but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds
with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer
is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he had power with God:
yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication
unto Him: he found Him in Beth-el, and there He spake with us." Prevailing
prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with
clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the
Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates
us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as He is, so
are we also in this world. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary
grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with
the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer. When you open the
window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.
Matthew 13:52
(52) Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed
unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which
bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
In the eighth and last parable of this chapter, Jesus educates His
disciples in their roles as students, teachers, and leaders. The householder
represents the true minister doing the work of feeding the household of faith.
Our Savior shows that a minister of God's household has a truly rich, inspired
storehouse of essential spiritual treasures from which he can draw to perform
his duties.
A "scribe" in the first century had an important position in the Jewish
community. Almost five centuries earlier, Ezra the priest had been the
archetypal scribe (Ezra 7:6), trained and skilled in the Law of Moses, which
God had given Israel. He read the law before all who could hear with
understanding on the Feast of Trumpets, helping the people to comprehend it
(Nehemiah 8:2-8). In this, we see the function of a scribe—and similarly, the
function of what we call a "minister" of God. A minister is a man who dedicates
his life to studying God's written Word so he can expound and illustrate the
Bible's laws, statutes, and principles to help people live God's abundant way
of life.
The word translated instructed is from a Greek word meaning "to make a
disciple" or "to become a pupil." Verse 52 could easily read, ". . . every
scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of God is like a master of a
house." In this light, we see the scribe as a student who has been taught and
is continuing to be taught. Not only is he a teacher, but he is also learning
at the same time. He must continue to learn so that he can continue to teach.
Jesus left an example of sending out His disciples after teaching them to
preach the Kingdom of God (Matthew 10:5-7; 28:19-20). In this way, the gospel
is spread around the world and God's flock is fed.
The scribe is compared to "a householder." The Greek word translated
householder means "the master of the house." "Master" implies great authority
as well as responsibility over his house. The master of the house has the final
say in deciding what is best for his household.
In terms of government in the church, the minister of God has been
commissioned as an authoritative teacher of Holy Scripture (I Corinthians 4:1).
This parable suggests that God has granted His ministers authority to expound
His Word, calling them "masters of the house." A minister is thus a student, a
teacher, and a leader. Paul expresses in Ephesians 4:7-13 Christ's view that
the ministry is His gift to the church, and that He gives them to do the work
of preaching the gospel, equipping the saints, and helping to bring people to
the measure of the stature and the fullness of Christ. He does these things,
Christ says, by bringing "out of his treasure things new and old."
The word treasure in verse 52 means something slightly different than it
does in verse 44 in the parable of the hidden treasure, where it implies gems
and other precious things. In verse 52, it means a place for treasure, not the
treasure itself. In other words, Jesus refers to "a treasure house," "a
treasury," "a storehouse," or "a storeroom" where a person would keep necessary
items like food, clothing, supplies, and family valuables for safekeeping. In
context, then, the minister is to use what he has learned and experienced for
the benefit of his spiritual family—he is to use as resources all the things he
has stored away from his study of God's truth and his know-how in living God's
way to lead and provide for his flock.
The "new and old" refers to food stored in a storeroom. The master of the
house is in charge of ensuring that his storeroom contains everything needed to
feed his family. A prudent householder balances serving his oldest store with
the new. In this sense, seeing the value in the old, he wisely serves his
family old store as well as the fresh "off-the-vine" food, mixing them in
balance so that neither is wasted.
Jesus wants His ministers to teach their spiritual families by carefully
balancing the teaching of the Old and the New Testaments (Matthew 5:17-19; Acts
26:22-23). It does not mean that the old is thrown away or is wrong. In the
parables, Jesus did a similar thing by taking the old understanding of God's
Kingdom and focusing new light on it to expand the people's understanding of
its character and future course.
Ministers of Christ may not grasp and understand all the wisdom of God,
but having received His instruction and sufficiently understood His message,
they are commissioned to make use of this spiritually rich treasure to enrich
others (Galatians 6:10). Taught by Jesus Christ and inspired in understanding
His Word, ministers are to reflect that knowledge to their spiritual families,
their fellow members of the church.
Martin G. Collins
From The Parables of Matthew 13 (Part Nine): The Parable of the
Householder
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daily devotional
Evening...
Psalms 5:8 Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies.
Very bitter is the enmity of the world against the people of Christ. Men will
forgive a thousand faults in others, but they will magnify the most trivial
offence in the followers of Jesus. Instead of vainly regretting this, let us
turn it to account, and since so many are watching for our halting, let this be
a special motive for walking very carefully before God. If we live carelessly,
the lynx-eyed world will soon see it, and with its hundred tongues, it will
spread the story, exaggerated and emblazoned by the zeal of slander. They will
shout triumphantly. "Aha! So would we have it! See how these Christians act!
They are hypocrites to a man." Thus will much damage be done to the cause of
Christ, and much insult offered to His name. The cross of Christ is in itself
an offence to the world; let us take heed that we add no offence of our own. It
is "to the Jews a stumblingblock": let us mind that we put no stumblingblocks
where there are enough already. "To the Greeks it is foolishness": let us not
add our folly to give point to the scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the
gospel. How jealous should we be of ourselves! How rigid with our consciences!
In the presence of adversaries who will misrepresent our best deeds, and impugn
our motives where they cannot censure our actions, how circumspect should we
be! Pilgrims travel as suspected persons through Vanity Fair. Not only are we
under surveillance, but there are more spies than we reck of. The espionage is
everywhere, at home and abroad. If we fall into the enemies' hands we may
sooner expect generosity from a wolf, or mercy from a fiend, than anything like
patience with our infirmities from men who spice their infidelity towards God
with scandals against His people. O Lord, lead us ever, lest our enemies trip
us up!
Morning...
Nahum 1:2 God is jealous.
Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did He choose you? He
cannot bear that you should choose another. Did He buy you with His own blood?
He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you
belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that He would not stop in
heaven without you; He would sooner die than you should perish, and He cannot
endure that anything should stand between your heart's love and Himself. He is
very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh.
He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing
fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon Him, He is glad, but when we
transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom, or the
wisdom of a friend-worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, He is
displeased, and will chasten us that He may bring us to Himself. He is also
very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so
much as with Jesus. To abide in Him only, this is true love; but to commune
with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer
even the society of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with Him, this
is grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in Him, and enjoy
constant fellowship with Himself; and many of the trials which He sends us are
for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more
closely upon Himself. Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be
also a comfort to us, for if He loves us so much as to care thus about our love
we may be sure that He will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from
all our enemies. Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in
sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes
to all the fascinations of the world!
Acts 9:5
(5) And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus
whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Go to this verse on Bible Tools
Acts 26:14
(14) And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Before conversion, the apostle Paul was certainly well-schooled in
the Scriptures, as far as the Jews could teach him. The Bible says he studied
at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). He was very intelligent and incisive of
mind, a man of conviction and determination. Yet, this same man God had to
physically blind and thoroughly humble before he could see Him. Even though
Paul had a command of the Scriptures that few people have ever had at their
calling, he could not see God working in the infant Christian church.
Christ, in a mild rebuke, says to Paul on the way to Damascus,
"It is hard for you to kick against the goads." We should take this reproach to
heart as well because it teaches us that the carnal mind will reject the
evidence that God gives, even though it is suffering and in pain. Thus, God's
calling and His predisposing us to see spiritually and to identify with His Son
are of no avail unless His Word becomes integrated within us.
How are we hearing God's Word? Disinterestedly? Skeptically?
Cynically? Critically? Indifferently? Eagerly? Remember, "faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Hearing starts the
processing of the revelation of God, and we must consciously work at it. It
includes what we are "hearing" this moment, as well as what we have heard over
the last six months, the past year, the past decade, and the whole time of our
conversion! How are we listening? Do we follow through on the things that we
hear? Unless we do, we are not hearing—and we will not truly see God!
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Do You See God? (Part One)
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