February 9, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
34:1-35:29 and Matthew 25:1-13
Daily Devotional:
Today's New Testament contains a parable that Jesus told concerning his
return. Matthew 24 focused on Jesus'
return and the events surrounding it, and His return will continue to be the
focus throughout the rest of Matthew 25.
Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross. He will be leaving His disciples soon. Therefore, He does what any good leader would
do—prepare His followers for the time when He would not be with them anymore.
As we know, Jesus often taught with parables. This occasion was no different. He tells a parable about ten virgins. It is important to remember at the outset
that we cannot derive meaning from parables that was not intended by
Jesus. Jesus is not condoning or recommending
polygamy. He is merely illustrating His
relationship to His church when He returns.
So as we read the parable, we should note that Jesus is the
bridegroom. We should also recognize
that the virgins represent those who claim to follow Christ. Jesus uses the imagery of a wedding feast
because this is the picture He presents us throughout the New Testament of His
relationship to His church. He is the
bridegroom. The church is His
bride. Revelation 19 tells us of a
marriage supper one day where the Lamb of God (Jesus) and all the redeemed (the
church) will be present.
So Jesus tells this parable about ten virgins who each took a lamp with
them to meet the bridegroom. Five of
them were wise, and five of them were foolish.
The five wise virgins took oil with them to keep their lamps
burning. The five foolish virgins did
not bring any oil.
Jesus tells us that the bridegroom was delayed. He doesn't mean to communicate that his
coming is any later than planned, only that it is later than the virgins might
have expected. You see the connection
between our waiting for Jesus' return and these virgins waiting for the
bridegroom. Jesus has not come as soon
as we might expect Him, but He will come.
The virgins slept and waited for the bridegroom to come. When He did, they were awakened by a loud
cry. They quickly jumped up and trimmed
their lamps. But the foolish five didn't
have any oil to put in their lamps. And
the wise five had only enough for their lamps.
Thus, when it came time to meet the bridegroom, only the wise five were
able to go into Him. The foolish five
did not get to join the feast because they were not prepared.
Jesus is calling His disciples to prepare themselves for His
return. They would not be present on
earth when He returned—though they didn't know that—but they needed to prepare
themselves and know how to prepare others.
Much of the New Testament is about preparing for the return of Jesus.
How do we prepare for Christ's return?
We must be about the things that He has told us to be about. We should be growing in Christ-likeness. As time passes, we should become more and
more conformed to the image of Jesus. We
should also be living our lives in faithfulness to Jesus' command to make
disciples. Through doing these things,
we can make sure that we are prepared when Christ returns.
The message of this parable is not to tell you when Christ will
return. The truth found here is that He
will return. You are left to answer
whether or not you will be ready.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God
would remind you of the pending return of Christ. Pray that His return would motivate you to be
about the work He has called you to do.
Pray that He would help you in this work through His Holy Spirit.
February 10, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
35:30-37:29
Devotional:
If you are like me, the last week of your Bible reading plan has been
difficult. You have been going strong
for over a month now, but you feel yourself starting to slip away. You have managed to trudge through all of the
laws and tabernacle dimensions and specifications thus far, but you know that
Leviticus is coming. Leviticus will
bring more laws. It's not exactly what
you consider to be riveting stuff.
I hear you. I feel your
pain. If you have slipped away a bit
already, it's not too late to catch back up.
You can't be too far behind at this point. Find some time in the next week to sit down
and do several readings at one time. You
can do it!
Now, because I know it is easy to read over this section of Exodus and
struggle to see the point, I want to focus today's writing on our Old Testament
reading.
We have seen over the last week that God gave Moses some very specific
instructions concerning the construction of the tabernacle. He told him who to put in charge. He told him what the dimensions were to
be. He told him what kind of wood should
be used. God gave instructions concerning
the priestly garments and various items that would be housed in the tabernacle.
Wow! God has been very specific
regarding what He expects. But what
would be the purpose of the tabernacle?
It would be a place for God's people to meet with Him. It would be a house of worship for the people
of God.
God was not concerned about the specifics of the tabernacle because He
is some kind of control freak who wants to tell us exactly how to do everything
we do. God was concerned about the
specifics of the tabernacle because He cares about His people. He cares about His relationship with
them. He created them to worship
Him. He brought them out of Egypt to
worship Him. And as God, He has a
specific way that He is to be worshiped.
This has very clear application for us.
God has created us to worship Him.
He has brought us out of the bondage of our sin to worship Him. God has also given us some fairly specific
instructions about how we are to worship Him.
We worship through song. We
worship when we read the Bible and devote ourselves to studying it.
We also ought to worship in the way we live our lives. Romans 12:1 says, "I appeal to you
therefore, brothers by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
worship." We worship God with our lives
when we humbly recognize that we belong to Him.
We are to offer our lives to God as a living sacrifice, allowing Him to
take our lives and use them for His honor and glory.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God
would help you to offer your life to Him as a living sacrifice. This is your spiritual worship.
February 11, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
38-39 and Matthew 25:31-26:13
Devotional:
The final section of Matthew 25 is one of the most troubling passages
for me in the whole Bible. I am
frightened by the very thought that Jesus could possibly say to me,
"Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil
and his angels." Whew! That is scary stuff right there!
This passage is intended to serve as a warning. Some try to explain away the warnings of the
Bible. They say things like, "Jesus
isn't writing to true Christians here," or "No one can lose their
salvation." I understand those
statements, and I agree with them to a certain extent. No true Christian will experience the eternal
fire that Jesus is talking about here.
And I certainly believe that those whom God has saved will endure to the
end.
But is that the point of the passage?
Does Jesus really issue a warning here just to assure professing
Christians of their eternal salvation, and damn those who are apart from Christ? I don't think so. Passages like this should cause each of us to
take a long hard look at our lives.
I grew up in a family where I never wanted for anything. My parents worked hard and provided for my
sister and me. There was always food on
the table and clothes on my back. I
never once wondered whether there would be something for me to eat when meal
time came around. Such is still the case
in my adult life. I work and provide for
my family. All of our needs are taken
care of.
If I am not very careful though, I will allow my "success" in
life to cause me to think less of those who are not as well off. I may think things like "That person
doesn't have money to buy food because they used it to purchase cigarettes"
or "That person is homeless because they are too lazy to work." While those things may often be true—though
they certainly are not always true—it is important that I not allow my heart to
grow heard to "the least of these."
Caring for "the least of these" will probably mean that I
become an enabler at times and have to reevaluate whether I am really
helping. It will likely mean that I will
be taken advantage of from time to time.
But I cannot imagine Jesus ever saying on the Day of Judgment, "Why
did you help that person who was suffering?
They did that to themselves. You
should have left them alone." I can
imagine though that I will one day be held accountable for times I looked the
other way when I could have given someone a cup of cold water in Jesus' name.
I am not suggesting you can meet every need. I am not necessarily suggesting that you
should meet every need even if you can.
I am saying that my heart is often cold and hard toward the needs of
those around me. I am saying that I need
to hear the warning Jesus issues in this passage. I am saying that I need to cling tightly to
the cross of Jesus when I selfishly turn the other way rather than allowing
myself to be an instrument in the hands of Jesus.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God
would soften your heart to the needs around you. Pray that He would give you wisdom to know
how to help those who need it most.
February 12, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus 40
and Matthew 26:14-35
Devotional:
Obedience is a word that stirs up all kinds of thoughts and emotions,
but it is an important word throughout the Bible.
From the beginning of Exodus 39 to the end of Exodus 40, we are told 18
times that Moses and the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded them. Remember all those regulations? God told Moses who to put in charge, what the
dimensions of the tabernacle were to be, what kind of wood should be used, and
how to make the priestly garments and various items that would be housed in the
tabernacle. God gave very clear
instructions, and they obeyed. They did
all that He commanded them.
We need to be reminded sometimes that God requires obedience from
us. I think of 1 Samuel 15:22 which
says, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as
in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and
to listen than the fat of rams."
There are some who want to get away from talking about obedience. They want to talk about grace and mercy. They want to think about the obedience Jesus
accomplished on our behalf rather than the obedience God requires of us. We are not under the Law but under grace,
they declare.
While it is true that we are no longer under the Law, that truth is not
a license to pursue lawlessness. The
Apostle Paul asked rhetorically, "Are we to continue in sin that grace may
abound?" He then answered his own
question, "By no means!" We
are dead to sin. Therefore, we ought not
continue in it.
The fact that we are not under the Law but under grace does not mean
that God no longer requires anything from us.
Jesus said that if we love Him, we will keep His commands. John said something similar in 1 John 2:3
writing, "And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep
his commandments."
Then, once we have spoken of the obedience God requires of us, we can
talk about His grace and mercy. We can
talk about how Jesus was the only perfectly obedient one to ever walk this
earth. We can talk about how He took on
our sin and died in our place. We can
talk about how we have been credited with His righteousness, and God is able to
look on us just as if we had never sinned.
None of that makes any sense though if we don't first talk about
obedience. None of that makes any sense
if we don't first remind ourselves of what God requires of us.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God,
through His Spirit, would help you to walk in obedience to Him today.
February 13, 2015
Scripture Reading: Leviticus
1-3 and Matthew 26:36-56
Daily Devotional:
Today we come to the events that unfolded in the Garden of
Gethsemane. Jesus went to Gethsemane to
pray. He also went there to be arrested.
Upon arriving in Gethsemane, Jesus told His disciples to wait for Him
while He went off to pray. He took
Peter, James, and John with Him a little further, but eventually told them to
wait as well while He prayed by Himself.
There in the Garden of Gethsemane that night, Jesus prayed the most
submissive prayer that has ever been prayed.
He prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
Then He came to His disciples and found them sleeping. After rebuking them, He went back to pray
some more. This time He prayed, "My
Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." Jesus was perfectly in tune with the will of
the Father. He knew the plan for His
life. He knew why He had taken on flesh
to dwell among men.
Once again, He came to His disciples and found them sleeping. This time He would not retire to pray
again. Instead He said, "See, the
hour is at hand, and the son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at
hand." The Bible tells us that
while Jesus was still speaking, Judas appeared.
He betrayed Jesus with a kiss, and Jesus was arrested. But not without Peter first attempting to
rise to His defense. Though Jesus had
spoken to His disciples often about His pending death, they still did not
understand. They did not understand that
Jesus had an appointment with destiny.
He would give His life as a ransom for many. He would give His life for them.
Then Jesus was arrested. His
disciples deserted Him. And He was on
His way to the cross. We will read more
of these events over the weekend.
But there is something I want you to see in all of this. Jesus' enemies had been out to get Him for a
while now. He was creating quite the
stir, and they wanted to stop it. But
they had been unable to do anything until now.
His time had not yet come. Until
now.
You can imagine how the disciples felt that things were spiraling out
of control as Jesus was arrested and taken away. What would happen to Jesus? What was going to become of their lives? Would they be arrested and killed as
well? They couldn't see the whole
picture.
But as you observe the way Jesus responded to all of this, you never
get the sense that He felt like things were unraveling. He knew that things were taking place exactly
as planned. He knew that the Father was
bringing all things about according to His good plans to save a people for
Himself. He knew that. He understood it. And He submitted Himself to it.
What a picture of calmness! He
was in the Father's hands. He knew that
God was in control. He trusted Him, even
to the point of death.
Oh that we would experience this kind of deep seated trust in the plans
of the Father in our lives! He is
sovereign. He is in control. He is orchestrating all things according to
His good purposes. May we pray with
Jesus, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
Prayer Focus: Pray that
God's will and not your own would be done in and through you today. Pray that His will would become your will.
No comments:
Post a Comment