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September 21, 2008
II Peter 1:12-19a
Exordium: Some difficulties in the Christian life come because believers lose sight of the glory of Jesus Christ.
Their faith may be eclipsed by doubts, arising from reading authors hostile to the faith; books that challenge His deity and His value in the world. There are many out there.
Or faith may be dulled by sins of rebellion or envy, or by being enamored of the world. Once we were charmed and gripped by the Lord Jesus, perhaps in childhood. But somehow the vision of the greatness and the wonder of Christ dimmed and left us wondering.
Explication: It was to us that Peter wrote this part of his second letter. He is older now than when he first met Jesus and yet he doesn’t forget the prediction of Christ for him: that one day he would be carried away where he did not want to go-to a painful and cruel death for Jesus’ sake.
As he sees the day of his departure coming He writes to us, to each of us, to fix our minds on the glory of Christ in something of the same way as he sees that glory. It did not fade in his mind and heart; rather it grew brighter and stronger. That is God’s pattern for us, that faith should grow brighter and brighter as the sun grows brighter until it reaches its highest point.
What we are learning here is that it is not necessary or good for us to lose our focus on the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s see Christ’s glory through Peter’s experience……Listen to him now.
LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES Read the rest of this entry »
September 14, 2008
II Peter 1:5-11
Exordium: What are we living for? There are many answers-to raise my family, to earn a living, to find peace, to win the lottery, to serve others, to acquire as much wealth as I can, to gain pleasure, to graduate and start living, to get married, to be useful to others…and on and on.
Explication: What this little letter is asking us to do is change all of that and begin living for God. That is what God is saying to us through Peter. And that is not a vague, amorphous, sentimental kind of wish. That is not the way God is. The shape of the life lived for God is outlined here in these few verses of Scripture.
I. THE LIFE LIVED FOR GOD IS A RESPONSE TO WHAT GOD HAS DONE
It all begins with the gift of faith. No one can conjure that up on his own. It is God’s work in us that enables us to believe the Gospel and follow Christ.
I know a lady who sailed around the world and then wrote a book about the voyage. I read the book because I wanted to be able to relate to her when I saw her. I discovered her musings on “Nightwatch,” and they all contained one theme. “Why am I not of the elect? Why was I not chosen to believe?”
That was the wrong way to go about the question of faith. When I asked her to seek the gift of faith from God she appeared not to be interested.
But He gives it and asks us to seek for it. When He gives it everyone receives the same powers and privileges from that one gift. The gift of faith comes through the knowledge of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. First we are given knowledge to know about Him and then to actually know His presence and His love in the depths of our hearts.
Faith is not based on an inner feeling in the midst of a moonlit night or a stroll along the seashore. Faith is based on knowing about Jesus Christ and who He is and what He did for us and how He is alive and close by to be our friend and Master.
Faith is borne in us as a result of our call-that is the wonder and the beauty of His character and His tender voice reach into our inner lives and whisper our name and we come to Him.
That is not something we initiate. It is like the father who comes home from work and his little girl chases him round and round until he stops and catches her. We pursue God but we do not catch Him. In the midst of the pursuit he turns and embraces us and we are His forever.
Just like a loving suitor promises all to his beloved so does our wooing Master make wonderful plans for us and tell us of them. He will never leave us and someday we shall live forever in His kingdom. These promises draw us ever closer to Him and ever farther away from the moral decay in which this present world finds itself because of its insatiable desire and lust. Read the rest of this entry »
August 31, 2008
Genesis 1:26-28
Exordium: Your work, your efforts between Sundays wherever it may be, can be a throne from which you rule over God’s creation on the earth or a thorn that stabs you as you make your way to your daily duties.
The difference between the throne and the thorn is only the little letter “e”-which can stand for “explanation.” That is the person who doesn’t see daily work as a gift and a throne of privilege and honor lacks the explanation of work found in the first chapter of Genesis.
Explication: In this eloquent and yet simple chapter which God revealed to Moses-there is a step by step description of the origin of all things, until the climax is reached in the creation of man and woman, boys and girls. Right there the Bible tells me who I am, and what makes me differ from everything else that God has made.
Here at the beginning of all things is our daily life and work-as part of our purpose in being and part of God’s purpose in making us the crown of all his creative genius.
The key word in the scripture is “dominion”-this is an honor put upon us, so that we might return honor to our maker. The word “dominion” refers to someone who directs and leads the activities of others, someone who has the rule over others, to arrange them-to order their lives and to use them as he fulfills the purpose of God.
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