Is Your Fence Falling Apart?

 Psalm 80

Many people who own their own homes have fences around their property.  Perhaps if they have a garden, they will have a fence around that.  They might have a picket fence made of wood, or a chain-link fence.  A very elegant, though more costly fence is one made of wrought-iron.  Some people use thick hedges to fence in their property.  One thing in common, though, is that these fences are used to keep trespassers and criminals out, and pets and young children in.  Garden fences are to keep hungry, scavenging animals out.  Another thing in common is that all of these fences need to be maintained.  Wooden fences need to be painted, and the wood treated so it won’t rot as easily.  The metal fences have to be checked for rust and other damage.  The hedges need to be clipped and cared for.  In our psalm for today, the psalmist speaks about a figurative fence that surrounded his country, and what happened to it.

Like many Old Testament passages, the Psalmist Asaph has pictured the nation of Israel as a vine that God had brought out of Egypt, and planted in the Promised Land (vs. 8-11).  The vine prospered and grew, and Asaph pictured the Lord putting a hedge around the garden, like a fence, to keep it safe from any harm or danger.  However, now Asaph sees the country being ravished by enemy nations, as if the hedge has been broken down, and wild animals can come in and destroy the vine and garden (vs. 12-13).  This whole psalm is a prayer that Asaph makes.  He pleads with the Lord God, that He would restore the people, replant the vine, and let His face shine again upon them.

If we take a walk through our neighborhoods we might see some people’s fences that are falling apart due to lack of care and maintenance.  There might be some holes or gaps, and perhaps the gate is falling off.  The owner of the property has failed to take care of his fence, and now it is falling apart.  In the case of Israel the figurative fence symbolized the care that the Lord God put around His people.  When the people fell away from God, and instead turned to worship the false pagan gods, the Lord removed His protection, and the figurative fence was torn down.

Unlike fences around our property which might fall apart due to our own lack of care, the fence of God’s protection and care did not fall apart due to any fault of His.  God’s people had removed themselves from His favored protection through their apostasy.  The people needed to be restored and revived.  When that happened, God would turn again to the people, and shine His face upon them again in love and care (vs. 3, 7, 19).

It’s not just the people of Israel that need restoration with the Lord.  In a broader sense, we all need restoration to God, both initially when we get saved, and then for forgiveness from our daily or periodic sins.  Before restoration is possible, we must have repentance from our sins. Repentance involves humbling ourselves, turning away from our sins, and instead turning to God, and receiving His forgiveness.  Then we will see ourselves and our sin more clearly.  When we do, we will be restored to God’s favor and there can be spiritual revival.

We each need to take a look at our life.  Have our spiritual fences been broken down?  Have we neglected to take care of them through daily reading of God’s Word, and fellowship with Him in prayer?  Just as our literal fences keep out enemies or those who seek us harm, our spiritual fences can help to keep the enemy of our soul at bay.  When those fences become weak or damaged, the devil and his minions will come and make havoc in our lives.  A broken down fence will allow sin and the devil to come and draw us away from God.  Let’s be sure that our spiritual fence is strong and in good order, and that God’s face will shine down upon us.

Filthy Rags

Isaiah 64:1-9

Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, the season in the Church’s calendar leading up to the festival of Christmas, where we honor the birth of Jesus the Messiah, and His first coming to earth.  It is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the coming of Christ, both at His nativity and also His Second Coming.  Our Old Testament reading for this first Sunday of Advent comes from the Prophet Isaiah.  He has an important message for us, as we seek to prepare our hearts for the coming Messiah.

So many people are under the mistaken belief that their good deeds and good works will earn them a place in heaven.  They like to look at their good works, things like donating to favorite charities, giving a tithe of their income at church, helping out at the local soup kitchen or homeless shelter, helping handicapped or mentally challenged children, and they think they are impressing God.  They take their good deeds out and polish them up like nice shiny silver and gold coins, hoping to present them to God at the end of their life, saying “See!  Look what I’ve done!  I deserve heaven.”   However, as Isaiah says in our passage, all the good deeds we do are in comparison to God as filthy rags (vs. 6).

Isaiah used very strong and graphic words in this passage to describe exactly what all of our good deeds amount to.  They aren’t just like dusty or dirty dust clothes we use to clean up the house, as unclean as that may be.  The Hebrew words Isaiah used were referring to bloody and contaminated bandages and rags soaked in blood and body fluids.  Something that we would cringe at and want removed immediately from our sight.  Isaiah tells us that is what all of our good deeds amount to in God’s sight.  No amount of good behavior can make us righteous in God’s eyes.  Our good behavior only amounts to dirty, polluted rags or bandages in God’s eyes and nothing more (vs. 6).  Something we want to quickly toss away.  Sin makes us so unclean that we cannot approach God, no more than a beggar in rotted rags can come to a king’s table.  The best we do is infected and polluted with sin.

If we come to God, demanding acceptance on the basis of our “good deeds”, God will show that our “righteousness” is nothing compared to His infinite righteousness.  God’s appearance is so intense that it is like a consuming fire that burns everything in its path (vs. 1-3).  Our sins make us so impure that it is only by God’s mercy that we are saved.  If our salvation depended on the good we do, no one would be saved.  Our salvation cannot be bought or earned by us.  It comes by grace alone.  When we see the awe-inspiring character of God, we realize our own condition and need of salvation.   Our only hope is faith in Jesus Christ.  Only He can cleanse us, and bring us into God’s presence.

Isaiah also shared with the people in this passage that there is no other God besides Yahweh, who will act on behalf of those who have put their faith and trust in Him, and who wait upon Him (vs. 4).  The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in his letter to the church in Corinth (I Corinthians 2:9).  When we wait for God in faith, He will act on our behalf, often in ways we cannot even imagine.  The process of seeking guidance from God can be slow, so waiting is important.  Running ahead or manipulating circumstances is a mistake.  The Lord acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.  He has our best interests in mind.  God won’t give His children bad things, only good.  We don’t like to wait.  However, God brings His blessings on those who do.  He is the Divine Potter and we are the clay (vs. 8).  He molds us and shapes us in ways that sometimes hurt.  However, He always deals with us in love.

As we close, we need to remember that no amount of good works will ever make us acceptable in the eyes of God.  It is only by faith and trust in the Lord Jesus that we have acceptance with God.  When we have called upon Jesus as our Savior, then we can trust that God will act on our behalf.  Let’s stop trusting in our own efforts, and instead trust God’s love and mercy for us.

The Sheep And The Goats

Matthew 25:31-46

Do you ever have to divide things into groups?  On laundry day we divide the clothes into light colors, dark colors, and delicates before we wash them.  When it comes time for “spring cleaning”, or before a move, we may go through a lot of our belongings and divide those things we may wish to give to charity or the resale shop from what we want to keep.  We sort through our recipes, keeping the ones we like, and tossing the ones we’ll never try again.  In our Scripture passage today from the Gospel of Matthew, we read of Jesus dividing the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous.   Let’s look at the spiritual lessons we can learn.

This discourse from Matthew describes the judgment or separation of the saved from the lost.  This will occur when Jesus returns to earth, right before His millennial reign on earth.  This passage is reminiscent of the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, found in Matthew 13:24-30, where the good grains of wheat are separated from the useless and bad grain, or tares.  Here the sheep, which represent the saved, are separated from the goats, which represent the lost, just as the wheat (the saved) are separated from the tares (the lost).  The saved are invited to come and share the blessings of God’s Kingdom, while the lost are cast into everlasting punishment.

Some people mistakenly believe that this passage describes a “works salvation”, and that it is by doing the works described here that one is granted or merits heaven or not.  That is not so, as all throughout Scripture we read that salvation is by grace alone, and not by any works we do.  Salvation is a gift from God when one accepts Jesus and His sacrifice on our behalf, not something merited by the deeds described in vs. 35-36.  Those good deeds that were commended are the fruit not the root of the believer’s salvation.  The deeds are not the basis for their entrance into the Kingdom.  It is a manifestation of God’s grace in their lives.  These works are evidence of saving faith (James 2:14-26).

How do we treat others, both other believers and needy people in general?  Jesus said that the way we treat the least of His brethren is the way we are treating Him (vs. 40).  When Jesus spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus, He said that when Paul was persecuting Christians he was persecuting Him (Acts 9:1-6; 26:13-15).  How we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, and prisoner reflects our relationship to Jesus.  When someone insults us, or when we help or hurt another, Jesus takes it personally.  Acts of kindness done for His followers will be noted and rewarded.

Verses 34-40 describe the acts of mercy that we all can do everyday.  It doesn't take great wealth or intellectual intelligence to perform these good deeds.  These are simple acts, freely given and freely received.  Jesus wants our personal involvement in caring for others, for us to serve where service is needed.

Jesus then continues, and describes the rewards for those who helped others when there was a need, and the punishment for those who turned a blind eye to someone in need (vs. 34, 46).  God’s Kingdom has been prepared for His people since the foundation of the world.  Jesus said in verse 34 that it was prepared for each believer.

For those who are inclined to believe that God would never send anyone to hell, Jesus was very clear here in describing the lost being sent into everlasting punishment (vs. 46).  The punishment of the wicked is as never-ending as the bliss of the righteous.  The wicked here are not given a second chance, nor are they annihilated.  Those who are there will know that their punishment is just, and that they alone are to blame.

What we do with the Good News of Jesus has enormous consequences.  Both heaven and hell are eternal.  How well do our actions separate us from the pretenders and unbelievers?  When it comes time for Jesus to make the division, on which side will we be put?  The choice is ours, and the results are permanent.

The First Fruit Of The Resurrection

I Corinthians 15:20-28 

Every farmer or gardener likes to see that their crop is growing plentifully, and that the prospects of a nice harvest is good.  It is a happy day when that first fruit of his crop is seen.  Often the farmer or gardener will break off that first fruit, whether it is an apple, a berry, ear of corn, or whatever it is, and sample it, to see if it is good, to see what the prospects of the remainder of his crop will be like.  In our New Testament Scripture passage for this week, Paul speaks of Jesus being our spiritual first fruit.  Let’s look into these verses and see what he means by this.

In Biblical times the people of God had a Festival of First Fruits, which was when the people brought some of the year’s first crop to God with prayer that He would make the rest of the crop bountiful.  Paul tells us that in the same way Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection (vs. 20).  We can have full confidence  that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, we can be sure that we, as believers and followers of Him, will be raised as well (Romans 8:23).

Jesus was not the first to be raised from the dead.  The prophet Elijah raised a widow’s son (I Kings 17:17-24).  The prophet Elisha raised the Shunamite woman’s son (II Kings 4:18-37).  A man was raised from the dead when his body touched the bones of Elisha (II Kings 13:21).  Jesus raised several people from the dead, including His good friend Lazarus (John 11:1-44), Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:49-56), and the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-17).  However, Jesus was the first to never die again.  Each of the others had to die again a second time.  Jesus is the forerunner for us, proof of our eventual resurrection to eternal life.

Sin came into the world through Adam’s fall (vs. 21-22).  Adam’s sin brought death to all people.  That is a curse which we all inherited from him.  Death came to each of us because of Adam’s sin.  However, we have eternal redemption through Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us.  Jesus’s resurrection will bring resurrection to all who believe Him.  We can choose to remain in sin or accept the forgiveness Jesus offers.  Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can trust that God will also raise our bodies again when He returns a second time (vs. 23).  Jesus was the firstfruit from the dead, a sign of a bountiful harvest to come.

God hates sin.  He also hates death.  God hates it so much that He sent His Son Jesus to destroy death by dying and rising again.  Satan has held the power of death ever since the fall of Adam in the Garden.  Jesus has broken the power of Satan, who held the power of death, at the Cross (vs. 26-27).  The resurrected Christ will permanently conquer all evil, including death.  Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross, and in the Last Days He will defeat Satan and all evil (vs. 24-26).  Death is called our last enemy.  The Lord will have the last word on this fight.

The fruit that led to the Fall of man was hanging on the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  That fruit was beautiful to look at, and led to Adam and Eve’s temptation, sin, and their fall.  The tree that led to our redemption was brutal and certainly not pleasant to look at.  That was the Cross of Calvary.   Jesus hung upon that Cross, bloody and bruised, as He suffered a horrific death.  That was certainly not a pleasant sight, so different from the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden.  The one fruit, though pleasant to look at, brought death.  The other, from Calvary’s Cross, brought salvation and life.

A Hard Heart Or A Thankful One

 Psalm 95

This week, here in the United States, we will be celebrating our national Thanksgiving holiday.  Despite it having been a difficult year for so many people around the world, there is always much that each of us, everywhere, should be grateful to the Lord God for.  Giving of thanks is not something that we do only one day of the year, but instead should be something done 365 days of the year.  Our psalm selection for this week is a call to the people of God to give Him thanks and praise.  Let’s take a look.

Occasionally we all experience times when we don’t feel like praying or giving thanks, and we don’t know what to say to God, especially if we are going through a very difficult and trying time.  For many people, this whole year has been like that.  At those times we can start by actually counting all of our blessings.  No matter how difficult or trying circumstances we may be in, there is always something that we can be thankful for.  Counting our blessings will carry us away from our worries, trials and concerns.  When we count the blessings we have been given, including even the little, everyday blessings and things we are thankful for, our focus will shift from our problems on to the Father’s graciousness and love.

Thanksgiving is nothing less than the proper prelude to worship.  Psalm 95 places thanks before worship.  We cannot properly worship without a joyful and thankful heart towards the Lord.  Thanksgiving is the act of dressing properly to be in God’s royal court.  We should not go into the presence of God without praise and thanksgiving to Him.

The psalmist begins his praise by using a metaphor for God, by calling Him the “Rock of our salvation” (vs. 1).  This hearkens back to the time in the wilderness, after leaving Egypt, when the Lord God used Moses to bring water out of the rock (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13).  Paul informs us that the Rock in the wilderness was a type for the Lord Jesus (I Corinthians 10:4).  The psalmist continues on in verse 4 by proclaiming that God holds the “deep places of the earth”.  Yahweh was not a local god like the false, pagan idols, who were often just local deities, and which were usually put up in high places.  He is the Creator and Ruler of the whole earth.

It is good to remember that the Holy Spirit has brought all believers in the Lord Jesus into the fold of the Great Shepherd (vs. 6-7).  The psalmist calls for us to bow and kneel before God.  Sometimes it is good to get into a humble posture (if one physically can), to remind us of the Lord’s majesty.

The psalmist then warns us to abandon our stubborn ways with the call that God gives, “Today, if you will hear His voice” (vs. 7).   He reminded his readers of the Israelites' past. They had rebelled against God at Meribah, in the wilderness (vs. 8-9).  They had been complaining over and over about the lack of water, and they had no faith in God to provide for them.  They tested Him there, desiring to go back to Egypt.

The “rest” mentioned in verse 11, was originally the Promised Land, at the end of the 40 years wandering in the wilderness.  In the New Testament it is applied to salvation by grace (Hebrews 3:7-4-11).  Ungrateful hearts will keep us from God’s blessings and entering His rest.  Also this happens by not worshipping Him, hardening our hearts against Him, and testing Him with our doubts.  God sternly warns us against having a hardened heart (Hebrews 4:5-11).  A hardened heart is useless and dangerous to have.  Nothing can restore it and make it useful.  The Israelites were so convinced that God couldn’t help them that they lost all faith in Him.  A hard-hearted person is so stubbornly set in their ways.  They resist God long enough, and they won’t turn to Him.  An artist or sculptor does not want to come to their studio and find their clay has gotten hard.  They cannot work with it or use it.  If we leave bread out it gets hard and cannot be eaten.  It is then thrown out.  God cannot use a hard heart.

This week, let us follow the pattern of Psalm 95.  Let us come to the Lord God with worship and thanksgiving for all that He has done for us.  And let us also heed God’s warning to not fall victim to a hardened heart.

Our True Shepherd

 Ezekiel 34:11-17

If you were lost and were missing, wouldn’t you want someone to notice and be concerned?  Most people would want someone to start searching for where you were, and bring you back to safety.  Maybe some of you can remember back to when you were lost as a child, and your parents had to search for you.  Perhaps as a parent one of your children wandered off, and you were now the one doing the searching.  In our passage today from the prophet Ezekiel we read of how God, as a shepherd, is searching for His sheep, His people.

The shepherd is a familiar image all throughout Scripture.  David was a shepherd in his youth, and then was a type of shepherd as the king of Israel.  The prophets frequently compared the priests and religious leaders of the country to shepherds for the people.  Some were compared as being good shepherds for the people, but the prophets called many more of them bad shepherds for leading the people astray rather than properly instructing them in the true ways of the Lord.  In the New Testament the apostles, when writing the Epistles, calls the pastors and leaders of the church shepherds, and like the prophets of the past, instructs them to lead the people faithfully in the ways of the Lord.

As Ezekiel opens his message, he lets us know that God is our true Shepherd (vs. 11).  He will search out and find His sheep, all true believers.  Like sheep out in the field which have wandered away from the safety of the flock, God will search them out and bring them back into His fold.  This passage of Ezekiel is very reminiscent of Psalm 23, where the Lord is portrayed as our Shepherd.

Just as in the past when there were false religious shepherds leading the people astray, there are these same false shepherds today.  These self-indulgent religious leaders seek only their own good and profit, and not the care of the sheep.  We even have a term taken from the image of a shepherd, “fleecing the flock”, when pastors or other religious leaders take advantage of the people, especially when they become rich at the expense of the people they are to be spiritually leading.  God has promised He will judge these false shepherds.  He will meet the needs of His people, His sheep.

The ultimate fulfillment of these verses can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-14).  The Lord acts for our benefit and His glory.  He feeds us what will give us health and carries us in His arms (Isaiah 40:10-11).  Jesus is the Great Shepherd who gave His life, shed His Blood, to establish an everlasting covenant for us with God (Hebrews 13:20).  He is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, leading those sheep who have gone astray back to the Father (I Peter 2:25).  Today’s pastors and other religious leaders, who are in a sense under-shepherds, are to follow the example of the Chief Shepherd in caring for God’s sheep (I Peter 5:1-4).

For a brief while our wandering from God may bring some kind of thrill, but not for long, just as a wandering sheep may find some seeming pleasure away from the flock, but it ultimately is dangerous.  We need to repent and ask forgiveness, and instead focus on God’s directions in the Bible so we are better able to walk the right path.  When we stray, God will guide us back to safety.

The Good Shepherd is watching over the sheep of His flock.  Just as sheep don’t always see the shepherd, we cannot see Him, but He sees us.  We can trust in God’s watchful care.  The Lamb who died to save us is the Shepherd who lives to care for us.

I close with the words of a much loved mid-19th century hymn by Henry Baker:

The King of love my Shepherd is,

Whose goodness faileth never,

I nothing lack if I am His,

And He is mine forever.

Well Done, Good And Faithful Servant

 Matthew 25:14-30

Every once in a while a parent or teacher will give a child a work assignment to do while they are out of the house or classroom.  They expect them to work on it while they are away, and that it will be completed when they return.  Sometimes that happens with your boss at work.  He may be away on a business trip for a while, and expects a certain job assignment to be done and ready when he returns.  A good worker or student will be diligent, and ready to present their work when the boss returns.  Today’s parable contrasts this worker with one who has nothing to present to the boss when called.  Let’s see what we can learn today.

Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples this parable.  It is a parable illustrating the tragedy of wasted opportunity.  The servants of the master represent believers who are given levels of responsibility with the work they are to do for the Lord (vs. 14-18).  The man going on the journey is Jesus, who has returned to heaven for a time.  He expects faithfulness from the believers while He is away.

Each servant is given a certain amount of talents.  A talent was a measure of weight, designating a value of money.  A talent of gold was more valuable than a talent of silver.  The master divided the money among his servants according to their ability.  No one received more or less than they could handle.  Their failure to bring a return to the master with increase could only come from their willful disobedience and dislike for the master.

God has given to each of us Christians resources to use to the best of our ability for Him.  God has a plan for every believer to pursue, and He has gifted each of His children specifically for that purpose.  There is no place for laziness.  The question we must put to ourselves right now is, how will we use what we’ve been given?  The two wise and diligent servants put what they were given to good use, and they had something to show when the master returned.  The lazy one, the one who was content to just sit back and do nothing while the master was away, had absolutely nothing to produce when he returned.

When the Lord, our Master, returns He will want to see what we have done for Him with what we have been given.  The diligent and faithful workers were commended and given rewards (vs. 20-23).  The one given the five talents and the one given the two talents were each given the same reward because they were each faithful in working with what they were given.  The reward is based on faithfulness, not on results.  Some Christians have been given the resources to be great, world-wide evangelists or famous Christian authors.  Others are just a Sunday School teacher in a tiny church.  One may win thousands upon thousands of souls to Christ, the other maybe one or two.  The reward we each will receive will be based on faithfulness with what we have been given, not on the number or amount of results.

Even though our place, as believers, in heaven is secure, the way we live our lives does greatly matter.  We will have to give an account of what we have done with whatever God has entrusted to us.  Everything we have is a gift from Him, such as our time, skills, spiritual gifts, etc.  How are we investing them?  We must not make excuses to avoid doing what God calls us to do.  We really must obey willingly.

Those who invest the resources the Lord has given them by serving God well will be rewarded.  Those who don’t will be punished (vs. 29-30).  God rewards faithfulness.  Those who bear no fruit for God’s Kingdom cannot expect to be treated the same as those who are faithful.

Will we hear a commendation from Jesus?  More than anything, I want to hear Jesus say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Let’s be good and faithful servants!