Daily Devotional 7-30-21

Remember Failing and Grace

It has been thought by some that as long as Peter lived, the fountain of his tears began to flow whenever he remembered that he had denied his Lord. It is not unlikely that it was so (for his sin was very great, and grace in him had afterwards a perfect work). This same experience is common to all the redeemed family according to the degree in which the Spirit of God has removed the natural heart of stone.

We, like Peter, remember our boastful promise: “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”1 We eat our own words with the bitter herbs of repentance. When we think of what we vowed we would be and of what we have been, we may weep whole showers of grief. He remembered denying his Lord—the place in which he did it, the little cause that led him into such heinous sin, the oaths and blasphemies with which he sought to confirm his falsehood, and the dreadful hardness of heart that drove him to do so again and yet again. Can we, when we are reminded of our sins and their exceeding sinfulness, remain stolid and stubborn? Will we not make our house a place of sacrifice and cry to the Lord for renewed assurances of pardoning love?

May we never take a dry-eyed look at sin, in case we discover our tongue parched in the flames of hell. Peter also remembered his Master’s look of love. The Lord followed up the rooster’s warning voice with an admonitory look of sorrow, pity, and love. That glance was never out of Peter’s mind so long as he lived. It was far more effectual than ten thousand sermons would have been without the Spirit. The penitent apostle would be sure to weep when he remembered the Savior’s full forgiveness, which restored him to his former place. To think that we have offended so kind and good a Lord is more than sufficient reason for being constant weepers. Lord, smite our rocky hearts, and make the waters flow.

1) Matthew 26:33

From: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/latest/?gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WCR8UteIwaWlAyP4o9ZIuAWio8l7qmAM1nDcB3pFiYr-jOUNkgMsShoC68IQAvD_BwE

Daily Devotional 7-29-21

Luther versus Erasmus: Bound to be Free (Part 1)

At its most basic level, the debate between Luther and Erasmus was not just an argument about how much or how little a Christian participates in his salvation. It was about the central theme of the Christian religion. But before we jump into the debate itself, it is probably best that some historical context is provided to help us acclimate ourselves to the topic.

 In September of 1524, Philip Melanchthon was the first Wittenberger to respond to Erasmus’ tract, De libero arbitrio (The Free Choice of the Will). Melanchthon was also among the few Wittenberg scholars who registered a positive reaction to Erasmus’ work.

Melanchthon believed that it was fitting that Erasmus had challenged Luther to a debate on the central theme of the Christian religion. But others in Wittenberg were not ready to speak with such kindness about the tract, especially in regards to what were perceived to be Erasmus’ more malicious comments about Luther.

So it certainly was not by chance, writes the Luther scholar Martin Brecht “that at that time Luther commented in the preface to his translation of Ecclesiastes that that book had been written against free will since it showed that all human undertakings were useless.”

In a sermon on October 9th of that year, Luther went further, describing human beings as helplessly caught by Satan and with a will totally incapable of doing what it should. In the same sermon, Luther’s famous image from Psalm 73 also emerged of man being ridden by either God or the devil:

Thus the human will is placed between the two like a beast of burden. If God rides it, it wills and goes where God wills, as the psalm says: “I am become as a beast [before thee] and I am always with thee” [Ps. 73:22 f.]. If Satan rides it, it wills and goes where Satan wills; nor can it choose to run to either of the two riders or to seek him out, but the riders themselves contend for the possession and control of it (LW 33, pg. 65).

According to Luther, only Christ the Bridegroom can free the soul by making it his Bride and so releasing it from the power of Satan.

On November 1, 1524, Luther finally sat down to read Erasmus’ tract. Despite his objections to the accuracy of the content, Luther did read De libero arbitrio all the way through. Having done so, Luther could not resist responding to Erasmus. The topic was too enticing, too vital to Christian faith and life, and Erasmus had provided the perfect opportunity to engage in the battle. Luther’s allies and opponents also would not allow him to put off responding to Erasmus indefinitely. They badgered him constantly to write a response.

Joachim Camerarius, an acquaintance of both men, urged Luther to finish his response. Camerarius knew many humanists and a host of reformers in Germany were awaiting Luther’s direction in the fundamental matter of the human will. Thus, when a response was not forthcoming, Camerarius even appealed to Luther’s new wife, Katie. And so it was at her urging, that Luther began to draft his response to Erasmus sometime around September of 1525.

On the 28th of September, despite pressure to find common ground with Erasmus, Luther told his friend, Georg Spalatin, that he could not concede that Erasmus had said anything right.

When Luther’s work was done, it did not bear the moderate voice Melanchthon had hoped for. Instead, Luther had written a sharp reply filled with epithets accusing Erasmus of being an enemy of Christ, an Epicurean, and a skeptic. Luther had made it clear that no quarter would be asked or given in the debate because this was no mere academic debate. This was a battle over the central theme of the Christian religion.

But apart from Martin Luther’s opinion of him, who was Erasmus? We will pick up the answer to this question in Part 2 next week.

From: https://www.1517.org/articles/luther-versus-erasmus-bound-to-be-free-part-1

Daily Devotional 7-29-21

Great Expectations…?

As I write just under 200 million people throughout the world have been infected by Covid-19 and over 4 million have died. Yet in the midst of this pandemic some who claim to be Christian insist that God will look after them – they don’t need to wear a mask, let alone be vaccinated.

Rightly, we pray for ourselves and for the millions whose health and welfare is at stake, and for the millions who grieve. What expectations can we have when we pray?

In Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 21 we read one of the rich prayers of the Bible. Paul the Apostle begins, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.

While Genesis 1 says that God created all men and women in his image, the Bible reveals a special relationship between God and those who turn to him. Paul is taking up what Jesus says to his people: we can call God, ‘Father’.

What an extraordinary privilege! There is no higher honour God could give us. It means that we stand in a very special relationship with the supreme Lord who transcends space and time. Significantly in his prayer, Paul prays that we might increasingly experience this reality in our lives. We can identify three great expectations.

Inner strength. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,… (3:16).

The work of the Spirit goes to the heart of our being. Despite what cosmetologists want us to think, the truth is that our physical bodies are wasting away. The time will come, when as far as our physical body is concerned, there is little hope for the future. But Paul wants us to understand it’s not all downhill.

If God is at work in our lives, changes for the better to our inner being can occur. It’s here we see the counter-cultural way God works as opposed to the way that the world expects him to work. The world expects God to work with great displays of power. Tempted to think this way too, we might say that God’s power is to be expressed in self-confidence, self-assertion, and success – there’s no need to wear a mask or be vaccinated.

However, Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit will strengthen our appetite for God. He prays that in the riches of his glory the Spirit will so strengthen our relationship with the Lord, that our confidence and loyalty to him will grow. We see evidence of this power at work when God’s people cope with life’s stresses and pressures with serenity, wisdom and grace.

Transformation. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love (3:17).

This is the only place in the whole of the Bible that speaks about Christ dwelling in our hearts. Dwell means ‘settle down’, or ‘putting down roots’. Mixing his metaphors Paul prays that God’s people will be well-rooted trees withstanding droughts, and well-built houses that can withstand hurricanes.

There will be many things in us with which Jesus Christ will not be comfortable. Repairs and renovation are needed in our lives. And anyone who has done house renovation and repairs knows it takes longer and costs more than originally expected.

Knowing that this kind of life-changing transformation is what God wants and knowing that it requires God’s power in our lives, Paul prays that God will do what is necessary to make our lives a fit home for his Son.

Now these changes can hurt, for the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God as a scalpel to cut through to our thoughts, words and actions. For as we read in 2 Corinthians 3:16-17, God is committed to change us into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ— from one degree of glory to another. And to follow this through, it means having a neighbor love that with the Covid-19 pandemic we will want to be vaccinated and, as needed, wear a mask.

Grounded in Christ’s love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (3:18-19).

Early in the 19th century Napoleon’s army opened prisons used in the Spanish Inquisition. They discovered the remains of a prisoner in a deep underground dungeon. The prisoner had suffered a grim death, but he had left a witness. On the wall a cross had been sketched and words written at each corner. At the top of the cross was the word, height, at the bottom, depth, on one side, length, on the other, breadth. In his great suffering this man had known and felt God’s love.

I pray, says Paul, that with all of God’s people you experience the power of God’s love in your hearts, and knowing that experience the fullness of joy with the transcendent Lord.

Benediction. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (3:20-21).

Paul’s words here startle and encourage us. Our thoughts and imaginations are lifted beyond time and space to the Lord himself. Significantly, the focus of God’s powerful work is amongst and through his people.

To return to our expectations in prayer. Too often we forget God’s awesome cosmic purposes; we focus too much on ourselves. Maybe we are content to swim in the shallows of faith rather than in the deep, crystal clear waters of God’s love. For in his love God has far greater expectations for us than we can even begin to imagine.

A prayer. Almighty God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit: so enable us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and always to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. From: https://anglicanconnection.com/great-expectations/

Daily Devotional 7-27-21

Becoming a Witness

The more the laity is involved in ministry, the more they want to deepen their understanding of the Word of God. The more they deepen their understanding of the Word of God, the more they want to put that understanding to work in ministry.

One thing that disturbs me about contemporary Christian jargon is the inexact use of the word witness. Too often people use the terms evangelism and witnessing interchangeably, as if they were synonyms. They are not.

All evangelism is witness, but not all witness is evangelism. Evangelism is a specific type of witnessing. Not everyone is called to be a pastor or teacher. Not everyone is called to administration or specialized ministries of mercy. Not everyone is called to be an evangelist (though we are all called to verbalize our faith). We are all called to be witnesses to Christ, to make His invisible kingdom visible. We witness by doing the ministry of Christ. We witness by being the church, the people of God.

Some of us can plant. Some of us can water. When we plant and water, God will bring an increase.

Coram Deo

How are you actively fulfilling your divine mandate to be a witness for Christ?

Passages for Further Study

1 Corinthians 3:6

Acts 1:8

Luke 24:48

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/becoming-witness/

Daily Devotional 7-26-21

Taking Your Faith to the Marketplace

I have seen extraordinary examples of laypeople who have taken their faith to the marketplace in the form of ministry.

Charles Colson went from the White House to prison. When he was released from prison, he was not released from ministry. Indeed, from his experience grew a vision to minister to prison inmates in the name of Christ, a ministry that now reaches tens of thousands of people in virtually every country.

Wayne Alderson, a layman, put his faith to work in the violent arena of labor-management relations. He has taken that ministry around this nation ministering to people in corporate boardrooms, coal mines, and labor union halls.

The list could easily include a multitude of ministries that involve the laity. Without the laity, the church would not have conquered the ancient world. The Reformers understood that for real reformation to happen, the laity had to be educated, trained, and mobilized. Martin Luther took a leave of absence from the university in order to translate the Bible into German—so that every believer could personally read the Scriptures.

John Calvin’s Institutes was originally penned as an instruction manual for the laity. Many of the works of Jonathan Edwards were originally composed for the benefit of his congregation, many of whom were known to be studying their Greek New Testaments while they were plowing their fields.

Coram Deo

Reflect on some ways you can take Christ into the marketplace of your occupation or profession.

Passages for Further Study

Acts 8:1–4

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/taking-your-faith-marketplace/

Daily Devotional 7-23-21

One of Them?

Brotherly kindness was due from Edom to Israel in the time of need, but instead of showing kindness, the men of Esau joined with Israel’s enemies. Special stress in the sentence before us is laid upon the word you, as when Caesar cried to Brutus, “and you, Brutus.” A bad action may be all the worse because of the person who has committed it.

When we sin, who are the chosen favorites of heaven, we sin with an emphasis; ours is a crying offense because we are so peculiarly indulged. If an angel should lay his hand upon us when we are doing evil, he need not use any other rebuke than the question, “What, you? What are you doing here?” Having been gloriously forgiven, delivered, instructed, enriched, blessed, do we dare give ourselves to evil? God forbid!

A few minutes of confession may be beneficial to you, gentle reader, this morning. Have you never been like the wicked? At an evening party certain men laughed at uncleanness, and the joke was not altogether offensive to your ear—even you were as one of them. When hard things were spoken concerning the ways of God, you were bashfully silent; and so, to onlookers, you were as one of them. When worldlings were bartering in the market and driving hard bargains, were you not as one of them? When they were pursuing vanity without restraint, were you not as greedy for gain as they were? Could any difference be discerned between you and them? Is there any difference?

Here we come to close quarters. Be honest with your own soul, and make sure that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus; but when this is sure, walk carefully in case anyone should again be able to say, “You also are one of them.”1 You would not desire to share their eternal doom. Why then be like them here? Do not enter into their secret, in case you enter into their ruin. Side with the afflicted people of God, and not with the world.

1) Luke 22:58

From: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/latest/?gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WCR8UteIwaWlAyP4o9ZIuAWio8l7qmAM1nDcB3pFiYr-jOUNkgMsShoC68IQAvD_BwE

Daily Devotional 7-22-21

The Fifth Beatitude: The Most Surprising Act of Grace

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”

This declaration of joyful peace (makarios) immediately puts our best intentions to the test.

Are we merciful out of interest? To what degree are our acts of mercy motivated by the hidden or not so veiled desire that mercy will be shown to us?

Are Jesus’ words carrot sticks to get us out of self-centeredness and show mercy to others? Would we be merciful without the promise that mercy will be shown to us?

Does the promise of mercy extend to obtaining divine mercy, or is Jesus merely talking about a rare human exchange of mercy for mercy? What about those instances when our hopes for corresponding mercy simply evaporate? We did not receive corresponding mercy, so what happens? What happens when regardless of our merciful acts, we instead receive condemnation even from those to whom we have shown mercy?

In other words, is Jesus talking here about a quid pro quo dynamic of mercy? “If you are merciful, God will be merciful to you; but if you condemn you will be condemned without mercy.” Is that the meaning of the beatitude?

These questions and our innate desire to negate various obvious answers, uncover the paradoxical nature of the beatitudes. How can they be unconditional blessings, if their very outcome seems to hinge on our works, attitudes, or motives as pre-existing conditions to receive the blessing? If the beatitudes are really conditional on anything we perform, then they are laws and not blessings.

If the beatitudes are really conditional on anything we perform, then they are laws and not blessings.

On the other hand, is being merciful a pre-existing state prior to any mercy obtained by the performer? In other words, how do the merciful get to be merciful to begin with? Isn’t the nature of sin to do the opposite, and show condemnation? Isn’t there some kind of incongruence within the beatitude?

Or perhaps a redundancy? “Blessed are you because you are already merciful, thus you will receive mercy?”

But isn’t that the kind of theology Luther protested against when he rejected the Roman church’s tenets of meritus de congruo and meritus de condigno? The church promised merits to someone who, though living in mortal sin, performed an act congruent to God’s nature of love (congruent merit). In this instance, someone who performs even a small act of mercy, let’s say giving leftover food to a homeless person, receives mercy, albeit minimal, from God. God is not obligated to grant mercy to the performer. But because the sinner has done an act congruent with God’s will, God condescends and grants him at least some merits. This little stash would get the sinner started on the path to receiving God’s grace, infusing him with power to perform more and more acts of mercy and love. Once he is consistent in performing these acts, God is now bound to reward the performer with more and more grace (condign merit), until he or she eventually merits eternal life. So, is it mercy quid pro mercy? Is it: “Be merciful if you want to receive mercy?”

These are the kinds of hermeneutical dead ends encountered when we abandon the Christological principle of interpreting all Scripture. As we saw in the previous beatitude (More than Cornucopias for the Hungry), all the beatitudes are descriptions of the living Christ. Thus, in this instance, he is the Blessed One because he is innately merciful, and thus obtains mercy on our behalf and for our salvation. If we don’t appeal to the gospel principle of interpretation, we end up with congruent and condign merit, not only in this beatitude, but in all others. So where do we find someone who is innately merciful, one who does not need to become merciful in order to obtain more and more mercy?

We may begin by looking at King David, who is a figure of the One innately merciful. For Jesus did not need a single act of mercy to get him started on the road to mercy, his essence was by nature merciful.He was God’s single act of mercy to all humanity. David, as a figure of Christ, on one occasion asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Sam 9:1). David was seeking to show kindness to someone in his enemy’s house. Yet, for the sake of Jonathan, whose endearing friendship not even death could erase, he wanted to show kindness. David does not respond to a plea for mercy; he initiates a search to find someone to whom he may show kindness. In this text, a more proper translation is “mercy.” Not just any kind of mercy. It was chesed mercy.

Jesus did not need a single act of mercy to get him started on the road to mercy, his essence was by nature merciful.

Chesed involved a surprising and unexpected act of mercy toward someone totally undeserving. That was – and is – the meaning of chesed throughout Scripture. It is usually translated as kindness, but in the Psalms, we find the translation as mercy. In fact, chesed is found in God’s self-identifying disclosure to Moses: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy (chesed) and truth, maintaining mercy (chesed) for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin” (Ex 34:6-7). Yet, it is not just mercy as in “forgiving guilt, rebellion, and sin.” That is why it is often translated as “lovingkindness.” It is correctly understood as chesed love, mercy born out of love. Yet, it also reveals truth as the true nature of the one giving mercy. That truth is bundled up and given as covenant mercy. God’s love has driven him to commit to be merciful to humanity.

In David’s story, that undeserving of chesed, was a forgotten son of his dear friend Jonathan. He was Mephibosheth, the one with “crippled feet.” His nanny had accidentally dropped him as she ran to save his life. He had lived with that shame since the age of five, for at that time, people were shamed for their limited abilities. But his name means “Dispeller of Shame.” And indeed, David’s act of chesed dispelled his shame. David’s surprising act of chesed love included returning to him all of his grandfather’s lands, and the invitation to “always eat bread at my table” (2 Sam 9:7). Shame dispelled.

An infinitely greater gift of chesed was showered upon sinners at the cross, where our shame and guilt were forever dispelled. On this side of the cross we “look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). In despising our shame, he dispelled it forever. Pre-figured by David’s quest, “to whom shall I show kindness,” Christ took the initiative to be merciful to sinful humanity. Willingly he went to the cross, and there he obtained mercy for all Mephibosheth’s throughout history.

No meritus de congruo nor meritus de condigno is needed here. Jesus himself is our single act of merit, given to us through God’s chesed love, and obtained by faith alone.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.”

From: https://www.1517.org/articles/the-fifth-beatitude-the-most-surprising-act-of-grace

Daily Devotional 7-21-21

The Mystery Unveiled

Most people sense that beyond the visible and material world another world exists. The attraction of Star Wars and the level of interest in Harry Potter, especially amongst the young, are indicators that the notion of the supernatural abounds.

Despite what cultural voices and social media insist, there are a significant number of research scientists and mathematicians who believe in the existence of a supreme being, a creator God. Dr. John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics (Emeritus), University of Oxford, and Dr. H.F. (Fritz) Schaefer III, Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry, Director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at UGA, speakers at this year’s Anglican Connection Online Conference, are two.

The question arises: ‘What is God like?’ Can we penetrate the veil and unlock the secrets that lie beyond? Over the centuries, people in the West have reckoned they could find God by using their minds. In the East, mysticism is said to be the key: we can find the energy or force behind the universe through religious experience such as meditation and yoga.

In the Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3, we find another option. We can come to know God, not through reasoning nor by mystical experience, but though revelation. God himself has chosen to open a window on the mystery of his great cosmic plan.

Consider verse 1: This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles … and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation,…

The Letter was written in a culture where mystery referred to the pagan secret religious teachings into which a spiritual elite was admitted. Christianity never espouses secret teachings known only to a spiritual elite. Ephesians uses mystery in much the same way as we do in English today – something previously hidden and unknown, but now revealed and open to everyone.

What then is the mystery that Ephesians tells us had been hidden for so long? Verse 4 indicates that it is bound up with the person and work of Jesus Christ – something more fully explained in verse 6: the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

The mystery has to do with the complete union in Christ of both the Jewish and non-Jewish believers. This was radical. And it has far-reaching implications today when ‘critical race theory’ is being promulgated and promoted. Almost two millennia ago St Paul the Apostle was saying that there is now available a unique union between us and Jesus Christ, and between believing men and women across the nations.

We sometimes forget that in New Testament times the divide between the Jewish and the non-Jewish peoples was huge. If a Jewish man or woman married a Gentile, the Jewish family would often declare such a family member dead.

Yes, the Jewish people knew that through them God would bless the nations. This was the promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3). And Isaiah 49:6 tells us that Israel would be the light to the nations. Furthermore, in Matthew 28:19, Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples of all nations.

There is no hint in the Old Testament or in Jesus’ teaching that God’s radical plan involved moving beyond his unique relationship with just one nation group. Yet here Paul explains that God’s plan involved the development of an international community under the rule of Jesus Christ. This new society, the church, would include Jewish and non-Jewish believers, on equal terms. This was the mystery that had been hidden but was now open for everyone to see.

Understanding that all men and women are created equal under God, and knowing that God is building a new community across the nations, at the end of the 19th century leaders in England, such as William Wilberforce, worked at and achieved the abolition of the slave trade. In similar fashion, both black and white Christians in South Africa prayed for and played a part in ending Apartheid. Indeed, some commentators consider that the transition was achieved relatively peacefully because of the involvement of God’s people.

Revelation and commission. In verse 7 we have Paul’s testimony: Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power.

There is a development of thought here. In verse 6 Paul speaks of the mystery. Now in verse 7 he speaks of the mystery as this gospel – God’s good news. Furthermore, he understood that it was by God’s gift of grace, that he was to proclaim the gospel through the work of God’s power. He was to preach to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,… (3:8).

Preach translates the word from which we get ‘evangel’ – the announcement of good news. God’s good news is the announcement of the boundless riches of Christ. And, while our English translators find it challenging to express the meaning of the phrase, boundless riches of Christ, it is best understood as the unsearchable, inexhaustible, and incalculable riches of Christ. We shall never come to the end of the wealth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is an important theme throughout these verses as Paul brings together the ideas of revelation and commission. God’s truth is to be passed on through the ages!

John Stott once commented, if scientists cannot keep their discoveries to themselves, how much less should we keep to ourselves what God has made known to us? We need to recover the assurance of God’s truth and the commitment to share Christ’s riches. Just think: if we were sure that the gospel is God’s truth and the riches of Christ are for all men and women, nobody would be able to keep us quiet.

Let me ask, what was the difference between the first Christians and us today? They believed and their lives were changed; they lived and talked their faith! The question is, ‘Do we?’

A prayer. Almighty God, we thank you for the gift of your holy word. May it be a lantern to our feet, a light to our paths, and strength to our lives. Take us and use us to love and serve all people in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From: https://anglicanconnection.com/the-mystery-unveiled/

Daily Devotional 7-20-21

Perceiving the Power of Preaching

Every Sunday morning we observe a strange phenomenon in our cities, towns, and villages. Millions of people leave their homes, take respite from their jobs and recreation, and gather in church buildings for services of worship. People sit quietly and listen while one person stands before them and gives a speech. We call the speech a sermon, homily, or meditation. 

What’s going on here? 

The power of preaching is found in the Spirit working with the Word of God and through the Word of God. God promises that His Word will not return to Him void. Its power is located not in the eloquence or erudition of the preacher but in the power of the Spirit. Preaching is a tool in the hands of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is a supernatural being, the third person of the Trinity. His presence in preaching is what makes it a supernatural event.

Salvation is a divine achievement. No man can save himself. God sovereignly ordains not only the end (salvation) but the means to the end (preaching). We conclude then that what is going on Sunday morning when the Word of God is truly preached is a divine drama of redemption. 

Coram Deo

Thank God for the supernatural power of preaching that effected the drama of redemption in your life.

Passages for Further Study

Matthew 10:20

Luke 16:16

1 Corinthians 2:4

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/perceiving-power-preaching/

Daily Devotional 7-19-21

Developing a Passion for God

I remember a stained-glass window that adorned the library of my alma mater. It was situated above the stairwell at the second-floor landing. In leaded letters, the words in the window declared, “Knowledge is power.”

Every time I ascended or descended that staircase I cringed at those words. I did not like them. There was something arrogant about them. I could not deny that the words were true. Knowledge is power. But the lust for power is not a sound motivation to gain knowledge. The Bible is right: Knowledge puffs up; love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1).

Even the pursuit of the knowledge of God can become a snare of arrogance. Theology can become a game, a power game to see who can display the most erudition. When it is such a game it proceeds from an unholy passion.

A holy passion is a passion inflamed by a godly motive. To pursue the knowledge of God to further our understanding of Him and deepen our love for Him is to embark on a quest that delights Him. Jesus encouraged such a pursuit (John 8:31–32). Jesus linked knowledge not with power but with freedom. Knowing the truth is the most liberating power in the world. Not the power to dominate; not the power to impress: These are not the powers we seek. But the power to set free—to give true liberty—is tied to a knowledge of the truth.

We all want liberty. We want to be free of the chains that bind us. That liberty comes from knowing God. But the pursuit of that knowledge may not be casual. Jesus spoke of “abiding” in His Word. The pursuit of God is not a part-time, weekend exercise. If it is, chances are you will experience a part-time, weekend freedom. Abiding requires a kind of staying power. The pursuit is relentless. It hungers and thirsts. It pants as the deer after the mountain brook. It takes the kingdom by storm, pressing with violence to get in.

It is a pursuit of passion. Indifference will not do. To abide in the Word is to hang on tenaciously. A weak grip will soon slip away. Discipleship requires staying power. We sign up for the duration. We do not graduate until heaven.

Coram Deo

Echo this prayer of the apostle Paul: “… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10).

Passages for Further Study

Romans 6:7

Romans 3:23–24

Romans 8:32

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/developing-passion-god/