Believers Armed and Dangerous

2 Peter 3:15,16  And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶ as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

As Christians and Bible students, we can come across things in our study that we just can’t grasp.  They are hard to understand.  Even Peter had trouble with passages his fellow Apostle, Paul, had written.  If Peter had a tough time understanding parts of Scripture, what are we supposed to do?

There are some ways that will help us in our quest.  First, pray.  God the Holy Spirit moved holy men of God to write the Bible (2 Tim. 1:21), so we can turn to Him to help us understand.  After all, having the Author right there to instruct us is a benefit few have with other written works.  The Holy Spirit asks us to do this.

Jeremiah 33:3  Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

We also need to read things in context.  The Bible is the best commentary on itself.  Sometimes verses taken out of context are confusing and can lead to a bad interpretation of the verse. 

Matt. 27:5  And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Luke 10:37c  And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

This was a silly example, but you can see how people can be misled.  We need to read the verses before and after the verse that confuses us.

If the verse is still a puzzle to you, look at the cross references in most modern Bibles.  Those will lead you to other passages that might be helpful.

If you know how to use an exhaustive concordance like Strong’s or Young’s, you can use that to help resolve an issue with a difficult verse.  If you don’t know how to use an exhaustive concordance, it’s really not very difficult and not very expensive.  The concordance itself usually has instructions in the front of the book.

Commentaries can be helpful but are a step away from Scripture itself.  You’re dealing with someone telling you what God said.  The methods above have kept you in Scripture making them a safer bet.  I use commentaries, don’t get me wrong.  I use a commentary or two at the end of my study to see if I’ve made an obvious error someone else more learned than I had spotted.

My way of buying commentaries is to look first at the publisher.  There are a lot of publishers out there that will print just about anything.  Also, look online at reviews of various publishers and authors.  Some are wonderful. 

Jameson, Fausett, and Brown have a good solid basic commentary of the whole Bible.  I like Barnes Notes for the New Testament.  The Expositors Bible Commentary is excellent but expensive and large.

Why is this important?

Whether we understand Scripture or not is extremely important.  It is God’s main way of speaking to His children.  If we misunderstand something, we can pass along poor doctrine.  Scripture itself speaks against that.

God wants us to stay close to Him.  Study is a great way to do that.  When we study deeply into a particular verse or passage, God blesses us with so much more than we expected.  Study and you will hear God’s voice.

The word “hell” certainly appears in Scripture but doesn’t always mean the place of eternal torment.  The English word “hell” is often translated from three different words, one in Hebrew and two in Greek.

Sheol is the word usually translated as “hell” in the Hebrew of the Old Testament.  Sheol is a very general word and is used as just the resting place of the dead, not as the grave but where spirits dwell after physical death.  The word describes the place where both the righteous and unrighteous dwell (See Isa. 38:10 and Numbers 16:33 for comparison).

Hades is one of the Greek words often translated as “hell.”  Like sheol, hades is a general term meaning the state between death and physical resurrection.  We see this best defined by Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.  In verses 22 and 23, we get a brief description of what this hades is like:

Luke 19:22, 23   The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Both the rich man and Lazarus are here and can see each other.  The righteous Lazarus is in a place of privilege, at Abraham’s side.  The unrighteous rich man is tormented but can communicate with Abraham.  Verse 26 tells us there is a great chasm separating the two areas of Hades, the Abraham’s area and the area where the unrighteous are punished.

Some believe this is a parable of Jesus and as a parable the facts and description of Hades are not accurate.  I don’t think so.  There are some commonalities in Jesus’ parables we don’t see here.  The major one is the fact Jesus never used names in His parables but did in other stories.  He also never used unrealistic situations in His parables.  They weren’t fairy stories but actual situations to which He applied spiritual lessons.  We don’t see this here.

Hades is where God has sent angels when they sinned.  They are in chains there in gloomy darkness until the judgment:

2 Peter 2:4   For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment

Ephesians 4:8, 9 tells us Jesus descended then led captives to heaven.  The early church believed this to have been Hades where Jesus during the time His body was in the tomb; went to Hades, preached to the lost explaining the prophecies of old had been fulfilled in Him, and led the righteous from the side of Abraham to heaven:

Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?)

One line of the Apostles Creed says “He descended into hell [Hades].”  This may be a reference to that early belief.

Gehenna is the second Greek word often translated as “hell.”  This is a reference to the valley of Hinnom, a place of Jewish apostasy, their celebration and worship of the false gods Chemosh and Molech took place (1 Kings 11:7).  King Josiah converted it into a place where dead bodies were thrown and burned, an example of eternal fire for the lost:

2 Kings 23:13, 14  And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

Gehenna is different from Hades in that it is clear Gehenna is solely a place of punishment and fire:

Matt. 5:22  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell [gehenna] of fire.

Jesus uses the idea of eternal punishment by fire when speaking of the future of the lost:

Matt. 3:12  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Matt. 25:46  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Why is this important?

A story is told of how famous evangelist and founder of Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers, D. L. Moody, ran into an old seminary friend.  They talked about old times until Moody asked “How’s your theology?”  His friend replied, “Oh, I don’t believe in hell anymore.”

Moody became very agitated and poked his finger into the man’s chest pushing him against the wall.  “Who can turn,” Moody said, “Who can turn from telling the lost of what awaits them should they deny the free gift of God?”

The gospel is not just about what the saved are headed to.  The gospel is also about what we are saved from.

John 1:1-5 (ESV)  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Can you imagine the upheaval of both the Jewish and Greek belief systems when this statement was made?  It must have been earth shaking.

Look at the word “Word.”  The Jews knew the “Word” as the Word of God (1 Sam. 9:27, 16:23).  So, when John started his gospel with the fact the Word was in the beginning, the idea was one deeply seated in Judaism.  It was nothing new for them.

The Greek word translated “Word” is the word logos.  In Greek philosophy, the Logos was understood to be the force that regulated the universe, kept the sun rising and setting, brought the seasons, and such.  So, the Greeks also felt comfortable with the beginning of verse one of John’s gospel.

When John tells us the Word was with God the Jews and Greeks were still nodding their heads in agreement. It’s when John says the Word was actually God and then was with God that stunned both cultures, the Jews more than the Greeks.  For a first century Jew to think God was more than one Person was unthinkable even though some Old Testament writers implied to this.

Isa. 44:6 says: Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:  “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.  He names two Persons “the Lord the King of Israel” is one.  “His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts” is another.  In both places “Lord” is the divine name, the Tetragrammaton.  So, it looks like Isaiah knew God was more than one Person.  I just doubt the first century Jews did.

John makes it clear just who the Word was.  In verse 14, He says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  The Word was Jesus.

At 2 Chronicles 6:18, Solomon, when dedicating of the temple, said this: “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!”  This is a fascinating question to ponder.  John puts it to rest, though, with a resounding “Yes!”

John continues to tell us of Jesus’ divinity.  Not only was the Word God, He was the Creator of all things in verse 3.  Verse 4 tells us Jesus was life and the life was the light of men.  The fact Jesus was the life relates to verse 3 where He created all living things.  And, He was the light of men.  Light is important for us to recognize things, to understand things more clearly, and to illuminate what is true and what is not, what is right and what is wrong.  Jesus as our Light did that.

Why is this important?

John’s gospel was written late in the first century, well after all the other apostles were martyred.  He had seen what needed to be added to Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s accounts to make it clear just who Jesus was, to complete the message.  Only about 10% of what John writes can be found in the other gospels.  He wanted to make it clear exactly who Jesus is and was.  John says so himself:  John 20:30 (ESV)  Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

You might wonder how being the Son of God is the same as Jesus being God since we are all children of God (John 1:12).  Jesus is the only, unique, one of a kind, Son of God.  John tells us exactly what Jesus meant when He told the Jews God was His Father:  John 4:18 (ESV)  “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

Jesus is every bit equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  John gives us a clear and obvious demonstration of this.  Let us never think differently

John 19:25-27  but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Of the four gospels, John is the one written to everyone in general.  Matthew was written to the Jews to show Jesus as their Messiah.  Mark was written to the Romans who were always in a hurry, so Mark often says “immediately” or “after this” to tell the fast paced story of Christ.  Luke was written to the Greeks, but John was written to the masses.

Some say John is the greatest book ever written, and I think it probably qualifies.  The Bible is certainly the greatest collection of ancient documents, and John condenses the message of all 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 31,102 verses, and 783,137 words down to one verse containing 24 words.  Quoting Jesus: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

This is God’s message to mankind, a description of how God has opened the doors of heaven to all would accept His Son.

The other three gospels have a very different view than John’s.  The first three gospels are called the synoptics (common view).  John stands by itself.

John began his life as a fisherman by trade, he and his older brother James.  All the disciples but John were martyred by 70 a.d., but not John.  According to Tertullian (155 to 220 a.d.), the Romans attempted to execute John by placing him in boiling oil but to no avail.  Since that didn’t work, they exiled him to the isle of Patmos where he stayed until the Roman governor who sentenced him died, and he was allowed to return to Ephesus.

John wrote five books: His gospel, three epistles, and Revelation. 

In his gospel, he identifies himself only as “the disciple that Jesus loved,” and not much more.    That’s not odd since none of the gospels identify the writer.  They aren’t letters but biographies, so no salutation is needed.  Luke includes a salutation to Theophilus, but many think this is a literary device.  “Theophilus” means “God lover” and may well be addressed to anyone searching for the truth.  John is also the only gospel writer who does not list the 12 disciples.

Only Matthew mentions himself in his gospel.  Mark, Luke, and John do not.  This leads me to think the title John chose to identify himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” was not an arrogant title but a testimony of awe just as you and I must be in awe to think God chose us and loves us unconditionally.

Since the gospel writers are not identified as the writers, you might ask how we came to know who wrote John.  Irenaeus tells us John wrote this gospel.  “Who the heck was Irenaeus?”  Irenaeus was Polycarp’s disciple, and Polycarp was John’s disciple.  We believe Polycarp was John’s disciple for about 20 years.  Maybe once the other apostles had died, John sought to train up those who would take his place. Ignatius was another of John’s disciples.

 John must have stayed in the eastern Mediterranean.  He tells us that Jesus gave him the charge of watching over Mary until she died (John 19:26,27).  So, John took that charge seriously and stayed around Jerusalem until Herod persecuted the Christians there (41-44 a.d.).  Then, it looks like he and Mary fled to Ephesus where tradition says Mary died as did John much later.

Why is this important?

The more we learn about God’s people including Jesus’ disciples, the more we can look at our own lives as Christians.  The better we understand John, the better we can understand his gospel and, therefore, the Christ of Whom he speaks.

Last week I mentioned the trinity is rarely indicated in the Old Testament, but Jesus does appear a number of times there.  Maybe we could look at just one of those instances.

First, I’d like to go to Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 5:

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?

Since both the First Person of the Trinity and Second Person are equal, taking on the relationship of Father and Son changes the ranking.  At this point in history, probably at creation, the second Person of the trinity became submissive to the first.  As a result, Jesus was sometimes sent by the Father to do His work.  We see this in the New Testament when the Father sent Jesus to save us:

1 John 4:14 (ESV)  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

So, now that we’ve established that Jesus is submissive to the Father and can be sent implying Jesus is sometimes used as a messenger, we need to understand this in no way lessens Jesus’ divine nature, only His rank.

The word for “messenger” in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments, is often translated “angel.”  So, when Steven speaks of an angel appearing in the burning bush before Moses, we know it was not an angel, an angelic being, but Jesus Himself, God the Son, sent by God the Father..

Acts 7:30 (ESV)  “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.”

  We know this because Jesus Himself claimed to be that messenger in John 8:58:

John 8:58 (ESV)  Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

“How is that Jesus claiming to be the One in the burning bush?” you might ask.  Let’s look at the burning bush scene in Exodus:

Exodus 3:13, 14 (ESV)  Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

Here, Jesus identifies Himself as the God of Moses’ fathers, Yahweh.  He also tells the people to call Him by His name “I Am.” So, God establishes His name is “I Am.” Now back to Jesus and John 8:

John 8:58,59 (ESV)  ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” ⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus used the diving name, and the Jews saw this as blasphemy.  They took up stones to kill Him as is the punishment for blasphemy. 

Lev. 24:16  Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

There is another place where Jesus uses the divine name and gets a reaction from the Jews. Remember when the Temple guards came to arrest Jesus?  They asked for Jesus of Nazareth and He said “I am He?”  The truth is the “He” is not in the Greek.  What Jesus did was identify Himself with the divine name:

John 18:6 (ESV)  When Jesus said to them, “I am,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

That’s why the Jewish guards drew back and fell to the ground.  One more point:  In Luke 21:8, Jesus is speaking and warning His disciples of false prophets to come:

Luke 21:8 (ESV)  “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am [he]!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.

Here again, the translators inserted the “he” after Jesus identifies Himself as the I Am thinking it would help sentence flow.

Why is this important?

Some look at Jesus as not fully God or as a sort of lieutenant god.  But Jesus is fully God and fully equal with the Father (John 5:18).  He was active throughout the Old Testament as the Father’s Messenger yet still as the God of Israel.

When we read the Bible we see the Father identified as God in Galatians 1:1 and lots of other places. Jesus is identified as God in Heb. 1:8, and also in several other passages, but where’s the Holy Spirit? 

Galatians 1:1  Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead

Hebrews 1:8  But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,”

Why don’t we know as much about Him? Peter speaks of the Holy Spirit as God in Acts 5:4,3, but other than this, we have nowhere where the Holy Spirit is directly called God:

Acts 5:3,4  But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.

So, the question is why doesn’t Scripture tell us more about the third Person of the Godhead?

I think the answer is twofold.  First of all, Jesus tells us to be perfect as the Father is perfect:

Matt 5:48  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

How do we become perfect? By following His commands.  So, following His commands makes us like Him.  He wants us to be like Him by doing this. 

Isa. 66:2b  But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

So, to use a little logic here: God wants us to be like Him.  He wants us to be humble, therefore God is humble.  That’s a hard idea, that the God who created all things simply by speaking would be humble.

Let’s take that as the premise of our discussion, though.  The Holy Spirit is God just as much as the Father and Son are God.  If God is humble then it follows the Holy Spirit is humble.

The Bible is written to magnify the Father and the Son.  They are the ones about Whom the Holy Spirit writes, not so much about Himself.

Some folks also ask why we don’t see the three Persons in the Old Testament.  God is just “God.”  We don’t see the three Persons distinctly presented. 

I was also asked recently if the Old Testament Jews were trinitarians.  That is a really good question.  I don’t think most were, but we do see the trinity indicated a few times in the Old Testament: Genesis chapters 18 & 19; Amos 4:11; Isa. 44:6, and others.  So, Moses, Amos, and Isaiah were trinitarians, but I don’t think it was a commonly held belief.  After all, belief in the trinity is not necessary for salvation, only confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart God raised Him from the dead is necessary (Rom. 10:9)

Why is this important?

The Holy Spirit is often ignored or paid less attention to compared to the Father and the Son.  We don’t want to forget all the things He does and how He works in us.

The three Persons of the Trinity were not obvious in the Old Testament because all they needed to believe in was God.  He is their salvation.

Ps. 17:7  Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.

To the Israelites, God was understood in a general way.  He was their Savior, He was the one they prayed to, He was their hope. “God is one.”  Then in the New Testament, we find this great Savior of theirs came to earth to dwell with men:

Acts 4:11, 12  This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

A better understanding of God creates a better relationship with Him, our Lord and Savior. 

To learn more about the Holy Spirit and some of the places He’s mentioned in Scripture, look here.

Eph 1:3 (ESV)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

On January 11, 1967, I raised my hand that took the Oath of Service to join the Navy.  I had committed to six years of service including reserve time. 

From 1966 through 2017, I paid into Social Security, but the major benefits I’ve received were not from my time in the Navy, not since I retired.  No, the major benefits I’ve received have been mine since the evening of October 16, 1975 when I knelt down at a meeting at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and committed my life to Christ.

The sort of benefits you and I have received since we committed our lives to Christ are partially laid out in the book of Ephesians.  The list is so long, there would not be enough room in this post to contain them.  I thought, though, I might offer a partial list: 

We were chosen by God before the foundation of the world. Though we met God at a particular time like October 16, 1975, God has always known us and that we would be His.

He has made us holy and blameless before Him. By the sacrifice of His Son, we will stand before the Father as pure and sinless as Christ Himself.

In His love, He predestined us for His adoption.  I’ve mentioned the Roman and Greek forms of adoption before.  In both traditions of adoptions, the Father paid the price – a fee, he made all the arrangements.  He presided at the ceremony.  At the end of the ceremony, the child needed only to call the prospective father, “Daddy.”  That was it.  Nothing more was needed, and the newly adopted child could never be disowned.  A natural child could, but not an adopted one.  We are God’s once He adopts us.  We can never lose our salvation.  This was done through Jesus Christ, the price that was paid to adopt us.  Our adoption was according to the purpose of His will. 

God the Father has blessed us in “the Beloved,” Jesus.  In Him we have redemption through His blood.

We have the forgiveness of our trespasses, “according to” the riches of His grace.  “According to” is an interesting phrase.  One of he best ways to understand this might be with a story: Two millionaires were playing Golf together.  At the end of their game, one man gave a twenty dollar tip to his caddy.  The other offered to pay his caddy’s mortgage.  The first gave from his riches.  The second gave according to his riches.  The gift of God to us is vastly greater than anything we can imagine or expect. 

It is according to His infinite grace that He has lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

He has made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose. He has let us in on the secrets not revealed until now. His purpose is explained and fulfilled in Jesus Christ as a plan for the fullness of time. This plan was to unite all things in heaven and things on earth.

We have obtained an inheritance, the same inheritance as His Son because we have been adopted as co-heirs with His Son for all of eternity.

We were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit once we heard the gospel of our salvation and believed in Jesus.

This Holy Spirit sealed us to guarantee our inheritance until we acquire it.  This is done solely to the praise of His glory.

Why is this important?

Though I do appreciate the benefits I get from the Veterans Administration as a reward for offering my life to the service of our country, and I appreciate the benefits I receive after depositing a portion of my wages into Social Security all my working life, the greatest benefits I or anyone can receive come with their commitment to Christ.

1 Cor. 15:14, 19 (ESV)  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain . . . If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

The fact Jesus rose bodily from the grave is the best document event in ancient history.  Because He has risen, all the benefits mentioned above plus many many more listed in Scripture, are ours.  To become a Christian is simple.  All that is needed to gain all the benefits is to commit your life to Him. To receive the benefits for this simple act is totally mind blowing.

“Not with doubting, but with assured consciousness do I love you, Lord.  You have stricken my heart with your Word, and I loved You.  Yes also heaven, and earth, and all that is therein, behold on every side you ask me to love You; nor cease to say to everyone, that they may be without excuse.  But more deeply will You have mercy on whom You will have mercy and will have compassion on whom You have had compassion: else in deaf ears do the heaven and the earth speak Your praises.  But what do I love, when I love You? Not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light so gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to embrace the flesh.  None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of light, and melody, and fragrance, and meat, and embrace when I love my God, the light melody, fragrance, meat, embrace of my inner man; where there shines into my soul what space cannot contain, and there sounds what time bears not away, and there smells what breathing does not disperse, and there tastes what eating does not diminish, and there clings what fullness does not divorce.  This is it which I love when I love my God.” (Confessions, Augustine of Hippo 354-430 a.d.)

When I read the writings of some of the important spiritual figures in history, I feel ashamed to compare my relationship with God to theirs.  I think to myself “These guys spent all their waking hours in praise and in communion with God.  I don’t have time for that.”  But, that’s not really valid.  Brother Lawrence, a French monk known for his deep relationship with our Lord, was a dishwasher at a monastery.  Yet he was sought by Europe’s nobles and paupers for spiritual counsel.  Where did he find time to build his relationship with God? He spent all of his time in relationship with God.

Augustine was a simple monk but forgiven of much.  He was a womanizer and drunk before God got a hold of him.  He didn’t have computer Bible study software.  He didn’t have the great libraries available to us to help us grow in our knowledge of our God.  He sat in a garden and contemplated God’s beauty.  He experienced the taste of a good meal and thought of God, he felt a loving embrace and thought of God.  He knew life with God could be so much more.  We can do that.

The French monk, Brother Lawrence, saw everything he did as an act of worship, praise, and communion with God.  Cooking and cleaning were things he did to God’s glory and talked with God while doing so.  We can do that, but somehow bad drivers, unpleasant customers, loud neighbors draw us away from that.  Brother Lawrence, if he rode with me, shopped with me, or lived with me, would praise God for those folks and pray for them.  He would love them.  Again, we can do that.

Maybe we could slow down a bit and appreciate the things around us God has supplied for us.  Our attitude can be changed by our gratitude for what God has done, to seek to understand God’s plan for us and for the world.

God has provided much for us both now and in the future.  By recognizing what God has done, we can recognize God Himself more easily.  His plan has been accomplished for all who wish to join us in His glorious realm.  We tend to take that for granted, though.  We now hear “Jesus loves you and died for you” much less gratefully than we did when we first heard it.

Ephesians chapter 1 gives us a good idea of what we should be grateful for and what we can look forward to.  God has given much in order to gain our presence in heaven.  Read all of Ephesians today if you can.  Here is just a taste:

Ephesians 1:3-5 (ESV)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will^[1]

Why is this important?

We are His children through a wonderful but also terrible plan that included the death of the Father’s most beloved Son.  Our love for God should be a simple reaction to the grand plan He executed to gain us.

“Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?”  (The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence  1614-1691 a.d.)

       “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”  (Matt. 6:9b)

We all know the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew chapter 6, but when Jesus mentions we are to “hallow” God’s name what does it mean?  After all, if Jesus is telling us to lift up the name Yahweh,” would He use “Father” rather than “Yahweh?”  The word “name” must mean other things than just a label we place on someone.

Let’s Just look at a couple of facts about God’s name, “Yahweh” before we get into this, though.  The tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters that make up YHWH) appears more than 7,000 times in the Old Testament though never in the New.  It isn’t the transliteration issue like Joshua to Jesus, for instance.  God’s formal name does not appear at all in any Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.  The divine name is represented in the New Testament by the Greek words kurios which simply means Lord or theos which means God.

Another interesting point is that Jesus uses the Greek word kurios to identify the Father only 22 times in the New Testament.  20 of those are in quotes Jesus recites from the Old Testament.  The other two times are only in the gospel of Mark and only said in passing.  Jesus never uses the word kurios in addressing God in prayer.  He consistently used pater or “Father” except once when Jesus just looks to heaven and says “open” to heal a deaf man (Mark 7:34). He doesn’t verbally address the Father at all. He knows the Father so intimately, He is always in contact.

So, if Jesus doesn’t see the divine name as of primary importance, what is He saying in Matt 6:9, “hallowed be you name?  Acts 4:7 gives us some insight into the meaning of the word onoma, or “name.”

Acts 4:7 (ESV) And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

So, like saying “open in the name of the law,” the name of God means more than just a label.  It can mean God’s power and authority.  Matt. 7:22 adds support for this:

 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

These false prophets were not using the divine name but claiming they were speaking with the authority of Jesus.  In Matt. 10:22, Jesus says we will be hated for His name’s sake.  That doesn’t mean because we have His name on our tee shirts but because we identify our lives with Him in so many ways.

It is our complete relationship with God and His complete devotion to us that is included in the idea of God’s name, not just the divine name but the divine relationship with His children.

Why is this important?

Sometimes a single word in Scripture loses its meaning in translation to the point we look to it in it’s common meaning and move on.  Jesus said this about how important every word, every minor seeming point is to each of us:

Matt. 5:18 (ESV)  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished

2 Timothy 3:16 says all Scripture is profitable for doctrine and instruction, all Scripture!  One of my favorite books of the Bible is one of the shortest, Jude.  One commentary on Jude included a story about a monk who decided to devote his entire life to the study of Jude.  On his death bed decades later, he told the others around him that he had only just begun to scratch the surface of the book of 25 verses.

God’s Word is deep.  Look closely and dig deeply.  Treasures are buried everywhere. 

Ps. 20:7  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

• If you don’t know how to study your Bible, the Navigator Bible Studies Handbook is the small text I use to teach folks to study God’s Word.  It might be profitable for you as well.

Every family has a number of great folks and, inevitably, a few odd balls and crackpots.  My grandfather was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows club.  That may clear up some doubts for more than a few of you.  “But, certainly”, we should think, “the Son of God would have nothing but stellar citizens in His earthly genealogy.”  That isn’t exactly true, though.  In fact, He had a few rogues.

The genealogy given in Matthew is Jesus’ genealogy through Joseph’s side of the family.  A Jewish rabbi would need a full genealogy to be taken seriously. 

Matthew begins with Abraham.  While Abraham is certainly a hero of the faith and the one who God used to begin the Hebrew family, he was no angel.  He was called directly by God out of the land of Ur to a place he didn’t know.  Abraham was told he was to leave his kindred and his father’s house and just go (Gen. 12:1).  So, he was to leave his family – except his wife, I assume – and head out no doubt to learn on God alone. In verse 4 of Genesis chapter 12, we see Abraham is accompanied by Lot, his nephew, so the family member thing didn’t happen. 

Abraham took Sarah, his wife to Egypt and lied to Pharaoh saying Sarah was just his sister.  Pharaoh nearly slept with her because of this, but the lie was found out.  Abraham did the same thing again later with King Abilelech and was found out.  From Genesis chapter 12 to chapter 22, we see Abraham continually disobeying God.  He even slept with Sarah’s servant and had a son by her against God’s promise. Abraham was no gem.

Then there is Isaac in Jesus’ genealogy.  Isaac pulled the same stunt Abraham did with the King Abimelech of his time, probably the previous king’s son.  Isaac claimed his wife, Rebekah, was his sister for fear the king would kill him to gain the beautiful Rebekah.  He was found out like his father.

Next we have Jacob, a scheemer who talked his older brother into selling his birthright to him for a pot of stew. 

Then there is Tamar who disguised herself as a harlot persuading Judah to have a son with her since he would not allow his youngest son to marry her and give her a son as the Law commanded.

There’s also Rahab the harlot who hid the Israelite spies in Jerico and Ruth, the gentile from Moab who came to Israel with her mother in-law Naomi.

Later we have Bathsheba who with King David committed adultery.  Her name isn’t even mentioned, only as the “wife of Uriah” who David murdered.

There are a lot of other folks in this family, but you can see the point.  There are foul ups and screw balls in every family including Jesus’ family.

Why is this important?

Abraham, even with his twelve chapters of sins, was called God’s friend.  David, an adulterer and murderer, was the apple of God’s eye. All these characters were favored by God.  Four of them: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Rahab are mentioned in the “Hall of Faith” of chapter 11 of Hebrews as great examples to us. Why? Because they repented and wanted to please God.

Our lives are a struggle.  Our dedication to God is what matters.  God is more interested in our hearts than our acts.  Forgiveness is available for those who want it.  If there is great sin in our lives we feel unworthy, and we are.  But, God loves unworthy people and draws them into His family.  If you feel you’ve had too much sin in your life, look at the people in Jesus’ family and how God used them greatly.  He will do the same for you.