5/30/2024 Good morning,
It is always good to spend time in the book of Proverbs!
Proverbs 23.17, Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.
The world is filled with people and situations and material things that may tempt us to envy. “I wish I had his talent.” “Why does that wicked person prosper so while I struggle to get by?” The proverb indicates that we have the capacity to not be envious of others. “Let not your heart envy sinners.” How does one tame the heart in this manner? What’s that old saying, “the heart wants what it wants”? The answer, I believe, is in the second half of the proverb, “but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.” In one sense it is simply a matter of focus. Are we focused on God or on the things of the world? Psalm 73 has a similar dynamic of envy and focus. The Psalm opens with praise of God and then quickly moves to the problem of envy: Ps 73.3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. The Psalm continues to note all that has brought on this envious heart, until the focus changes…verses 16-17, But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. The focus changed from observing the prosperity of the wicked to a worshipful focus on God. Then, the whole story is seen as the wicked will one day fall in ruin.
We overcome envy by turning our eyes to Jesus. We cease to be fearful by turning our attention to His Word. We overcome anxiety by turning our focus to the Holy Spirit. In The Message, Peterson paraphrases this way, Don’t for a minute envy careless rebels; soak yourself in the Fear-of-God—
The Complete Jewish Bible – Don’t envy sinners, but follow the example of those who always fear God;
Our focus in life is on the God to be revered and honored and praised. When our focus is distracted by the things of the world, when our focus is drawn to riches, fame, or perhaps a greater evil in our time – the bad news cycle of the day, then our hearts become envious or fearful or anxious.
Let us focus today (and every day) on reverence of the Lord that we might live without envy or fear (afraid of the worldly things – as opposed to the fear of the Lord – you get what I’m saying!).
Pastor Ed
5/29/2024 Good morning,
A triple reading today! (Sort of)
Galatians 5.16-18
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Paul had just written about freedom and love and not using freedom to abuse one another. So verse 16 begins a transition into an imperative. “But, I say, walk by the Spirit…” Walking is a metaphor for living. Live by the Spirit. We yield our lives to the leading of the Holy Spirit by the Word of God so that we will walk in God’s way and not by our own. The desires of the flesh are those desires of the old nature, desires that come solely from our passions of the flesh, a few of which Paul lists in the next section.
19-20
19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Don’t you just love that line… “Now the works of the flesh are evident…” Not so evident to the world’s way of seeing things! In the world they are not evident in that they are opposed to God’s way of living. This list is a “virtue” list according to the “woke” world of pride and self affirmation. Works of the flesh are given a month of recognition as “Pride Month” come June. Paul does not limit the works of the flesh to those things named, but he adds “and things like these”. Anything counter to God’s design for human flourishing is a work of the flesh and none who do such things will inherit the kingdom.
22-24
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
“But”…the counter to the woke narrative is the Holy Spirit. Paul contrasts the life of the flesh with the life of the Spirit and the fruit that is born out of walking in the Spirit of God. They all counter the world’s fleshly desires, but to highlight one in particular – self-control. We struggle with self-control (not that we don’t struggle with other fruit) because we do not have the willpower alone to resist that which is of the flesh. We have to rely on two truths revealed here: that we belong to Christ and the flesh has been crucified with its passions and desires. We are not of the world. We are set apart, not to lord it over others, but to walk (live) in a manner that bears the fruit of the Spirit. Only in the Holy Spirit are we capable of bearing that which is of God’s righteousness. We must examine ourselves daily to determine if our life has been reflective of the fruit listed – is there love in our lives? joy? patience? kindness? goodness? faithfulness? gentleness? self-control? Maybe some, but not all? Building a life in the Holy Spirit requires us to practice disciplines to nurture the work already being worked in our lives (Phil 1.6). In the end, the overall picture, we belong to Christ, therefore the battle is already won. The flesh has been nailed to the cross, therefore we have, in Christ, overcome the flesh and the world. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Ed
5/28/2024 Good morning,
May we meditate today on Romans 8.13-15,
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
There is a powerful intimacy in crying out “Abba! Father!” No matter if our earthly fathers were the best in the world, getting father of the year annually, or if our fathers were not that great or even absent, one thing is certain, our heavenly Father is here for us. We are sons and daughters of God the Father. God’s steadfast love is constant throughout the Scriptures and known to us most distinctly in giving His Son out of His love to reconcile us to our heavenly Father. We are drawn through the work of Jesus Christ into a right relationship with the Father, a life filled with love and compassion, hope and faith, grace and cleansing forgiveness. Paul speaks of being sons (children) of God twice in these verses which emphasizes its importance. We are an adopted people, born again into the family of God. Therefore, we can come before the Father in an intimate manner, in prayer and worship, through Scripture and by the Holy Spirit and we can find life and rest and peace in that relationship. May we, O Lord, live according to the Spirit that we may grow deeper and deeper in our relationship with You, our Loving Heavenly Father. Amen.
Pastor Ed
5/27/2024 Skipped
5/25/2024 Good morning,
1 Corinthians 13.4-7, 4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The popular assumption is that the opposite of love is hate. This might be true, but in today’s context I think the opposite of love is tolerance. If not the opposite, certainly a corruption of love. Some people want us to believe that love is expressed in tolerance of others, particularly in tolerance of sin. But to tolerate someone’s sin or sinful way of life, is to truly show a lack of love. Love is shown, not in tolerating sin, but in naming it, repenting of it, and seeking to love in truth and grace. We never say to the people we love, “I tolerate you”. The first moment we gain the courage to express our love for the one we have been dating, we don’t get all nervous to say, “I really tolerate you!” I challenge you to find a Valentine Card with the loving expression of complete and devoted toleration.
Toleration is void of care and love. Love is willing to tell the truth. Love is willing to not tolerate sin. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. The world has lost any concept of genuine love, biblical love, God’s love. So many people have been seduced by the forces of evil that distort and twist love into something that appears loving to the world, but leads to the approval and affirmation of deathly sin. Christians should be the most loving of all people. First, because God loves us. Second, because God commands love. Third, because God is love. Fourth, because the Bible gives us a greater understanding of what it means to love, – love is patient and kind…does not envy or boast…
Perhaps in our context of a culture filled with pride in wrongdoing, we need to demonstrate love that does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. We know that such love will not be received by the world. We know the words that express biblical love will be met with words of derision and set us as a target of “cancel culture”. Let love be genuine (Rom 12.9), for only in genuine love, God’s love, will we know life. Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5.2). This is the love that is willing to risk rejection. This is the love that is willing to tell the truth. May this love flourish in our hearts.
Pastor Ed
5/24/2024 Good morning,
Numbers 6.22-26, 22The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 24The Lord bless you and keep you; 25the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
There is something special about God’s blessing when His face shines upon us. His countenance pours out grace and peace. In Psalm 104, the context is that all look to God for provision. Verse 29 says of God, “When you hide your face, they are dismayed.” God’s face is an indication that God is attentive to us, seeing what is needed; it reveals that God is present. To turn our back to someone, depending on the circumstance, might be a sign of disgust or disrespect or indifference. We desire face to face interaction. So too with God. Even when we are told in the Bible that we cannot see God and live, there is something mysterious and spiritual in the language of God’s face toward us.
You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (Psalm 27.8)
The blessing of God’s face is that of God’s attention and presence toward us. When the Psalmist pleads with God to not turn His face away (Ps 27.9), it is a plea that God will not turn His back toward us. Salvation is through God’s grace shining upon us. God has taken the step toward His own by sending His Son for our salvation. Think of the cross and resurrection as God’s face shining with love and grace and mercy.
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved! (Psalm 80.19)
One day we will see face to face, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor 13.12). What a day that will be!
Pastor Ed
5/23/2024 Good morning,
Philippians 1.9-11, “9And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
“And it is my prayer…” One of the things we may not recognize enough in Paul’s letters are the times he not only taught about prayer, but revealed his own prayers. I am sure that Paul prayed often as a practicing Pharisee and a committed Jew. I would also trust that Paul’s prayers were even more meaningful and frequent after Jesus regenerated his heart. Paul encouraged prayer frequently and often toward the same goal of spiritual maturity in Christ. No matter what he was going through or what the particular church he addressed was going through, his prayer was for that maturity to be strengthened through suffering or hardship.
In today’s text the encouragement is through deepening love with knowledge and discernment. I think of examples of “love” where discernment is absent and a seemingly loving action to another leads toward enabling sin rather than confronting sin. Love that is truly love approves of what is excellent, pure, and blameless. In the end such love is filled with the fruit of righteousness. This fruit is that which comes through Christ and points to His glory and praise. In other words, acts of love become a blessing that glorifies God and leads the giver and the receiver to praise God. Sometimes love might be tough, what we call tough love that confronts a problem or seeks to open someone’s eyes to sin. What is evident in the world is that love is totally distorted by the toleration of sin and has even grown beyond toleration to affirmation and incitement to sin. Love, as we see in 1 Cor 13, does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in truth. Love grows when knowledge and discernment in truth grows with it. Perhaps we should put a capital “T “on that Truth, that love grows when we learn more about Jesus Christ who is the Truth, but not just about Jesus Christ, also in Christ. Paul uses the phrase in Christ or in Him more times than we might want to count!
“And it is my prayer…” Make this passage your prayer today, for others and for yourself, that our “love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment.”
Pastor Ed
5/22/2024 Good morning,
It is a great blessing to be able to share Scripture with one another. Today we consider Colossians 3.9-10, 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Part of God’s work in our lives is to reorder what has been disordered. Sin, the old self, is a disordering of “the image of its creator.” His image in His new creations (2 Cor 5.17) is being renewed in knowledge by our having put on of the new self, the regenerated self, the sanctified self. The old terms that speak to this transition are mortification (crucifying the old self) and vivification (being renewed in the new self). In vivification we are made alive in the Holy Spirit, alive to God, alive to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and in the resurrection. The Scripture helps us to grow in that renewal of self as we gain knowledge for both information and transformation. Jesus is seeking to restore in us the life God intended for His people. God is at work in us (Phil 1.6) to bring renewal and order and re-creation and sanctification. God is at work in us! That is good news for today.
Pastor Ed
5/21/2024 Good morning,
I recognize that many of my reflections have addressed the issues of the day like sexual immorality and idolatry. Part of the reason is that I, and others, are working toward protecting our denomination (Evangelical Presbyterian Church) from stepping onto the slippery slope of immorality that led the Presbyterian Church (USA) down the road to apostasy and more recently the United Methodist Church. It is the battle for the soul of the church and it grieves my heart that so many are giving over the truth of Scripture for a measure of cheap grace. In the reflection below I’m going to break from what I’ve just expressed (so I guess technically I’m still including it in this reflection email!)
Revelation 22.1-5, Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
According to verse 2 we will all be members of the fruit of the month club!
People will ask me from time to time what heaven will be like. Scripture gives us glimpses of heaven but I think that heaven will be so glorious that it is difficult for us to comprehend on this side of heaven. But there will be a river of life, the throne of God and Jesus. There will be streets and along those streets will be trees of fruit with healing properties. Nothing will be accursed, that is, nothing will be tainted with sin, nothing corrupted as we experience this world today. From what I see in other parts of Revelation, most, if not all, of our time will be in worship as we see in verse 3. “His servants will worship Him.” We will see His face and we will be marked with the name of God and it will be daylight all the time. Worship will take center stage in heaven (Rev 19.1-8). I don’t know what heaven will be like. I will sometimes tell people that I hope I get to tee off at Augusta National! But, I know it will be far greater than that or anything else we can imagine. O happy day!
Pastor Ed
5/20/2024 Good morning,
There are times when we are as sure as we can humanly be that something seems “good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” This is the phrase Luke uses to describe a situation about sending a letter of encouragement and sending some of the leaders of the church to offer words of encouragement as well.
Acts 15.28-29, 28For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
The elders ask only two things that seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them: do not partake of anything sacrificed to idols and abstain from sexual immorality. Hmm…seems that the early church had to deal with sexual immorality just as we do today. There is nothing new here. The church has always had to hold fast to the truth of God’s Word and God’s design for human sexuality and creation and marriage. One man, one woman. A man is a man and that cannot change. A woman is a woman and that cannot change no matter what surgical procedures or hormone therapies are utilized. All the sexual corruption we see today is a continuation of rebellion and the sin of idolatry we have seen in the world since Genesis 3.6-7. Such rebellion and lack of acknowledgment of God leads to even greater corruption (Romans 1.28-32). The word of encouragement from the apostles is to abstain from such sexual immorality in rhetoric, behavior, and disposition.
Abstaining from what has been sacrificed to idols is another matter that might be more difficult to discern in today’s context. For instance, I do my best to abstain from companies that practice idolatry by supporting ideologies that are against the Truth in Christ. Some might say I’m practicing one of the latest mottos, “go woke go broke”. I seek to discern what products I purchase might be supporting abortion groups or promoting transgenderism. It is difficult because nearly every corporate office has swallowed the idol of greed or “woke-ism” (formerly known as political correctness), and we can no longer buy without having our hands touched by idolatry of some sort. One such example is Heinz vs Hunts. I know Heinz corporation has done things and supported ideologies that are not of Christ. I have no idea what Hunt’s corporation does but until I know more, I’m consuming Hunt’s ketchup. I know that most of what we buy and consume probably has some issue with which I would disagree. We can only do so much to keep ourselves free from that which has “been sacrificed to idols”. My prayer is that God will redeem all of those things! The word of encouragement from the apostles is to abstain from any connection to idolatry.
The word of encouragement is to abstain, to not participate, to refrain from anything idolatrous or immoral. Such abstinence sets us apart from the world much like the Jews were set apart for God in the Old Testament. We have to understand, and help our children understand, that we do not participate in all things as the world does. This will also set us up to hatred from the world. This will put us in the place where Jesus walked which led Him to tell us, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15.18-19). It seems to me that mainline denominations are doing all they can to be liked by the world rather than holding fast to the Word of Truth (Phil 2.16). We cannot give ourselves over to the temptation to be liked by the world. That is not the way of Truth nor the way to evangelize.
Be encouraged by God’s Word that to abstain from the ways of the world is a way of righteousness and to know that if the world hates us for it, we are in good company in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Pastor Ed
5/18/2024 Good afternoon,
2 Corinthians 4.16-18, “16So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
It can be easy in this world of problems and sometimes personal setbacks to lose heart, to become discouraged, and Paul understood this well as he often encouraged the saints to not lose heart. Keep the faith because there is more to come. As we age we contend more and more with the outer self wasting away! Yikes! But the Holy Spirit is still at work in us, in the inner being, in the inner self. What the Spirit helps us to see is the unseen. We can see what others cannot. We know and “see” the spiritual world, the kingdom world, where the battle is fought, not flesh and blood, but the present darkness and cosmic powers (Eph 6.12). We cannot be deceived by those powers that are at work in the world and seek to draw us in and away from the truth of God. It is not so much a power that seeks to overpower us, but one of seduction.
The same deception as the question in the garden, “Did God really say that?” Today we find it in all kinds of marketing and programming and ideologies, “Look over here, this is love, this is tolerance, this is acceptance and goodness. The Bible is bigoted and all who follow it are on the wrong side of history.”
Do not lose heart. Truth is in things unseen. Truth is in the things of the Spirit and the natural man cannot see it (1 Cor 2.14).
Do not lose heart. God is sovereign and has already secured the victory for His own. Jesus Christ died and rose again so that we might live and there will come a day when we see clearly what Paul articulates here, “the eternal weight of glory”.
Pastor Ed
5/17/2024 Good morning,
Micah is known mostly for Micah 6.8 about walking with God. But Micah offers more prophetic words of encouragement elsewhere as in chapter 7,
Micah 7.18-19, “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
I find it interesting how many times, whether in the Psalms or in this case, that the author goes back and forth between talking to God and then about God. Verse 18 begins in prayer, Who is a God like You, forgiving sin? Then Micah speaks of God’s forbearance and delight in steadfast love, moving into verse 19 shifting to future tense, God will have compassion and trample our sin. The last sentence is back to addressing God, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” We might wonder if this entire movement is a characteristic of prayer or if the prophet is moving between the prayer and a teaching moment either in the writing itself or in the oral tradition of addressing the people. The book of Micah begins with addressing the people, “Hear, you peoples, all of you…” It is not that critical a call, but interesting to notice this dynamic of the text. The direct address to God is informed by the teaching of God’s actions or attributes. I’m always prone to notice where God is shown to delight in steadfast love because too many people fall for the line that the God of the Old Testament (OT) is a God of wrath and in the New Testament (NT), a God of love. In my estimation that is a poor reading of the OT. The steadfast love of God is all through the OT and is then revealed again in the person and work of Jesus in the NT. It is through that steadfast love that Micah reveals the compassion of God as His anger subsides and then forgives sin as in tying it to an anchor and tossing it in the deepest part of the ocean. That love and forgiveness is completed on the cross of Christ. Thank God today for His steadfast love, expressed to us in His grace and mercy, compassion and forgiveness, as revealed on the cross.
Pastor Ed
5/16/2024 Good morning,
Colossians 2.8-10, “8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”
Scripture has always spoken to the world in all contexts and at all times. Sometimes we say of Scripture that it speaks “more” to our time. Perhaps what we mean is that we see more clearly a passage of Scripture that resonants in our hearts because of the context of our time. Paul is writing to the churches that they not be taken in by the philosophies of the world. They are empty, deceitful, human creations, and devised by what he calls the elemental spirits of the world. Those elemental spirits are still with us and in full bloom as the philosophies seek to deceive people by confusing sex/gender, normalizing and elevating sexual depravity, calling abortion a woman’s health issue, and so forth. In other words, as Paul states, anything that is not according to Christ. It is difficult to deny the term “post-Christian” when we see our nation going in the direction that is not according to Christ. It is difficult to deny the term “post-Christian” when we see mainline denominations going in the direction that is not according to Christ. It is difficult to deny the term “post-Christian” when Christians are ridiculed and sometimes arrested for standing firm in the truth of God and not falling for the lies of the culture that are not according to Christ.
Paul’s encouragement to the church then and to the church now, at least those who are still the true church, is to know that Christ embodies the whole fullness of deity. That is, Christ is the power of God, the truth of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God…Jesus Christ is God the Son, one with the Father, second person of the Trinity. So, let us embrace verse 10 – “and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” You, we have been filled in Him! Filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with the One who is the head of all rule and authority. Filled with the Word of God written on our heart. None of verse 8 has rule or authority. There is no authority, no truth, no power in the elemental spirits of the world. There is no truth to the philosophies I have listed above. They are all powerless, empty, deceitful lies that seek only to destroy life and corrupt the image of God in the human person. And, they are seeking to take us captive as they have so many in the world.
Our task then, is to stand firm in the truth of the gospel and the testimony of Scripture. We are to give witness to all that is according to Christ against that which is not according to Christ. This is what Paul did in his ministry and his writings because he stood in a similar context as we do today. His words, which are God’s Words to us, give us the power and authority to name the lies and proclaim the truth according to Christ. Let us stand firm together, encouraging one another in Christ, and rejoicing that we have been “filled in Him”, for we are only able to stand as a people fully in Christ and Christ in us. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Ed
5/15/2024 Good morning,
We have been looking over what it means to be filled with the fullness of God and dying to the old self, crucified with Christ. Today we read in Galatians 6.14, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” A large part of reformed theology leads us to see that there is no boasting and no glory to attribute to ourselves, but all thanks and glory and boasting is to the Lord and, in this case, in the cross of the Lord. The cross was central to Paul’s preaching and teaching. In the cross are the benefits we have received in forgiveness of sin, the death of the old self and its power over us, and many other blessings. Included in the grace and mercy of the cross is the change in relationship to the world. No longer does the world have power over us. We need not be influenced by the world and all that comes from the world. The term “world” is often used in a spiritual sense as opposed to “earth”. The world is filled with “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1 John 2.16). In and through the cross, none of this “world” has power over our lives. We are constantly growing in Christ because of the cross of Christ, dead to the world and the world dead to us. Take for example the worldly mess called Pride Month – totally of the world, spiritually bankrupt, opposed to the cross. Much of what we have available in the form of entertainment is completely of the world. News cycles – of the world. The more I see of the “world”, with all its darkness, the less I want to see. We need not participate in watching and listening to those deathly influences, but spend a majority of our time in godly pursuits – the kingdom of God and His righteousness, setting our minds on things above, thinking on things that are true, and honorable, and just, to walk humbly with the Lord loving justice and kindness. Yes, we need to be aware of what is going on in the world, but never be influenced by it. Our discernment comes from the truth found in Scripture, in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Boasting and glorifying in the cross enables us to discern the world’s delusions and walk in the glory of the cross.
Pastor Ed
5/14/2024 Good morning,
I have often recommended that people pray for one another using Paul’s words in this prayer or rephrasing in their own words.
Ephesians 3.14-19
14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
In the reflection yesterday we considered what it meant to kill off the old self and welcome the new self in Christ. We entertained the possibility of filling ourselves with the things of God in order to leave no room for sin in our lives. This prayer from Paul is a great way to pray for ourselves and for others as we seek to grow in understanding what Christ has done. There is no greater source than the riches of God’s glory from which we might seek to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in our inner being. That is the language of transformation from the inside out. That inward transformation is to have Christ in our hearts by increasing our faith. We trust more deeply in our understanding of “God with us”, Christ dwelling in our being through the Holy Spirit. That work within us is one of love, the love of God, known through the riches of His glory, and the purpose, or one of the purposes, is our capacity to comprehend. What are we to comprehend? The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. That sounds like a contradiction for we cannot comprehend that which goes beyond our knowing. I believe we can comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth only in the sense of the knowing of the heart. We know without knowing. That is, we can comprehend God’s love in the heart without knowing fully in the mind. I cannot fathom the love of God that would send His only Son to die for us. But, I know, deep within, deep in spirit and soul, I know God loves us. It is truly beyond knowing. It can only be described or explained in the Word of God, “For God so loved the world…” (John 3.16). “His steadfast love endures forever…” (Psalm 136). “shows His love…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…” (Romans 5.8). Yes, it is all over both Testaments!
Finally, Paul prays that we may be filled with the fullness of God. Another place we see that phrase is in describing Jesus, Colossians 1.19, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” I believe this is what it means to be more like Christ. We are seeking to have Christ formed in us (Gal 4.19). We are seeking to have our cup filled with the overflowing goodness of God. Make this your prayer today, for yourself and for others, that we might grow deeper in faith and love and hope, and that we might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Pastor Ed
5/13/2024 Good morning,
Take some quality time to read slowly what God’s Word has for us today.
Romans 6.5-11
5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Our baptism signifies some incredible work done for us and in us through Jesus Christ. We are united with Him on the cross in that our old self, our sinful nature was crucified, dead, buried, and “brought to nothing”. That old self is not resurrected but has been destroyed and has no power to rule over us. Yet we know that we are still weak and sometimes fall to the passions of the flesh. That leads us to the other side of the cross – resurrection.
We are also united with Him in His resurrection. Therefore, we have life in Christ because He lives! Paul states in verse 11 that we must consider ourselves in a new way, no longer enslaved to sin, but dead to sin and since we are dead to sin we can now be alive to God in Christ. One of the ways we can think about this is to focus on the work of Christ on the cross. Jesus died on the cross taking on our sin and thus He killed the power of sin. Christ has already done the work. The Holy Spirit is now at work in us helping us realize this truth to the fullest. We seek to fill ourselves with the knowledge and understanding of the work that has been done in Christ and the work currently being done in the Spirit, so that we are able to be set free from the tyranny of sin. We seek to consider ourselves dead to sin each day and alive to God.
Lately I’ve been pondering the cup as a metaphor for our lives. Think of our life as a cup once filled with sin, the old self. Jesus poured out His blood so that our cup might be filled anew with the things of God: living water, grace, God’s goodness, love, righteousness. We are seeking to so deeply fill our cup with the things of God that sin has no capability to exist in that cup. Psalm 23 speaks of an overflowing cup, filled with the goodness of God. Consider yourselves dead to sin, the cup emptied of sin, and alive to God, the cup filled with God’s Word, Spirit, blessings, knowledge, fear of the Lord. John Owen, the English Puritan, lends his thoughts to this same way of fighting sin, that we are not so focused on battling the sin as much as we are focused on getting more of the Spirit into our being so that sin has no capability within us. Alive to God means being filled with the Spirit, being filled with living water, being filled to the brim so that sin has no place in our cup.
Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, we will look at Paul’s prayer that we might be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3.19).
Pastor Ed
5/11/2024 SKIPPED
5/10/2024 Good morning,
Today we reflect on Romans 12.12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12 begins with the exhortation to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, to be renewed in our minds in order to discern God’s will. The remaining verses, 3-21, are imperatives teaching us how to live out a life of sacrifice to God. Rom 12.12 offers us three of those imperatives.
Rejoice in hope – no matter what our circumstance, there is always hope. Hope bids us to look beyond the present trouble. Hope sets our hearts and minds toward God. Hope is a way of believing. Therefore, we can rejoice. The world has nothing to offer of hope. All that is in the world leads to despair. All that is in God gives hope! Rejoice and be glad.
Be patient in tribulation – of course these imperatives are connected, for in hope we are able to be patient. Hope gives us the ability to trust that our tribulation, our troubles, our earthly sorrows are not the final word. But, we find it difficult to be patient, to wait on the Lord. We want out of tribulation as quickly as possible. Hope helps our patience, but perhaps even greater, prayer feeds our hope and our patience.
Be constant in prayer – Paul expresses this in 1 Thess 5.17 as praying without ceasing. Prayer is an ongoing practice of awareness of and conversation with God. Prayer is reading His Word to listen to His teaching on hope and patience. We exercise a determination to lift all things before the Lord, to sometimes just be with God in silence, to listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to be nurtured and strengthened in hope and joy and patience through faithfulness in prayer.
There will be times to rejoice in hope and even times to weep (still in hope), times to wait and times to take action, but there is always time to pray! Be constant in prayer, faithful to pray, for God has already granted us hope and joy and patience in Christ our Lord and Savior.
Pastor Ed
5/9/2024 Good morning,
Nehemiah 8 begins with Ezra reading from the Book of the Law of Moses. The scene is during a Jewish Festival and all the people are gathered to hear the Word of God and receive clear teaching on its meaning. Sometimes when the Word was read it would lead to repentance and weeping (2 Kings 22.11-13), and that is perhaps the case here as the people bowed their heads, faces to the ground, until Ezra speaks in Nehemiah 8.10, “Then he said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’” Instead of weeping and bowing down before the Lord, Nehemiah proclaims a day of holy celebration, eating and drinking and sharing with those who do not have the means for feasting! Sometimes we may bow before the Lord in repentance and other times we look to heaven in grateful celebration. Ezra gives the reason for such joyful feasting, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” We could run in a few directions with that phrase…The Lord’s joy generally, that our strength is found in the gift of God’s joy. Maybe it is in the joy of the Lord over His people or the joy of the Lord in His Word or the joy of the Lord in that His people are reading and understanding His Word. However we choose to read and understand it, we know that the strength is not our own, but from the Lord, and in Nehemiah 8 it is certainly connected to the reading and hearing of God’s Word. This joy and rejoicing and celebrating is expressed in feasting together in response to the Word. Joy, strength, eating, and drinking. That is a good day. Remember this verse at your next feast with the people of God.
Pastor Ed
5/8/2024 Good morning,
Near the very end of Deuteronomy Moses has completed his task of giving the Word of God to all of Israel. He stresses the vital importance of that Word in chapter 32.45-47, 45And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
The first two phrases to note are “Take to heart” and “Be careful to do”. To “take to heart” all the words is to set those words in our hearts in such a way that we live by them. We “set them in our hearts” in order that we might be careful to do them, that is, to obey and to do what God has commanded us. Jesus says something close to that in John 15 about His words abiding in us and if we keep His commandments we will abide in His love!
Moses speaks of the words as a warning that we must teach to our children. I want to especially draw our attention to verse 47. God’s Word is no empty word; Moses’ emphasis about these words is not trivial. God’s Word not something to leave to a “take it or leave it” attitude. But what does he say? “This is your very life.” God’s Word is our life! I don’t recall if I have stressed being in God’s Word to you before (sarcasm), but if this Word is our life, I think you know what we should do! Take these words to heart and be careful to do them.
Psalm 19.7 – The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
John 6.63 – Jesus, the Word made flesh, gives life to the world.
Psalm 119.25, 37, 50, 93, 107, 116, 154, these all say basically the same thing – that God’s Word gives life.
Colossians 3.4 – “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Life, abundant life, only in the things of God – His Word, His Son, His Spirit, His kingdom, life in God alone. No life apart from God. No life in the ways of the world. No life in the ideologies of the world. No life in the promises of the world.
May we set these words to heart and do them, for in them is the promise of life!
Pastor Ed
5/7/2024 Good morning,
One of the many benefits of praise and thanksgiving is that it relinquishes the notion that the world revolves around me. We live in a “me” culture fueled by idolatries of autonomy and narcissism that fail the human person at every turn. Many of the social media platforms feed into these idolatries with the “selfie” culture – “Look at me!” Me me me me! If you have a moment to look up the “I Walked On the Moon” bit by Brian Regan, he exemplifies this well. (Link below).
This song lyric just popped into my mind, “what the world needs now is love, sweet love”…what the world needs also is praise, sweet praise and thanksgiving, sweet thanksgiving – to the One who so loved the world. Make use of this passage below as a prayer for the day, praising and giving thanks to the Lord our God.
1 Chronicles 29.11-13, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.”
Glory to God,
Pastor Ed
5/6/2024 Good morning,
Today we open our hearts and minds to Romans 8.5-6, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Paul is teaching us about our options, to live according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. Flesh leads to death, Spirit leads to life. Seems like an easy decision. A key aspect of one or the other is how we set our minds, how we spend our time and energy, what we think about most, and the depth of commitment we make to the things of the Spirit. Our struggle is toward the flesh, that old nature tugging at our passions that have not yet been submitted to the Lordship of Christ. And then there is the constant barrage of worldly/fleshly pressure weighing into our minds. There is a determination to make every effort to set our minds on the things of the Spirit. This is the only way we are able to counter the flesh, to overcome the principalities and powers that seek to make the flesh our master. Setting the mind is a favorite phrase of Paul. He speaks of the mind in two other significant passages that share these thoughts, Colossians 3.1-2 and Romans 12.1-2 (check them out!). Loving with the mind is a similar thought Jesus gave us in His command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12.30). Do we not set our minds on the things we love? Perhaps that is a measure of our true love; on what do we set our minds the most?
Think about it.
Pastor Ed
5/4/2024 Skipped
5/3/2024 Good morning,
Psalm 119.97
Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
A brief reflection today as I am soon off to the New River Presbytery meeting today and tomorrow!
Psalm 119 is the longest of the Psalms at 176 verses. Its main focus throughout is God’s Word and it uses multiple terms to reveal His Word. In this verse it is “law”. Other verses use statute, precept, testimonies, commandments, to name a few. The Psalmist expresses his love for the law and out of that love is the desire to meditate on the law “all the day”. I’ve shared before how I used to take a 3×5 card and jot down a Scripture to carry in my pocket all day. We can do that or use our phone or some other way to remind us of a text throughout the day. Take this one, Ps 119.97, with you today. Pull it out several times and recite it, meditate on it, pray that God would give you a deeper love and desire to meditate on His Word. Rephrase it in your own words – Lord, I love Your Word. I think about it all the time!
Better yet make it into a song that ends with “all the lifelong day”!
Pastor Ed
5/2/2024 Good morning,
“We aim to please!” This line has been used by many businesses over the years. It is the attempt to make someone happy, to bring joy to someone’s life. We hope that an action taken or a product purchased brings pleasure to the recipient. The Scriptures have a fair amount to say about what we might do to please God. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5.9, “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” In the Old Testament, the sacrifice of the burnt offering gave forth an aroma that pleased God (Numbers 29.2). Just think of that aroma from the steak on the grill! Okay, not the same meaning. Our meditation on Scripture is pleasing to God, “May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord” (Psalm 104.34). Paul tells us to try to discern what is pleasing to God (Eph 5.10). And in Hebrews 13.16, something similar to the burnt offering of the Old Testament, doing good and sharing what we have is a sacrifice pleasing to God. We are all called to say and do that which is pleasing to God.
We learn what pleases God by knowing His Word. It is one of the main points of Psalm 19 which speaks of the Word as perfect and true, and at the end of the Psalm, that our words and meditations are acceptable to God, “14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (See Ps 19.7-14). We already know many of the things that are pleasing to God: loving God and our neighbor, offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, obedience to His Word, faithfulness, and all that Scripture teaches. Let us aim to please God in all things.
Pastor Ed
5/1/2024 Good morning,
As I was reading Ephesians 1 considering a reflection on this chapter, I was going to just select verse seven, but as per Paul’s style, it just kept getting better and fuller the more I read.
Ephesians 1.7-10, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Christ we have redemption and forgiveness. That alone is enough for today…
But Paul reveals something more at the end of verse seven, that what we have in Christ is out of the riches of God’s grace. By His grace we are saved! By His grace we are forgiven. What gracious gifts we have received in Christ. And not only received, but these gifts have been lavished upon us, showered, poured out in abundance, cups overflowing!
And that’s not all. We wonder often about God’s will, verse nine tells us one aspect of His will, it is in the redemption and forgiveness lavished upon us. His will is in Christ and everything we have in Christ. His will is a plan for the complete reconciliation of all things. This is His will for us, for our lives, and for eternal life. We can rest assured in faith and hope that God has accomplished His will in Christ.
Pastor Ed
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