God Wants All! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 17:29-30, “Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” As Paul speaks to those at the Areopagus, he tells them that what they worshipped as something unknown, it is God who is the creator of the world and everything in it. And, where many had worshipped God as if he were made of gold, silver or stone and that in the past God overlooked such ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent. I note Paul says God commands all people everywhere - not some people in certain places. God wants us all to turn to him, to repent - every person. He wants us all! God has a big heart, a heart that encompasses all of mankind. The Bible says that God loves the whole world and everyone in it. He wants us all. As Paul speaks to Timothy about prayer in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, he says that this “pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” It is God’s will that all men be saved! He wants us all. Peter talks about the delay in Jesus Christ’s second coming. He says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. God wants every man, woman and child to turn to him! He has a heart for all mankind! My point here isn’t to get into a quibble over theology but to recognize the wonderful heart of love our God has for all mankind. He has a big heart! He sent his Son to die a horrible death to purchase us from his own wrath for our sins! Not just for some, but for all! It is important to note, that as the Scriptures clearly point out, even though it is God’s will we all be saved, he has chosen, decided, that only those who will embrace him in faith will be saved. He has left it in our hands. He wants us all, but he will only take those who will have him. What a big, wonderful heart our God has for each and every one of us! Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you! If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God's Love Of Mankind - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 17:26-28,

"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’"

 
In Paul’s address to the Areopagus we see that throughout the history of mankind, God has been instrumental in mankind’s affairs with the objective that “men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.”

In another place, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, we read, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

And as that familiar passage says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son… ", John 3:16.

God loves man! In spite of our sin, in spite of our rebellion and going our own way, our God loves us!

What an inscrutable heart and what a wonderful heart our God has!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Maintains Us From Moment To Moment - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 17:24-28,

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'"

 
This is part of the presentation that Paul made at the Areopagus in Athens as he spread the gospel message.

In it he makes some comments about God that tell us how very involved he is in our lives. “…he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else… he is not far from each one of us… ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’”

As a friend has reminded me from time to time, every breath I breathe is another expression of God’s grace.

I know intellectually that God has created me and everyone else. I know that he maintains the universe and keeps it all going from moment to moment… but how often I lose sight of how dependent I am on God, and that, but for him, I wouldn’t even exist!

He brought us into existence, he maintains all creation as he provides all we need for life, he has condemned us all to death for our sin, but has made a way through Jesus Christ for us to inherit eternal life!

How wonderful is our Creator God!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God: Our Great Deliverer! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 16:14b,18b,25-26,34

“The Lord opened her [Lydia’s] heart to respond to Paul's message.” … “‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her [the fortune-telling slave girl].” … “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.” … ”The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.”

Paul and his companions (which included at a minimum, Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke) visited the city of Philippi on Paul’s second missionary trip. This is the city in which Paul planted a church that he would later send a letter to, the New Testament book we call “Philippians”.

In case you missed it, in this city, the theme of deliverance is acted out by the Lord in every activity that is recorded by Luke. Paul and Silas were delivered from incarceration in the Philippian jail and a servant girl is delivered from “a spirit” that enabled her owners to make money by fortune-telling. Lydia and her household are delivered from God’s judgment through the evangelistic efforts of Paul and company, as well as the Philippian jailor and his household.

God is our God of deliverance, he is our great deliverer! Enslaved to sin and the judgment it brings, living in a lost and fallen world our great God delivers us! Of our wonderful God, David says in Psalm 18:2, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Uses Fallible People In An Infallible Way - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 15:37-39a,

"Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company."

The apostles were anything but infallible. That may come as a surprise to some but here we see a disagreement between Barnabas and Paul. The two of them had decided on a second trip to visit the churches they had established on their first trip. Barnabas wanted to take Mark along again, but because Mark had abandoned them on their first trip, Paul refused to have him accompany them - so they parted company.
 
Although we certainly recognize Paul's credentials as Jesus' hand picked apostle to the Gentiles, "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God...", Romans 1:1, we can't say the same thing for Barnabas. We do find, however, in the book of Acts, Barnabas is called "a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith", Acts 11:24, and called an apostle, "when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this...", Acts 14:14. But, in any event, we see disagreement and fallibility within the apostolic ranks. (Not that it is my place - or that it makes any difference whatsoever, from what we know, I side with Barnabas. Paul later recognizes the wonderful qualities that Mark contributed to ministry that apparently required time to develop. He tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:11, "Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.")
 
Another example is the dispute Paul had with Peter over Peter's attitude on an occasion toward Gentile believers. "When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong", Galatians 2:11.

Here is the amazing thing I find in this: God is able to take fallible people such as Paul, Barnabas, Peter, etc. and do incredible, infallible things with them. It was with fallible people that the Holy Spirit produced infallible Scriptures. It was within fallible people that the early church was able recognize apostolic authority because God was working in and through them.

I am reminded yet again of Peter's words in 2 Peter 1:20-21, that God is able to carry along imperfect people and do perfect things. And although we have no apostles on the scene today, God still uses fallible people just like us to carry out the wonderful things he does.

Fascinating, isn't it?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

An Example Of "Binding and Loosing" - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 15:28-29,

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

The council of Jerusalem met to discuss a dispute between Paul (with Barnabas) and Christian Pharisees who had come to Antioch from Judea. The dispute was over whether Gentiles should be required to obey the law of Moses.

This was an important event for the early church and has had its impact on the church throughout its history. The conclusion of the matter was that the Gentiles did not have to keep Torah, and were not required to be circumcised. In other words, the Gentiles did not have to convert to Judaism in order to become followers of Jesus Christ.

However, to facilitate the fellowship of believers that were composed of both Jews and now Gentiles, the four restrictions in this passage provided for some much needed harmony. Yes, the Gentiles did not have to obey that which provided the foundation for Jewish life and custom (the Torah), however, the apostles and elders of the church decided that this freedom should be tempered with these restrictions to enable the fellowship of the two groups. The freedoms of all in the fellowship should not be cause for culturally offensive behavior by anyone.

James says that this solution seemed good to both the Holy Spirit and "to us". To me, this is a great example of what is meant by the "binding" and "loosing" we read of in Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18. Some have misinterpreted these words as applying to the exorcism and commanding of evil spirits. This is not the case and misses the historical context Jesus taught in. Rabbinic formulations of binding and loosing in the cultural context of Jesus' day is the backdrop of Jesus' words as he spoke of the activity of the new institution he was going to usher in, the church. In the teaching of the Rabbis relative to morals and lifestyle, "binding" was that which was forbidden, and "loosing" was that which was permitted.

In Acts 15, the loosing: believers would not be required to observe Jewish life and customs derived from the law given to Moses. The binding: in order to facilitate both Jews and Gentiles in a common fellowship, these four restrictions were to be observed.

In regard to law keeping, Paul tells us in Romans 7:6, “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” He goes on to use the example of the tenth commandment, “Do not covet”, to explain himself.

There are plenty of things the Lord could require of us as believers. In providing us with justification he could certainly turn and ask us to live by the law he gave Moses or any of a number of things to conform to a lifestyle that might reflect our covenant relationship with him.

But as Jesus taught, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.

Our relationship with Jesus Christ is not reflected in law-keeping but in following the Holy Spirit, demonstrating that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9.

Jesus has done all the work. He offered himself as a sacrifice of atonement on the cross. I don’t know about you, but I find this to be a wonderful reality.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

--

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

"It is to one’s honor to avoid strife,
    but every fool is quick to quarrel." Proverbs 20:3

God Provides Us His Word On Things - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 15:28-29,

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.”

This passage is the conclusion of a letter drafted by the Jerusalem council when they met to consider the issue of whether Gentile converts to Christianity needed to be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.

The letter, sent to Antioch and accompanied by Judas and Silas, provided the decision of the council, and in it the leaders provided the credentials behind the decision. In addition to apostolic authority and the wise counsel of elders, the letter acknowledges God himself: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…”!

To me, one of the wonderful things of God is that he provides us with the stamp of his own authority that we not find ourselves cast about in a sea of uncertainty. The whole concept of a divine library, a collection of written works that are recognized as authoritative, the Bible, ensures we can know without confusion what is true and what our Creator has to say.

Where some may struggle with the notion of divinely authoritative literature, many of us find within its pages illumination of God’s revelation of himself and his very own counsel! As Peter points out, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21.

It is with this very authority that the Jerusalem council rendered its decision and reflects this wonderful aspect of God’s choice to provide us with his word on things!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.