service genset jogja
Hebrews 12:9-10, Jeremiah 12:1, Job 21:7-9

Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen but Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

We know that not all trials and hardships come as a direct result of personal sin in our lives or in the lives of others. Sometimes the wicked prosper. Jeremiah wants an answer to this problem. He asks in Jeremiah 12:1, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” Job, the righteous sufferer, asks God the same question with a more challenging tone. In Job 21:7-9 he asks, “Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.” For Job it all came down to the same thing that it must come down to for us. “Can I trust God, even when it doesn’t look like it?” He finds conclusion in several passages. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” or “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

As young children we are under the complete control of our earthly fathers. They can do just about anything they want to us. My father used to say, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.” He didn’t mean that of course, but the level of control our parents had over us as young kids is nearly absolute. My father spanked me once for something that my sister did. How unfair is that? Later in life, she finally admitted it to my Dad and he apologized. Rita was in her 40’s and Dad didn’t think he should spank her now. Anyway, we’re disciplined in the physical realm by parents who are not perfect. God is the perfect Father. In his efforts to lead us to repentance, Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Our heavenly Father is perfect. Let’s look at Hebrews 12:9-10 and pull all these thoughts together. It says, “Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”

Wesley understood the point I was trying to make when he explained that our earthly fathers “…chastened us as they thought good – Though frequently they erred therein, by too much either of indulgence or severity: but he – Always unquestionably, for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness – That is, of himself, and his glorious image.”[1] The writer of Hebrews wants these truths to make us better. He wants us to trust God as Job did. He wants us to believe Paul’s statement in Romans 8:28, “all things (good and bad!) work together for our good.” There is no question that we will suffer trials in this life. That’s a given. The only thing we must watch is our attitude towards them. Fleming says, “Children submit to their parents’ discipline. In the same way Christians should submit to their heavenly Father’s discipline. His purpose is to use their trials to make them into the sorts of people that he, in his superior wisdom, wants them to be (9–10). Such experiences may be unpleasant at the time, but those who have learnt a right attitude towards their troubles will benefit in an increasingly fruitful Christian life (11).”[2]

[1] John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, Fourth American Edition. (New York: J. Soule and T. Mason, 1818), 614.

[2] Donald C. Fleming, Concise Bible Commentary (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1994), 568.

Tags: , ,
Permalink
Hebrews 12:7-8, Deuteronomy 8:5, Romans 8:28

In Jesus, It’s all good!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

The author of Hebrews has talked about how love is the motive for discipline and quotes from Proverbs. This truth is one of the more ancient truths in the world. Only diligent parents with regards to child training truly love their children. It’s the easiest thing to let our children do whatever they want, whenever they want. We’ve all seen four-year-old Jeffrey running around loose in the grocery store or on an airplane with no parental controls at all. He disrupts the world around him because everything is totally about him. Undisciplined children are a burden to everyone and although it might seem cute in a four-year-old, it’s criminal in adults. Parents are responsible to teach children how to manage their emotions and behavior for the good of the groups they are in. God, as our perfect heavenly Father, only wants what is absolutely the best thing for us. And this desire is motivated by His love for His children. Hebrews 12:7 says, “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and led them to the promised land, they underwent much discipline. God the Father wanted them to truly enjoy the benefits of the land He had prepared for them and much of the ability to enjoy life in the land involved recognition of God’s love for them as His children. In Deuteronomy 8:5, the idea of the fatherhood of God and His love for his children as the motive for discipline is already a biblical doctrine. It says, “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.” One of the older commentators says, “In this he acts as becomes a father, and treats them like children; no wise and good father will wink at faults in his own children as he would in others; his relation and his affections oblige him to take more notice of the faults of his own children than those of others. (4.) To be suffered to go on in sin without a rebuke is a sad sign of alienation from God; such are bastards, not sons.” [1] This is where the writer goes in the next verse. Hebrews 12:8 says, “If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

Pentecost says, “Rather than despising His chastening or being discouraged when sufferings come, they should welcome them as assurance that they are the sons of God, for God will chasten only those who are His own children.”[2] William MacDonald adds, “After all, a gardener does not prune thistles, but he does prune grapevines. As in the natural, so in the spiritual.”[3] Further, it’s not that all hardships are the result of sin in our lives, but rather that all hardships, even undeserved trials, will have a good result in the end. Job teaches us this. Jesus said as much when the disciples pointed out the crippled man and asked Jesus if it was because of his own sin or the sins of his parents that he was crippled. Jesus replied that it was neither of those reasons, but it was for the Glory of God. Then he healed the man. It’s all a matter of trusting God! Faith is believing that God has our best interest foremost in mind regardless of the circumstance and that He works all things in our lives “together for good” (Romans 8:28).

[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 2404.

[2] J. Dwight Pentecost and Ken Durham, Faith That Endures : A Practical Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2000), 203.

[3] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 2203.

Tags: , ,
Permalink
Hebrews 12:5b-6, Proverbs 3:11-12, Luke 11:31, 1 Corinthians 11:30

Jesus: The Wisest man in the world!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

The author of Hebrews now does what he has done frequently in the book and that is to look at the Old Testament to help understand the role Christ plays in the overall scheme of things. He quotes from Proverbs 3:11-12. It says, “My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” There is a slight change in the wording, but the idea is the same in Hebrews 12:5b-6. It reads, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.” Earlier we heard the writer exhort us all to trust in God regardless of life’s situation because we are His dearly beloved Children in Christ. Now he moves to quote the wisest man in the world, Solomon, to explain how a loving Father relates to His children. Wait a minute, Solomon is the second wisest person in the world!

I’m wondering if the writer of Hebrews has in mind one of Jesus’ encounters with the religious leaders who reject His claims as the Messiah. Our author has been focusing profoundly on the superiority of Jesus to the Old Testament people, laws, and themes. Jesus is the fulfillment of it all. Could Jesus be the better and ultimate fulfillment of the wisdom of Solomon? In Luke 11, the religious leaders reject Jesus as the Messianic Son of God and Jesus explains that the queen of Sheba will stand as a testimony against them on the day of Judgement. In Luke 11:31, Jesus says, “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” As is the case in all the concerns of the writer of Hebrews, Jesus is better!

Do we really see correction and reproof in life as the movement of a loving God in our lives? Can we really trust God to have our best interests foremost in mind regardless of our current situation or “momentary afflictions” as Paul calls them? All trials that God allows in the lives of His children are for their ultimate glorification. This applies even to death. Maybe, I should say especially to death. S. Lewis Johnson says in his sermon on this book, “death is to stop sinning suddenly.” Fruchtenbaum catches this truth and refers to 1 Corinthians 11:30 as evidence. He writes, “The progression of discipline is from a lesser degree to a greater degree and the progression is weakness, sickness, and finally, death (1 Cor. 11:30)”[1] Trusting God in all things, even in the death of our loved ones as well as our own death, is the purpose of God’s loving discipline.

[1] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Jewish Epistles: Hebrews, James, First Peter, Second Peter, Jude, 1st ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2005), 173.

Tags: , , ,
Permalink
Hebrews 10:25, Romans 8:28, Psalm 103:1

In Christ we are God’s dearly beloved Children!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

After addressing our lives as a struggle between wrestling and resting, the author of Hebrews reinforces the fact that even in our wrestling in life we can find rest as sons and daughters of the living God. Hebrews 12:4-5a says, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?” The first point to look at in this passage is the fact that things could be worse. Jesus went all the way to death, “even death on the cross.” We haven’t been called to go that far. Second, regardless of how far we’ve suffered it must be held firmly in mind and strongly believed that God always works things out for our best because he loves us and truly cares about us regardless of the situations we find ourselves in. We are his beloved children. We can trust God in our pain.

The first point is that things could be worse. I like to imagine the worst-case scenario of any situation I’m in and tell God “if that is your will for me, that is alright with me.” We can find rest even in our struggles, pain, and failures in life with that approach. We just need to continue to look to Jesus in faith and trust the hardship we’re enduring and its outcome to God. He promises “all things work together for good, to those who love Him” (Romans 8:28). The times I’ve looked at the worst possible ending of a particular problem and told God whatever He wanted for me would be just fine with me, it usually never reached the worst possible state. I’ve never had to resist to the point of shedding blood. But leaving the results to God and resting in His proven love is surely a place of peace and rest.

Next, we are encouraged to hang onto the truth of the fact that we are children. We’re not slaves or animals or possessions, we’re His children. He loves us and truly cares about our well-being. Having given up their religion and all its accouterments as discussed early in the book, the readers of Hebrews had lost family, friends, probably livelihoods and have even been cast out of their homes. J. Vernon McGee observes, “Their only resource was Christ – not a temple, or a ritual, or a religion. They were almost outcasts at this time, and the writer is telling them not to forget this exhortation from God to His children.”[1] In Psalm 103 we read, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” The first part of this passage, trusting God and accepting His will for our lives, is what it means to fear Him. When we rest in His hands regardless of our situation, He takes over! And His will is always good for His children.

[1] J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary: The Epistles (Hebrews 8-13), electronic ed., vol. 52 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), 118.

Tags: , ,
Permalink
Hebrews 12:3, Matthew 11:28

Wrestling and Resting in Jesus

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary now notices a final example of faith unequaled by any mentioned so far. It’s the obvious refrain of the entire book of Hebrews: Jesus is better. It says, “Each of the people mentioned in this chapter illustrates some phase or aspect of the life of faith – whether obedience, acting on promises of things to come, separation from the world system (Moses), or some other. But the writer still has not completed his argument concerning the superiority of the life of faith over the practice of Mosaic legalism. One example remains, the Lord Jesus Christ. The final phase of the argument by example culminates in the ‘consider him’ statement of Heb 12:3. Having considered all of these other witnesses, the readers are now to ‘consider him that endured . . . lest ye be weary and faint in your minds.’”[1]

Jesus calls us to himself with the promise in Matthew 11:28. He says, “come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It’s not just any kind of rest that is promised. It is “rest for our souls.” I will argue that Hebrews 12:3 speaks to us about thinking seriously about Jesus and understanding His victory on our behalf. This will give us that rest whereas all efforts to earn it for ourselves result in failure. It says, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

In his sermon on this passage, John Piper argues that there are two sides of the Christian life. One is “resting” and the other is “wrestling.” Jesus calls us to himself with the promise of giving us true “rest” for our souls. Yet the author of Hebrews uses athletic illustrations exhorting us to wrestle with adversaries as we live our lives. Piper explains, “These two sides are not related in such a way that you rest one day and wrestle the next. They are interwoven in two ways. 1) First, the main aim of our wrestling is to rest in God and not in money or position or looks or achievement; the aim of our wrestling is to rest in the promises of God and not the promises of sin. 2) Second, all our wrestling and fighting and running are done with a deep restfulness of spirit that Christ himself has already won the decisive victory for us and is sovereignly working in us and will bring us to glory.”[2] In life we will need to “wrestle” to remain at rest in the full sufficiency of Christ, but even in that wrestling we’re at rest in the reality of our eternal security which is based on God’s promises, not on our prowess in the ring!

[1] Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett Falconer Harrison, eds., The Wycliffe Bible Commentary: New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), Heb 11:32.

[2] John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1990–1999) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).

Tags: ,
Permalink
Hebrews 12:2

Keep Looking to Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

The secret of our victory in the race of life is not trying harder, being more dedicated, practicing more, struggling more fiercely, but rather trusting more deeply. Hebrews 12:2 reminds us that it’s looking to Jesus, the ultimate savior, that is the answer. It says, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Looking to Jesus, as the children of Israel looked to the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness, was the way of healing and salvation. Jesus endured the hardships of his calling as this verse says, “…for the joy that was set before him.” We know what that joy was. It’s as Long says, “The goal of the race for Jesus was not only a seat at the right hand of the throne of God (1:3; 12:2), but the joy of bringing with him the other runners, of ‘bringing many children to glory’ (2:10), of crossing the finish line and saying, ‘Here am I and the children God has given me.’ (2:13).”[1]

We often want to see this passage depicting Christ and his endurance through suffering to be the example for us to follow. I think not. Lenski doesn’t think so either and for the same reason. He writes, “Rationalism and modernism rob Christ of his deity, reduce him to a mere man, and thus depict him as being no more than a perfect example for us to follow. But what good does a perfect example do us who cannot possibly achieve perfection? We need vastly more than a perfect example, which by its very perfection may well cause us to cry in despair: “We cannot hope even to approach such an example!” From start to finish we need the divine Christ as the One who can fill us with faith, keep us in faith, and finally crown our faith.”[2]

Jesus “endured” the sufferings associated with the cross along with the ridicule and scorn of sinful men. Thankfully, none of us, and none of the Hebrews of old suffered in the same way that Jesus suffered. Jesus however, is not an example for me to follow. Again, I side with Lenski who says, “This is again reduced to an example by some: as Christ was crucified, so we should suffer; as he looked beyond the cross, so we should; as he sat at God’s right hand, so we shall receive glory. Such are ‘the lessons’ we should learn from Christ. We refuse to accept such a reduction.”[3] Jesus is the founder and finisher of our faith. Our confidence begins in believing in what he endured for us, and will end in our confidence and assurance in what His work has accomplished for us when He presents us holy and pure to the Father in the Kingdom of Heaven.  The race for me is to remain firmly fixed on the full sufficiency of Christ’s victory over sin and death on my behalf.

[1] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 128.

[2] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Epistle of James (Columbus, OH: Lutheran Book Concern, 1938), 428.

[3] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Epistle of James (Columbus, OH: Lutheran Book Concern, 1938), 429–430.

Tags:
Permalink
Hebrews 12:2, Numbers 21:9, John 3:14-15

It’s Jesus Only!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

Hebrews chapter 11 was all about the OT heroes who lived by faith. There were those who won great victories by faith and those who appeared to be failures but still lived by faith and hung on to the truth of God’s promises. In chapter 12, especially in verse 2, we see that the ultimate example of faith given is Jesus Himself. Hebrews 12:2 says, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” We are to keep the faith by looking to Jesus! He is the starting point and the finish line of faith. If there’s a race to be run, it’s run “in Christ.” Several times in previous chapters of this letter, the author calls his readers to “think about,” “look to,” and “consider” Jesus! Allen says, “The prefixed preposition in the compound word in Greek indicates focused attention in the sense of ‘to look away’ from everything else and to focus on one object or person.”[1]

Yes, all of the heroes were deliverers of their people, especially Abraham, Moses, the judges and David who is quoted often in Hebrews. But they are just images of the coming redeemer, Jesus Himself. All of those mentioned in Hebrews 11 were simply shadows of the coming redemption that Christ would bring. Turn away from the shadows and look to the real thing. We must see Jesus as the ultimate of all deliverers and that to which the whole Old Testament in pointing towards. In Hebrews 2:10, Jesus was called the “author of our salvation.” Lane says, “In the light of the athletic metaphor, it is proper to recognize in ἀρχηγός the nuance of ‘champion’ demonstrated for the term in its first occurrence in 2:10 (see Comment on 2:10; cf. Snell, 148–49: Jesus is ‘the exemplar, the champion of faith’)”.[2]

The angels, the prophets, the law, and even the law giver, Moses are simply Old Testament figures pointing to the redemption ultimately to be found in Jesus, our true Hero. He is the “finisher” of our faith. Looking to Jesus as the Savior is our only recourse. It looks back at the serpent on the stick in the wilderness. Numbers 21:9 tells us that the crowd of sinners had only one path that would lead to salvation. It says, “So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” When Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus, before quoting the most famous passage in the Bible (John 3:16), he mentions this Old Testament experience and says in John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” It’s not the Old Testament heroes that offer salvation. It’s only Jesus!

[1] David L. Allen, Hebrews, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group, 2010), 574.

[2] William L. Lane, Hebrews 9–13, vol. 47B, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1991), 411.

Tags: , ,
Permalink
Hebrews 12:1

Jesus is the race set before us!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2020

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” There have been two specific ways of viewing the phrase “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” The first way is that they are watching us from heaven. Brooks explains this view: “They watch us, they observe how we are doing, they cheer us on, like spectators in an athletics stadium, all around us (‘we are surrounded’). They have finished their course, and they are taking a keen interest in how we are faring in ours. This is stated for our encouragement and to spur us on to finish our Christian course faithfully ourselves.”[1] To the contrary Hodges says, “life of faith has been amply attested by this great cloud of Old Testament witnesses. (This does not mean that they watch believers today.)”[2] O’Brien agrees with the second opinion and writes, “However, while the athletic imagery of the passage is unmistakable in the second and third clauses of the verse, the emphasis of the first clause falls on what Christians see in the host of witnesses rather than on what they see in Christians.”[3]

I’ve held both views! But today I’m siding with the thought that they are not watching us, but we are watching them. The author’s point seems to be that these men and women of chapter 11 were challenged in their faith but persisted. I’ve always felt that thinking about all the saints of old – Abraham, Moses and all the others – was a frightening prospect. This seems to say they are laying a yard stick against us to see if we measure up and I’ve always wanted to insist that in Christ we have already measured up and there is no more evaluation of our sin. I like the way Hacking puts it regarding this issue. He writes, “…we are watching them for encouragement rather than them watching us in examination.” [4] As an incoming first year student at Dallas Theological Seminary, I was asked to share my testimony at the faculty and staff reception of the 500 new students of which I was one. Having Charles Ryrie, Norm Geisler, Howard Hendricks, Dwight Pentecost and 30 other famous faculty members along with 500 of my peers in attendance watching me, didn’t fill me with confidence and assurance. It did not inspire me! It filled me with fear and dread. But now, 40 years later, remembering those faithful men and thinking about their lives inspires me to go on in my faith.

What do we see in this “great cloud” of witnesses? We see the persistent conviction that our sins and struggles are settled once and for all in Christ. Even the Old Testament characters looked forward to Christ and his resolution of their sin for salvation. This is the race we’re in. The enemy wants us to return to a focus on our own efforts and works to find acceptance with God but these believers of old had to resist and move on in faith. They trusted in God’s promise of full redemption through faith in Christ and we are challenged to the same. Don’t let the pressures of the world drive you back to any religion or religious ritual. The heroes of chapter 11 laid aside those fleshly passions fueling their self-righteousness and held strong to the hope of the future redemption promised by God that would be provided by Him, by His wonderful grace, and acquired through faith. Let us follow their example!

[1] Richard Brooks, The Name High over All: A Commentary on Hebrews, Welwyn Commentary Series (Welwyn Garden City, UK: EP, 2016), 384.

[2] Zane C. Hodges, “Hebrews,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 809.

[3] Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 451.

[4] Philip H Hacking, Opening up Hebrews, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2006), 82.

Tags:
Permalink
sewa motor jogja
© Chuck Larsen 2019. Powered by WordPress.