When it is right to Judge Part 4

Passage

"For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world."
1 Corinthians 11:31-32 (NKJV)

Pondering

Lastly, it is right for the us to judge our own faith first.

Actually, this is where it all starts! As we daily judge ourselves by the Word of God we will become more and more like the Righteous Judge Himself, Jesus. That is our goal. But how many Christians daily ask the Holy Spirit to reveal their sin or wrong attitudes, allowing Him to shine the light of His Word on their hearts?

The following thoughts from "Our Daily Bread, January 9, 1994" are helpful here:

"State employment officials in Tucson, Arizona, posted an interesting sign over a full-length mirror. Directed to all job hunters, it read, "Would you hire this person?" In another office a mirror and sign posed this question: "Are you ready for a job?"

Self-evaluation was what the apostle Paul called for in 1 Corinthians 11. Believers in Christ need to judge themselves, he said, to avoid being judged by the Lord as unfit for His service. In the Corinthian church, the "appearance problem" was especially serious. Those Christians "looked" awful. They were actually getting drunk and quarreling among themselves while going through the motions of celebrating the Lord’s Supper. So Paul said, in effect, "Look at yourselves. What a mess! If you don’t get your lives straightened out, the Lord will have to do it for you." Then the apostle added the sobering fact that God had already begun to cleanse the church by sending some of them to an early grave. This is a hard truth, but one the church still needs to hear today."

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of God, experiencing His judgment. Therefore let us judge ourselves first and start living as we should. Only then can we stand as righteous judges. If we fail to judge ourselves properly then we will be like the Jewish leaders in Jesus' time who were speck inspectors with huge planks in their own eyes.

Poem

Lord shine Your light upon my heart
So I can judge and clean out sin,
Before You come as judge to start
A terrible process I don't want to begin.

Prayer

"Father, help me to daily come before You so Your Spirit may show any sin in my heart and I can come clean before You through the blood of Jesus. Let this be a regular habit so that I need not come under your terrible hammer of judgment. Amen!"

What Do We Think About God?

Passage

"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7

Pondering

Practically, our view of God, consciously or otherwise, affects every thought and action we perform, since it functions as the central premise of our world view. If we do not believe in a god but that we evolved from apes then we will think and act like an evolved ape! If we believe in a god of war then we will become a warring people (e.g. The Vikings). Therefore, it is vital that we grasp from His special revelation of Himself (the Bible) what He really is like so that we can then become like Him.

We become like what we worship. Some people have got it backwards. They worship their dog and start to look and act like it! Let’s turn things around (turn DOG backwards you get GOD) and worship the true and living God to become more like Him. As Daniel says, "Those who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits" (Dan 11:32). If we know God as He really is (strong and mighty), we shall become like Him!

What image of God do you have? An angry old man up in the sky, uninvolved in our affairs except when he throws a few thunder bolts in judgment? A harmless, jovial, "buddy" who always pats you on the back and gives you what you want?
Often our image of God is shaped by our own Father’s relationship with us. If he was overly strict and distant then we can project that image onto God Himself and relate to Him in that way, feeling that He cannot be known intimately and speaks to us only to condemn us. If our Father was too permissive and let us do what we wanted, we will see God as too laid back, one who fails to correct us, and one who is indifferent to our sin.

Let us be like Daniel, one who really knows his God. We only know God by spending time with Him and letting Him reveal more of Himself to us. Today, determine in your heart to draw near to God that He will draw near to you, showing who He really is.

Poem

What image of God fills your mind?
An angry old man or one who is too kind?
Turn to Him and let Him reveal His reality,
As You seek Him on your knees, simply let Him be.

Prayer

"Father, strip me of all wrong images I have of You. Show me who you truly are that I may worship and serve You in spirit and truth. Lord I want to draw nearer and nearer to You so You will draw nearer and nearer to me and I'll become more and more like You. Amen."

The Biblical View of God

Passage

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

Pondering

How do we answer pre-believers who say that all religions ultimately worship the same god or that Christians worship three gods (Father, Son and Holy Mother)? We need to have a clear grasp on what Scripture tells us about the God we worship so that we can communicate this to others through our testimony and response to their questions about our God.

God created all things. Before creation there was only God. All God created was good but became corrupted by sin. God is far greater and superior than the sum of all His creation, which includes the Devil and his fallen angels (demons). Hence, there is not a DUALITY of good and evil in this world as all that is evil is definitely not equal and opposite of God. God is in control and only allows evil to seemingly triumph as He knows what is best and is working in all things for good to outwork His divine plan.

The following story shows various ways man has developed to understand life:

MICE IN THE PIANO

Imagine a family of mice who lived all their lives in a large piano. To them in their piano-world came the music of the instrument, filling all the dark spaces with sound and harmony. At first the mice were impressed by it. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that there was Someone who made the music - though invisible to them - above, yet close to them. They loved to think of the Great Player whom they could not see. Then one day a daring mouse climbed up part of the piano and returned very thoughtful. He had found out how the music was made. Wires were the secret; tightly stretched wires of graduated lengths which trembled and vibrated. They must revise all their old beliefs; none but the most conservative could any longer believe in the Unseen Player. Later, another explorer carried the explanation
further. Hammers were now the secret, numbers of hammers dancing and leaping on the wires. This was a more complicated theory, but it all went to show that they lived in a purely mechanical and mathematical world. The Unseen Player came to be thought of as a myth ....But the pianist continued to play. (James S Hewett, ed ILLUSTRATIONS UNLIMITED p187)

Pantheism believes that God is in all things and all the universe is God. Most primitive animistic beliefs in any area of the word hold to this view of life. Hinduism is Polytheistic (worshipping many gods) as were the religions of the ancient empires such as Greece and Rome. They believe each god is responsible for one aspect of the universe (such as war, love, agriculture etc.). Atheism has only gained wider acceptance in recent years with the advances in Science and the rise of Communist nations. Agnostics (or Freethinkers) generally believe there is a god or that there are many gods but they have no relevance or real impact in their life. Buddhism is more of a philosophy of life and its believers can be atheistic, monotheistic or even polytheistic. Christianity is Monotheistic, meaning the worship only one God. Other Monotheistic religions are Judaism and Islam.

The main difference between Christianity and all other religions or philosophies is the gracious, loving personal relationship we enjoy with God through the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The Trinity does not mean Christians worship three Gods but worship one God in three persons. Indeed, because God is three in one He eternally lives in gracious, loving, relationship. He is a God of Love and Grace. That distinguishes Him form all else and that is a reason to worship Him and love Him and serve Him!

Poem

The mice thought the piano was their god at first,
A living, throbbing deity, that had given them birth.
Then one found many strings, each singing a different song,
So they started worshipping each string not knowing they were wrong.

Then one mouse found the hammers beating on the strings,
And came with a theory for why the piano rally sings.
It's just a mechanical wonder formed by amazing laws,
There's no gods of great player who really deserves applause.

And all the while the Great Player sat and played on the piano's keys,
Playing a song of love and joy , calling the mice to sit upon His knees.
It was not through simple observation that the mice could know what's real,
But by following and living for the one the music did reveal.

Prayer

"Thank you Lord for revealing Yourself to us in Your Word. Show me who You really are that I may worship You in spirit and in truth. Amen!"

What is God Like?

Passage

"No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
John 1:18 (NKJV)

"Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
John 14:9 (NKJV)

Pondering

Scripture has progressively revealed the nature and attributes of God. There is a revelation of God's essence and His pesonality. God cannot be seen and heard in His essence but can be seen and heard in His person. In John 1:18 it says no one has ever seen God (His essence) but John 14:9 says that when the disciples saw Jesus they saw the Father (His Person hood). Another example of this is Moses speaking to God face to face (Exodus 33:11) and then being told he could not see God’s face (Exodus 33:20) - an explanation of this is that the first meeting was with the Angel of the Lord (pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus, one of the persons of the Trinity) and the second was with the very essence of God.

The fact that God is revealed in personal terms means we can have a relationship with Him in His three persons.The revelation of His essence means that He is unlike any other personal being and is to be feared with reverential fear above all else.

God’s essence is that part of Himself that is unique to Him (He is self-existent, unchanging, all powerful, all knowing and all present) but His personality is seen in us as we are made in His image (the image of His person hood - man is tripartite, body, soul and spirit, as God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

We cannot display His attributes of essence (i.e. none of us is all powerful, all present or all knowing) but we can and should display these attributes of His person hood.

Holiness - What He IS - pure and separate. We are to be holy as He is holy (1 Pet 1:15-16).
Righteousness - What He DOES - right and just. We are righteous (Matt 5:20) only by the imputed and imparted righteousness of God in Jesus (Rom 3:22).
Sovereignty - His perfect REIGN and RULE. If we endure His will then we will reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12) both in this life (1 Tim 3:5;5:17) and in the age to come (Rev 5:10).
Wisdom - Correct application of knowledge. We, the Church, are to make known the manifold wisdom of the Lord to the world (Eph 3:9-10), meaning we partake in this attribute of God just as King Solomon was given God’s wisdom.
Love - Goodness, kindness, faithfulness, loyalty. We are to move in His agape (self-sacrificial) love (1 John 4:19-21).

Hence, we should worship God in His totality. We stand in awe and wonder before His essence but we enter into intimate relationship with Him in His three-fold personality, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Poem

You are lion, You are lamb, fully God and fully man.
To be feared yet You embrace, cannot see yet You speak face to face.

Prayer

"Lord, I stand in awe before You. You are all powerful, all knowing and all present. Yet, you are my father, my lover and my friend. What an amazing paradox and one that I worship You within. Amen!"

Knowing The Trinity

Passage

"Jesus also was baptized and while He prayed the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased." Luke 3:21-22

Pondering

It has been said that if we try to fully understand the Trinity then we will lose our mind but if we don’t fully believe in it then we will lose our soul. We need to believe in and relate to what God has revealed of Himself by progressive revelation in the Bible. As we will see, He has revealed Himself as one God in three persons. It is through these three persons that we can have a personal relationship with God.

God’s unknowable essence is not blocking His personality from shining through. Rather, His personality is built upon His core essence and radiates out to humanity. He can be known and wants us to know Him in His three persons. We can clearly see His invisible Essence in and through His creation (Rom 1:20) but cannot partake in or relate with Him in this. We can, however, relate to all three of His persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit - each fulfilling a unique relational role. We can partake in His holiness, righteousness, sovereignty, wisdom and love as we relate with all three, who are these attributes (God does not HAVE these attributes He IS these attributes- He is Holy, is Righteous is Love etc.)

Probably the best physical illustration for the Trinity is Water in that it exists in three states, liquid, ice and steam yet all are H2O. So Father, Son and Spirit are all GOD. However, the Trinity always exists and work together and not in isolation.

The picture of a fruitful tree is good in illustrating the WORK of the Trinity. The Father, as the root, begins all things - He is the man with the plan. The Son, as the shoot, arranges the Father's plan according to His pattern - Jesus is the pattern son and we are to be like Him. The Spirit, as the fruit, produces the desired effect in us, working powerfully in us to produce the Fruit of the Spirit (Christ likeness).

Father, Son and Holy Spirit are seen working together as separate persons who are each fully God. The most clear example of this is at the Baptism of Jesus. The Father speaks from heaven (He planned this event) over the Son (He is the pattern son, living the Father’s plan) and the Spirit descends as a dove onto Jesus (He empowers and anoints Jesus to produce the works He was called to walk in - Eph 2:10).

The Trinity gives us the basis for all Christian leadership (Parents to children, husband to wife, church leadership). They are all equal but submit to one another in a loving environment. The Father is treated as the first among equals. Jesus, though equally God, did nothing without the Father’s go ahead and the Spirit likewise responds to the will of the Son. The Spirit’s main ministry may be termed a “spotlight” ministry, where He lives to glorify the Son, Jesus.

Let us ask the Lord to reveal Himself to us in all His fullness, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Poem

Our God can be known as He is Three in One,
Father, Spirit and Jesus the Son.
He has always been three in loving community,
And He reaches out in love to you and to me.

Prayer

"Father God, beautiful Jesus and sweet Spirit, show more of yourselves to me day by day. Let me enter into deeper relationship with each one of you. Take me deeper into You, the great three in one. Amen."

Lambs and Lions.

Passage

1 "Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,"
Says the LORD of hosts.
2 "But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner's fire
And like launderer's soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.
4 "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the LORD,
As in the days of old,
As in former years. "
Malachi 3:1-4 (NKJV)

Pondering

Last night, in the Tuesday Night Prayer Meeting of our Church, one sister came forward and spoke Malachi 3:1-5 as a prophecy for our Church. As she spoke it the Lord gave me a vision that, at first, I thought did not have much to do with this passage of Scripture.

In the vision I saw many lambs all going humbly into God's Temple. In the temple they all merged into one sacrificial lamb who was sacrificed on the altar. Then a kingly lion arose from the altar and roared with a mighty roar from the Temple and the sound echoed from the mountain into the valley and to the sea, shaking all things. Then the lion became many lions going forth from the Temple into the nations with great authority and miracles took place wherever they went.

Now I see that this vision fits perfectly into Malachi 3:1-4. Malachi is actually prophesying about the coming of John the Baptist before the first coming of the Lamb of God, Jesus. Jesus came to cleanse the natural temple in anticipation of cleansing the spiritual temple, the Church. We as the Church are awaiting His second coming as the mighty lion of Judah, who comes as a refiners fire.

The vision is actually a picture of what God wants to do in His church before His final return. We are to come together as one offering, each of us a living sacrifice through the one perfect sacrifice of Christ Himself. Only offerings in Christ are acceptable. We must all come humbly as lambs to offer ourselves before God through the blood of the Lamb until we become one living sacrifice.

As we come together, Jesus , the Lamb of God will come and make us one body in Him. He will come to cleanse us and raise us up as the mighty army of the Lion of Judah. Then we will be prepared as His army to go forth into the nations declaring His might name with signs and wonders following.

Poem

Lord may I come to you as a lamb,
Humbly to sacrifice all I am.
Then You will cleanse us and raise us high,
And, as lions our united roar will shake the sky!

Prayer

"Father, prepare us, Your church, for You second coming. Come into Your Temple and cleanse us. Let us come together as one living sacrifice to glorify Your name and then rise up as Your end-time army to storm the gates of hell and save the lost. Amen!"

Which Tabernacle are you in?

Passage

"So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel."
1 Chronicles 16:1-4 (NKJV)

Pondering

Following on from my thoughts about Blueprints and Game plans, I have been contemplating the differences between the Tabernacle of Moses and the Tabernacle of David. The Tabernacle of Moses was given as a blueprint to Moses when he was on Mount Sinai. The Tabernacle of Moses was the pattern and place of worship for God's people until the Ark of the Covenant was plundered by the Philistines. When the Ark was finally retrieved it was not returned to the Tabernacle of Moses on Mount Gibeon but spent time in priest's houses before being taken by David into the Tabernacle he had erected for it on Mount Zion.

If The Tabernacle of Moses is God's blueprint for worship, then the Tabernacle of David is God's game plan for worship! We are in the Church age where God is restoring Tabernacle of David worship (see Acts 15:16-17). The Tabernacle of Moses speaks of worship under the Law. It had many items of furniture that had to be accessed by the priests in a particular order to enter into God's presence (e.g first was the altar where sacrifices were offered and then the priest went to the Brazen Laver to wash). The Tabernacle of David, however, was a simple tent with only the Ark of the Covenant (God's manifest presence) in the middle.

In the Tabernacle of Moses only the High Priest could enter in before the Ark of the Covenant but in the Tabernacle of David all the priests could freely go before the Ark with expressive worship in song and probably dance too (not seen in the Tabernacle of Moses). Now, it must be understood that the Tabernacle of David did not do away with the truths about worship expressed in the Tabernacle of Moses, indeed the Tabernacle of Moses actually brought those truths into fulness and full liberty (just as Christ fulfilled the Law and brought us into grace).

The Bible teaches us that the Law is like a school teacher leading us into maturity in Christ (Galatians 3:24). We're not meant to remain in the restrictions of the blueprint but we are to move onto the freedom there is in His grace game plan! In worship this means we are not to follow the Tabernacle of Moses rigidly as a model of worship, religiously going step by step into God's presence. We are to enter the freedom of worship expressed in the Tabernacle of David where all of the truths of the Tabernacle of Moses are given a freedom in His Spirit. Being filled with His Spirit gives us wisdom to know His will (Ephesians 5:17-18)l and His way of worship. It is significant that after King Solomon had asked God for wisdom at Gibeon (before the Tabernacle of Moses) his first step of wisdom was to go and sacrifice to God at the Tabernacle of David on Mount Zion (1 Kings 3:15).

Let us enter wisely by the Spirit into the kind of free worship that the Tabernacle of David speaks of. It was here that many of the Psalms spontaneously came forth as new and spiritual songs. Let us burst forth into new spiritual songs as His priests in the freedom of worship brought to us by Christ!

Poem

Take me past the outer courts, into Your Holy place,
Not by clever method but by Your loving embrace,
Lead me past the brazen altar with the sacrifice of praise,
Not by rigid order but by grace my hands I raise.

Prayer

"Lord, I ask for Your wisdom to worship you in Spirit and in Truth, to worship You freely like in the Tabernacle of David. Lead me on into free, dynamic and powerfully prophetic worship. Amen."