March 4

Exodus 15; Luke 18

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 40: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS WHICH IN THIS LIFE DO ACCOMPANY OR FLOW FROM JUSTIFICATION, ADOPTION, AND SANCTIFICATION?
Answer: The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, fellowship with Christ, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, the privilege of prayer, and perseverance therein to the end.
Scripture: Romans 5:1-5; 14:17; Proverbs 4:18: 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 5:13; 1 Corinthians 1:9; John 15:7.

Exodus 15

Ready:
The previous chapter was about God delivering through tough circumstances even when their faith was failing.  He did this to the praise of his name and to lift them up and set their faith upon his name.

Seeing what’s there:
In this chapter I see the response of Moses and the people of Israel as they magnify the Lord and praise him for his victory.  Unfortunately this highlight fades with a few tough days and they are again prodding Moses with grumbling and they seem to be questioning the provision of God.  God mercifully provides drinkable water for them and explains to them that he has set a statute for them that they are to listen to him and do right before him and then they will be kept from the diseases that overtook the Egyptians (perhaps the boils or maybe the whole lot of plagues).  It seems here that this refers to Moses listening to the Lord and following the unusual instructions of putting the log in the water.  It seems an action of faith is the response God is looking for when he speaks and I take it he is training his people like a young child learning his way from a loving father. 

Key Verses:
Exodus 15:2, 6-7, 11, 18, 20-21, 24, 25-26

Theme:
It may only take a little adversity to turn praise into grumbling, but the Lord has called us to hear him and believe him and to respond in faith to what he tells us.

Thinking about the message:
    v1-21.  A beautiful song about God and his might and his strength and his glorious power.  “Who is like the Lord” they sing, “awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”  They sing about God guiding them by steadfast love. 
    v22-27.  But then the song changes to a grumble when they seem to forget the lyrics and now they fear and doubt and challenge Moses to do something about their plight.  It seems God has a message that it is well and good to praise him after a victory and when you are riding high but will we trust him and praise him in the mire of daily life when things are tough?  Will we be pleased to listen and obey at those times?  It could be he references the diseases of Egypt because he speaks of their hard heart (represented by Pharaoh).  Could God be warning them against a hard heart that turns at the nearest thing that looks like trouble?  God says that he is testing them perhaps their grumbling amounts to a failure of the first test.  This habit of doubting and questioning the provision of God will plague them in the desert and result in a whole generation of people being kept from reaching Canaan. 

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    I hear a message about praising God and trusting God not only when circumstances are amazing and wonderful but also when they look a little bleak and the resolution is not yet in sight.  The implication is that God allows less favorable or even bad circumstances in order to train us in godliness.  The significance in my life is that I should be cautious to not let praise turn to grumbling and when I sense a grumbling I may want to start praying and praising his name and trusting that there is a log near by.

Valuing the message:
This message is valuable because it is easy to fall off of the perch and to come down the mountaintop experience and then be faced with a normal day where things don’s go right and where I don’t see the answer. 

Reflecting on the message:
I need to consider my reactions to hardship and consider the swings in my attitudes toward God and my reliance upon him.

Questions to ask:

1. Do I trust God only after the victory or in the midst of the conflict?
2. Will I listen and act in faith with obedience or will I grumble?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 18

Ready:
The previous chapter was about God taking our sin away and acknowledging his work and not expecting praise for obedience but instead offering praise for mercy.  This is a good lead in for chapter 18…

Seeing what’s there:
This chapter is about how God saves by mercy and not by payment.  Two parables, followed by four interactions make this point.  Luke weaves together this chapter similar to Mark chapter 10 with the rich ruler contrasted to blind Bartimeaus and the children.  Luke begins here with Jesus teaching a parable about a helpless widow who is all alone and seeks help and receives it by her seeking and asking with persistence.  Then Jesus tells a parable showing the craziness of a self-righteous Jew who thinks he is right before God because of his own actions.  Then the little children come to Jesus and he explains that this is the way anyone who comes to him does it.  Then the man who would seek to show Jesus his own righteousness is disappointed to learn that he has none.  Then Jesus makes it clear who in this scenario is doing the work and accomplishing righteousness as he describes his coming death and resurrection.  Then Luke describes the interaction between Jesus and the blind beggar who is helpless like the widow and who is dependent like the children and who, unlike the Pharisee and the rich man, knows that he brings no righteousness to reveal but only brings a trust in the mercy of God.  This man went home justified and not the others.  A man who thinks he stands on his own merit is helpless and blind and he is the one who is alone.

Key Verses:
Luke 18:1, 7-8, 9, 11-12, 13-14, 17, 18, 23, 28-30, 31, 32-33, 38, 41, 42-43

Theme:
The one in need seeks mercy and is saved by the work of God to the glory of God.

Thinking about the message:
    v1.  Here Luke is a very helpful narrator and he gives me the meaning of the parable before he even records the parable…thanks Luke!
    v2-8.  Jesus presents a parable about a make believe widow who seeks help from a judge who is not God fearing and who does not even like people, yet she is successful in getting his help because of her persistence.  This parable, with the help of Luke, is to teach me that I ought to come to God with persistence in my prayers for help and in dependence upon him.  Jesus makes is known that God will surely deal with us with more love and compassion and more speed than such a judge.  Thus is an encouragement to make my case before God and to be continuos in my cry, knowing that I am looking for help where I am myself helpless.
    v9-14.  Here I am amazed at the pride and the gaul of the Pharisee who essentially boasts before God in his lack of sinning (remember the last chapter made it clear that this is not praiseworthy, but is expected).  He offers up his religious practices as something God is supposed to be impressed by and he all the while is hateful and unloving and judgmental and harsh and proud and selfish.  This man has a dirty house and a so-so porch and garden (see comments on Luke 11).  There is no strong men there (Luke 11:21, 25-26).  The Pharisee has a false religion and he is the rich ruler that actually sold everything (begrudgingly) only to wind up glorifying himself instead of God.  Meanwhile the tax collector is spilled out upon the floor in contrition and he is broken before God pleading for mercy, probably with trembling (Isaiah 66:1-2).  It is plain to see that this is the attitude of a born again grace saved believer, not the other.
    v15-17.  Here Jesus illustrates that the one who would come into the kingdom will come as a dependent child or he will not come at all.  Pretty clear.
    v18-30.  Now here is the man who would set forth to merit his salvation, if only he had any actual righteousness.  Jesus makes a point at the conclusion of this interaction that one who has devoted themselves to acquiring riches in this life will find it very difficult to give up this life in favor of Christ and it will take an act of God to work this in them.  Peter pipes up and boasts that they have given up all they had but Jesus quickly corrects him by letting him know that there is nothing truly sacrificed in following Jesus, we do nothing but receive from God.  What we think we sacrifice in our small view is no sacrifice at all.  God is a giver now and forevermore.
    v31-34.  Here is the sacrifice that is made, not mine.  Here is righteousness, not mine.  Here is accomplishment, not mine.  Here is true surrender to the Father of lights, not mine.  Here is the basis for all I would plead for.  Here is the basis for all I would ask God to look upon.  His is the basis for my ability to approach God.  Here is the basis for my right to follow Jesus and enter the kingdom.  Here is the basis for God’s mercy upon me and healing of my sin.
    v35-43.  Here is the example that Jesus wants us to follow.  It is the tax-collector and the blind beggar that are our models.  I am to look to Jesus to be the one doing and accomplishing and earning.  I am to fall on his mercy and acknowledge my need for repentance and for healing (Mark 2:17).  Jesus came to rescue people like this (1 Tim 1:15)!  This man does not seek to put his own righteousness on display but knows that he has none worth glorifying like that of Jesus.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    Considering the rich ruler in contrast to the blind beggar I wonder this…The blind beggar followed Jesus and Luke records that he glorified God and the people who saw also glorified God.  What if the rich ruler had met Jesus’ requirement that he sell all he had and gave it to the poor?  Would he then have followed and glorified God?  Or would he have been self-righteous and expected a personal thank you note from Jesus?  Jesus is teaching that the question is not “what must I do?” but “will you please have mercy on me, a sinner?”.  I take the meaning here to be that we are to come seeking mercy and not seeking an evaluation of our righteousness.  The implication is that even the holiness that God does bring in my life is not something to look in the mirror at or to wave like a flag…only Jesus.  The significance for my life is that I need always to put my eyes on him and to drop to my knees in thanks and to lift up his name…never trusting or measuring my own actions or righteousness.  It is God’s grace by his mercy in Jesus from beginning to end.

Valuing the message:
This message is valuable because I have a mirror that I look at every day and it is easy to be either satisfied or dissatisfied by what I see.  I value the correction that my supposed sacrifices are not ultimate but are a trade for something far greater.

Reflecting on the message:
I need to stop looking there and look to Jesus in humility and in joyful worship of my great God who is my righteousness.  I can avoid the swings in emotions and in contentment when I stop measuring my own deeds and start reflecting upon his.  When I am walking in victory and enjoying a hunger for God and seeing fruit…this is the time to worship and to put my face down and to praise him and to look at him and to ask for mercy (Lam 3:22-26; Psalm 51:17).  Sin is ready to pounce upon me and it will use every opportunity to cripple me (Rom 7:21; Gen 4:7; Prov 11:2).

Questions to ask:

1. Do I think that giving up filth and wickedness and idolatry in favor of glory and honor and peace is a sacrifice?  Or giving up tin cans for gold?
2. Do I think there is something in the mirror that merits a right standing with God?
3. Do I think God is waiting for me to accomplish something or waiting for me to lay down at his feet and receive his mercy?
4. When I think I am at my best with God, who is getting glory…me or him?  Am I the Pharisee at that moment or the tax-collector?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Soli Deo Gloria!