Protected: God Blesses Hypocrites Despite Them

Reformed Fellowship of Bellevue

On December 18th, 520 B. C. a word came from the Lord to a man named Haggai. He was the chosen messenger who was to bring to the people of Judah a word of rebuke and blessing. This word has significance for us today. And we are now even close to the original date that it was proclaimed!

Haggai 2:10 KJV* In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a…

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Protected: Build the Church of God

Reformed Fellowship of Bellevue

Text: Haggai 1:1-15

KJV*
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.
3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm…

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Protected: Sermon Manuscript: Malachi 3:6-4:6 “God’s mercy distinguishes, therefore return to him.”

Please share, in an effort to inform people about an effort to form a new church in the Omaha/Bellevue area.

Reformed Fellowship of Bellevue

For November 23, 2014, if the Lord wills.

Text:
Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not…

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“Abba” is not “Daddy”

“our intimacy with God does not become an excuse for immaturity”

The Reformed Reader Blog

It isn’t quite right to say that the Aramaic “abba” means “daddy.”  In other words, to call the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob “daddy” at the outset of our prayers is a bit too casual and irreverent.  Philip Ryken explains.

“To call God ‘Abba, Father’ is to speak to him with reverence as well as confidence.  Abba does not mean ‘Daddy.’  To prove this point, the Oxford linguist James Barr wrote an article for the Journal of Theological Studies called ‘Abba isn’t “Daddy”.’  What Barr discovered was that abba was not merely a word used by young children.  It was also the word that Jewish children used for their parents after they were fully grown.  Abba was a mature, yet affectionate way for adults to speak to their fathers.”

“The New Testament is careful not to be too casual in the way it addresses God.  The Aramaic word abba…

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Fatherly Punishment: Zechariah Devotional, part 12, chapter 8:10-17

God reminds us through the prophet Zechariah that blessing comes to those who learn from His loving chastisement, not to those who obstinately continue as if nothing has happened when He punishes us as our Father.  If we love God and are thankful to Him, it will show in our obedience to Him, in reflecting His justice, love and mercy to others, especially in the Church of Christ.

Zechariah 8:10 For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

¹¹ But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.

¹² For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

¹³ And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not:

¹⁵ So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

pruned vines in May, Wikimedia Commons

For God’s people, (which in Old Testament times was the nation of Israel, and is now known as the Church of Jesus Christ, made up of Christians of every nation), sin angers God.  When we stray against God, he sends his rod to chasten us, not out of hatred, but out of His fatherly love, in order to correct our attitude and restrain our bad behavior.  There are times, as in the history of God’s people Israel recounted in the words of the prophet, when we provoke God’s anger through sin.  Chief among these sins is the sin of idolatry, of having false gods.  This can be the blatant idolatry of bowing down to false gods represented by images invented by man’s imagination, as the Jews engaged in before they had been taken to exile in Babylon, or it can be in the more subtle form of the rule of other life priorities in our hearts, the place where God’s rule is meant to be seated and expressed in our life together as the Church.  These other priorities may be money, work, family, or community, which are blessings if used for God’s glory, when they are not allowed to take priority over God in our lives and hearts, but are idols if they are allowed to be more important to us than him.  God forebears for a long time in the face of such idolatry, when he allows the material blessings to continue.  But sooner or later out of love our Father removes certain blessings in order to discipline His people, to teach us to be more faithful to Him as His obedient child, noted in verse 10 above as the removal of economic blessing and the introduction of strife between the people.  But as with any loving father, His punishment does not last forever.

There is a blessing promised, when the Church will flourish and Her hard times will be remembered no more, as even bystanders looking from the outside see that God is in her midst to bless and keep her.  This blessing involves a remnant being kept by God from among the people, while those who remain in their sinful rebellion, who, instead of repenting of their sin and learning from God’s punishment, continue obstinately in their former ways, are cut off from the people of God.  The promised blessing is for those who prove to be faithful as a result of God’s chastisement, who learn obedience to Him from it.

Let us be those who learn the lessons that God gives us opportunity to learn, teachably, receptive to what He instructs us in his word and by the events that transpire, for we know that He is in sovereign control of everything that happens to us.  God teaches us in his word, and applies it to our lives often through the events that transpire.  Let us be open to what He has to teach us so that we will receive the spiritual peace and prosperity that He promises, which is so much better than even material blessing.

¹⁶ These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

¹⁷ And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.

The blessing of God is received in thankfulness when we keep His commandments.  When we speak the truth to one another, love truth, and make just and right decisions as His Church, it shows that we are His people, beloved by Him, chastened but not killed, walking in thankful obedience in response to His grace to us.  When we love our neighbor and keep our word, for His glory, out of thankfulness for the blessings He has showered upon us, it shows His work written upon our heart, that we have been taught of Him and know Him.

 

True vs. False Religion: Zechariah Devotional, Part 9

In December 518 B. C., the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, 2 years after his first vision. (Duguid)  By this time, the temple had been dedicated, but it wasn’t yet completed.  Since being restored to the land of Judah, after the Jewish people had been captive in Babylon for 70 years, not everything had gone as planned.  The Lord had been gracious to restore His people to the Promised Land after they had been taken away, but they had been lazy in the rebuilding effort, getting distracted by other concerns instead of focusing on serving the LORD in Spirit and truth.

Zechariah 7:1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

² When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the Lord,

³ And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

⁴ Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,

⁵ Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

⁶ And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

⁷ Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

The two messengers sent from Bethel to the north of Jerusalem were asking a logical question.  Ever since the first temple had been destroyed, they had been observing a fast in the fifth month of the year (according to the Jewish calendar) to mark the event, ask forgiveness, and plead God’s mercy.  They had also been fasting in the seventh month of the year to mark the date of the assassination of Gedaliah the imperially-appointed Jewish governor. (Jeremiah 41:1-3, Duguid)  Now that the temple had been rededicated, were they required to keep observing these fasts?, they came to ask.  The question makes sense, but the LORD takes the opportunity to give a deeper and more meaningful rebuke.  That is, were they truly fasting out of sorrow in their hearts, and repenting to the LORD, or had they just been going through the motions these last seventy years?  Before exile in Babylon, when they were eating and drinking, not fasting, were they giving glory to God in their feasting or were they vainly exalting themselves and ignoring the God of Israel?  What difference does feasting or fasting make if their hearts are not tuned and eager to hear the word of the LORD, which he had spoken through the prophets before enslavement and exile in Babylon, like through the prophets Jeremiah and Haggai?

National Cathedraw, Washington DC; wikimedia commons

Let us remember that the service which God requires, although it includes external means which are absolutely vital for the spiritual life of our souls (the hearing of the word, public prayer, songs of praise, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper), yet going through the motions externally is not enough.  We can fool ourselves into thinking we are good Christians by having our names on a membership role, by going to church, and by partaking of Holy Communion.  These things are required of Christians in God’s holy word.  But the vital life of the soul is what matters most to God, and these external things are meant to feed it by placing Christ before our eyes and in our ears and hearts.  If our hearts are hard and our ears are dull to the word that the Lord speaks in His church, these good things will not do us any good.  That service which God requires starts in the heart, which only God sees, and flows out in obedience to everything God has commanded, the way we speak and worship, and also, the way that we act in love toward those who need it most.

 

⁸ And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,

⁹ Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

¹⁰ And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

¹¹ But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

¹² Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.

¹³ Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:

¹⁴ But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

Through the mouth of His prophet Zechariah God speaks the same word to His people that He’d spoken through the prophets that had come before.  Just decades prior, in the gate of the temple of the LORD, Jeremiah stood and said,

Jeremiah 7:3 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. ⁴ Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. ⁵ For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; ⁶ If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: ⁷ Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

The temple of the LORD is intended to be a meeting place of His people within His presence, so that they will become more like him, to think His thoughts and reflect His mercy.  But tragically, the people of Judah trusted in the physical structure of the Temple as a symbol of God’s favor upon them, assuming that he would always stand with them no matter what, instead of examining their hearts to be sure that they stood with him.  What was the result?  God sent them away from that place, enslaved and cruelly mistreated by a barbarous army of marauders, in order that in future generations the Jews might learn to serve the LORD from the heart.

Let us remember their example.  Maintaining a beautiful church building and keeping the traditions that remind us of God’s favor to us in the past are not enough, if we do not know Him, enjoy Him, and reflect His love to others.  A true relationship with the Lord, standing by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, is intended by God to yield fruits of obedience in our lives.  Grace in the heart breaks out in action: in acts of obedient worship and in love to others.  The God who saved us through Jesus Christ and gathered us together as His body is the same God who said,

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

National Cathedral, Washington DC, capitolescapes.com

Let us as the people of God draw near to Him, not just with our feet every Sunday, but with our hearts, and daily in meaningful prayer, so that we may be made more like him.  And let our lives abound with the love of Christ, opening our hearts with mercy, grace, and forgiveness to the most forsaken and looked-down-upon among us, welcoming the stranger, the oppressed, the hurting, and the disadvantaged to experience the love of Christ as we have, through our example of love to them.  If we do not, God will have no choice but to remove us from our place with the whirlwind, ripping through our empty traditions like a tornado, as He did to His hard-hearted people of old when they were packed off to the evil land of Babylon.

 

 

Meredith Kline’s Covenantal Dissonance

methodistfindinggod.blogspot.com

Although Kline wants to restrict the works principle to Israel’s inheritance of Canaan and associated temporal blessings, he considers these as typological of the blessings of the covenant of grace.  These blessings, received by us through grace, are founded on Christ’s meritorious obedience to the covenant of works as the second Adam.  Let us suppose for a moment that this was so. If this argument is correct, the archetypal blessings of salvation in Christ would be received by grace through faith, as Kline acknowledges, but Israel would receive the typological blessings, such as Canaan, by meritorious law-keeping according to the works principle.  These, Kline has stated, are two alternative, antithetical ways of inheritance.  But a type corresponds to the antitype.  If the one is a type of the other, we conclude either that the blessings of the covenant of grace are received by law-keeping on the part of the recipients – in which covenant were to be received by grace, which undermines Kline’s argument.  The only other possibilities are either that law and grace work together, in distinct ways, or that the typical relationship is untenable; in both cases the argument is undermined.

Robert Letham, “Not a Covenant of Works in Disguise”, Mid-America Journal of Theology, vol. 24, 2013.

Jesus Foretells the Restoration of Israel in Acts 1:8

Acts 1:6-8 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

CELPentecost

In Acts 1:6, Jesus disciples ask him when the Kingdom of Israel will be restored. They are anticipating the fulfillment of the OT prophets like David, Isaiah and Jeremiah who prophesied of the future restoration of the Kingdom in the last days (from their perspective.) Jesus’ answer points them to look forward to Pentecost. He tells them, “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (v. 8) This is in direct answer to their question. Jesus is telling that when the Holy Ghost comes upon them, that will be the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. This is what happened at Pentecost a few weeks later (Acts 2:1ff.) The kingdom of Israel was restored in the form of the Church of Jesus Christ, which was inaugurated at the event of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God descended on the church and empowered her to go to all the world and preach the message of the kingdom of God. This church of Jesus Christ is the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel as prophesied by the Old Testament Prophets. We, the church of Jesus Christ, are the restored Kingdom of Israel, commissioned by God to go forth and conquer the nations through the preaching of the gospel, by the power of his Spirit. Jesus’ disciples were not wrong to expect the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel soon after Christ’s resurrection, though the way in which Israel’s restoration came at Pentecost may have surprised them.

James & Paul on Justification

Understanding James on Justification

Some Christians have struggled with James’s use of the term, justification, particularly questioning whether there is a possible contradiction with the doctrine of justification as taught in the Pauline epistles.  One of Paul’s clearest statements of the doctrine of justification is found in the following verse:

Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Paul teaches that justification is by faith alone, and not by any works.

James uses the term justification in the following instances:

James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? ²² Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. ²⁴ Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. ²⁵ Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

It appears on first glance that Paul and James may have an apparent contradiction, considering that Paul teaches justification without works, and James teaches justification by works. How can they be reconciled?

First of all, let’s define justification. It means a declaration of righteousness. Now, there is the object of justification, he who is declared righteous, and there is the subject of justification, that is, the judge making the declaration of righteousness. These things must be considered from the context in which the word is used.  I’m convinced that Paul and James are treating different subjects of justification. Paul is treating justification before God’s tribunal, and James is treating justification before the court of man.  Why do I say this? They say as much:

Paul: Romans 3:28

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.  ²⁹ Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

James: 2:18 shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Note that in the above quotations, Paul is referencing God’s declaration of righteousness, and James is referring to showing “me” and “thee” my faith, i. e. another person, who will then make the declaration of righteousness based on the evidence of good works.

Paul and James then do not contradict on the doctrine of justification. They are simply looking at it from different angles. Paul treats God’s declaration based on the reality of justification. James treats man’s declaration based on the evidence of justification, which is good works.

In addition, Paul elsewhere teaches the same doctrine that James does, that good works are a necessary fruit of justification. Paul no more contradicts James on justification than he does himself when he writes,

Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Rolling Chariots and a Glorious Kingdom Restore Hope: Zechariah Devotional, part 8

by Pastor Riley Fraas

As Zechariah’s visions continue, we get a glimpse of God’s authority over the whole earth, and a picture of hope for the future.  Our great God rules over all the earth, and He has established “The Branch”, our Lord Jesus Christ, as King to build His temple, to rule and defend us, and as our Priest to bring us forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the LORD by His own precious blood.

Zechariah 6:1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

² In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

³ And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.

⁴ Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?

⁵ And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 

iranpoliticsclub.net

In the beginning of this oracle we see a vision of the armies of the LORD.  Horse-drawn chariots were the most fearsome military weapon system then known.  They could attack with deadly speed and impact.  The LORD is King over all the earth.  His power has no limit.  He is even now ruling over all the earth and executing His will through His army, the angelic host.  There is not any corner of the globe that is out of His reach.  No matter what we as God’s people, His chosen nation and the kingdom of His rule, that is the Church of Jesus Christ face, our God is stronger.  Though we are weak in the eyes of the world, yet our God is more powerful than all.  He is the one who protects and defends us.  Nothing can harm His kingdom, and He rules over all the earth.  Since our God rules over all, we His people have nothing to fear, anywhere in the world.  No one can do anything to us outside of His perfect will.  He has a plan and He is executing it perfectly.

⁶ The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.

⁷ And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.

⁸ Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.

The north country is a reference to Babylon.  The nation of the Jews had not long before endured captivity in Babylon for seventy years.  That northern country had been a source of shame, death, and enslavement for the people of God.  But God was going to make of it a quiet, peaceful situation, taking it over it with His mighty army.  What had been a threat in the past was only a tool in the loving hand of Almighty God to chastise His people when they had been unfaithful.  But now He has quieted that hornet’s nest of Babylon.

God sometimes uses the evil actions of wicked people and nations to confront His people with their sin, to restrain their rebellion, and to bring them back to their knees, to rely on Him and Him alone instead of being self-secure in their independent mindset.  But woe to those evil people that God uses!  There is nothing on earth that can harm us, because no one can do anything to us apart from God’s will.  Let us not fear those chastening enemies that come against us, whether circumstances, or temptation, or tribulation, or being in need, or opposition.  Instead, let us trust in the merciful hand of God who is using these things for His own good purpose, and who is in total and utter control.  One day these things which come against us and militate against the Lord will be obliterated or fully conquered, and the peace of God will reign over the entire earth.

⁹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

¹⁰ Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;

¹¹ Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;

¹² And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord:

¹³ Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

¹⁴ And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

¹⁵ And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.

The LORD commands Zechariah to crown Joshua the High Priest.  Doing that, Zechariah is to prophesy to the beleaguered people of God a glorious age when a man named “The Branch” will reign in Jerusalem and will build the temple of the LORD.  There will be a close council between Him and the priest at His side.  This picture is that of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King and High Priest of the people of God.

If we, God’s people, have enemies against us, we have a King to rule over and defend us.  If we have sinned against the LORD, we have a great high priest who shed His own blood for us, who continually intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand.  It is He who is building His Church (Matthew 16:18), the holy temple of the LORD, and He knows exactly what He is doing!  Let us take comfort and draw hope in these things, that no matter what we may go through in this life, we are under the rule and protection, and beneficiaries of His priesthood.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.  Therefore let us be fitted together like stones, as the Church, His building and holy temple, continuing our life together in prayer, in worship, and mutual discipline and fellowship as we glorify our great King and Priest.