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God Is Ultimately Responsible for All Suffering
Sometime ago I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church, Dallas. The sermon was titled “God is Ultimately Responsible for All Suffering.” It was part of a sermon series he is preaching, called “Politically Incorrect.” The sermon title got me to thinking. As I thought about the title and listened to the sermon, I realized that, as Baptists, we essentially say the same thing only in a different way.
Like some of you, initially, when I read the sermon title, I took it to mean that God brought about or caused all suffering in the world. But that was not the case. Pastor Jeffress’ sermon essentially said that if God is all powerful and is the Sovereign of His universe, then He is ultimately responsible for everything that happens in it. God doesn’t cause the suffering but He does allow it to happen. As Baptist, we certainly say that God is All-powerful and All-knowing. Therefore, if He knows what’s going to happen and is able to stop it but don’t He is ultimately responsible for the consequences it brings.
Job is the prime example. God was aware of what Satan was going to do and even put limitations on how far he could go. Therefore, He was ultimately responsible for the tragedies in Job’s life. Even Job did not discount this. For he said:
God has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked. (Job 16:11)
He also said,
What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 2:10)
As I begin to think over what I was listening to, it came to me that it was God who sent calamity upon the Israelites. God testified that it was He who raised up the Babylonians who would later lead Judah into captivity (see Ezek. 23:22-24). It was God who sent the flood over the world. Therefore, God is ultimately responsible for all suffering whether He caused it or allowed it.
Think about this: if you allowed your child to touch a hot stove because you wanted to teach them that stoves are hot, you will be ultimately responsible for any suffering that child goes through as a result of their touching the hot stove. Likewise, God is ultimately responsible for any suffering we go through because He allowed it.
Here’s the good news. Since God is ultimately responsible for all suffering, He is also responsible for how much suffering we have to endure. Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying, “God will never put more on us than we are able to bear.” Although it is not in the Bible, there is some truth to it. God may put more on us than we think we are able to bear, but I don’t believe He allows situations to crush us. We may not know the full council of God, we do know that He allows us to undergo some situations to draw us closer to Him. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11-28-.30).”
He also allows suffering because it is through suffering that we learn obedience (Heb. 5:8). I think He also allows suffering to remind us that we live in a fallen world that is governed by a fallen angel and co-inhabited by fallen people. In short, we live in a sin-filled world. Someone once said, we don’t learn anything when times are good. It is in difficult times that we grow and are shaken from our comfort zones.
Therefore, take courage. In the world, we shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer for Jesus has overcome the world. He that is with you is greater than he who is with them. And finally, if God be for you, no one can be against you. For like Paul, I am convinced that there is nothing, no trial, tribulation, or calamity that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 23 Commentary
Psalm 23 is perhaps one of the best known passages in the whole Bible; at least it was when I was growing up. I don’t know if it was because it was easy to memorize or because of what the passage says to the person. What a wonderful passage it is. David is believed to be the writer of this passage. David was a shepherd. It was from shepherding that David was anointed to be king of Israel. As a shepherd, David knew what made for a good shepherd, and in this passage you can see his heart; the heart of one shepherd for Another.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In the very first verse, David says that God is his shepherd; therefore, he will lack nothing. When I first read this verse, I thought it was saying the Lord was his shepherd which he didn’t want. No, it was saying just the opposite. He was glad the Lord was his shepherd. It is because the Lord was his shepherd that he will not be in want for any good thing. He will have no unmet wants, no unmet needs. He goes on to tell how God meets his needs. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).
He makes me to lie down in green pastures. One of the first duties of a shepherd is to lead the sheep. Sheep are not smart animals. They need to be led. David says the Lord leads him into green pastures and causes him to lie down there in peace and safety. He leads him besides the still waters. Still waters reaffirm the idea of peace, calm, and tranquility. God brings peace and tranquility to His people.
He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. God restores, or refreshes, the soul of His people. When we are weary from the world or from fighting off evil, the Lord sends His refreshing upon us and we are revived. He also leads His people in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake. Proverbs 3: 5-6 tells us that if we trust in the Lord that He will direct our paths, literally, make our paths straight. God will never misdirect us. Psalms 37:23 says that the steps of the righteous are ordered (directed) by the Lord. Why does He do this? It is so that His name will be exalted. God wants our lives to be a glory to His name.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Another responsibility of a shepherd is to protect the flock. David says that God protects him when he goes through the valley of the shadow of death. What is the valley of the shadow of death? There are likely as many answers to this question as there are people asked. The best interpretation of this phrase is likely a deep, dark time in a person’s life. It may or may not actually involve physical danger. Regardless, the truth is the same. When God’s people go through this time we will not fear because God is with us, much like He was with Daniel in the lion’s den or with the three Hebrew boys were in the fiery furnace. No harm comes to God’s people without God’s permission and when it happens, it becomes an occasion for God to be glorified.
For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. David says that not only does God’s presence give him comfort, but so do His rod and His staff. With his rod, also known as the shepherd’s crook, he gently guides the sheep and keeps them from harm. With his staff, a shepherd beats away any wild animal that tries to attack the flock. What are the Shepherd’s rod and staff? Matthew Henry says that they refer to the Word of God (Christ) and the Holy Spirit. Could it be that the Word guides and the Spirit protects us from that which would harm us?
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The third duty of the shepherd is to provide for the sheep. David says his Shepherd provides for him by preparing a table for him, even in the presence (or face) of his enemies. This alludes both to God’s protection and His provision. When a person can eat in front of his enemies without fear, he does so knowing that he is protected. Where did this food come from? It came from the Shepherd.
Matthew Henry adds that not only is the provision physical but also spiritual. God has provided all things pertaining to both life and godliness… all things requisite both for body and soul, for time and eternity.” God provided His Son Jesus to be the payment for our sin. Because of His sacrifice, the enemy, the devil, has no power over us. We belong to Him and we are protected by Him. Though the devil tries to come against us and steal from us, God is abundant in His provisions, both physical and spiritual.
You anoint my head with oil. In the Bible, anointing with oil has two meanings. The first is the consecration of a person for God’s service. David himself was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. The second meaning is to become refreshed. In Matthew 6, during Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He told the people not to fast like the hypocrites who do it to be seen of men. He told them, “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” David acknowledges that God has set him apart for His purpose. The anointing he is referring to could either be literal or symbolic.
My cup runs over. As David looks back over the blessings of the Lord, he realizes that he is so blessed that he cannot contain them all. When Nathan the prophet confronted David about his affair with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, he told David of the blessings of the Lord: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!” What a statement!
When Solomon became king after his father David, God asked him what would he like for God to give him. Solomon requested wisdom so he could better rule God’s people. In response, God said to Solomon, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding…13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ask or think.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If God has been good to Him in the past, He will be good to him in the future. David has this confidence because he knows the character of the Shepherd and because God’s Word confirms it. He also knows that when it is all said and done, and life comes to an end, he will be welcomed into His Father’s house where he will dwell forever.
David recognized what a good Shepherd God is. He provides. He protects. He leads. He comforts. He anoints. He restores. He saves. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, demonstrated the goodness and mercy and care He had for His sheep by laying down his life to protect His sheep from death and to provide them eternal rest. Is He your Shepherd? If not, ask Him to let you join His flock. If you do, you will be like David who said, “Because the Lord is my Shepherd, all may needs are taken care of.”
Psalm 1 Commentary
There is great wisdom in Psalms 1. If one reads Psalms 1 it would put them in mind of the Proverbs of David’s son, Solomon. Both warn the reader (or singer) about the perils of being a part of the wicked and remind the reader of the rewards of being righteous. There is danger in hanging with the wrong crowd and blessing in hanging with the right one.
Blessed is the man. The word, blessed, in Hebrew also means happy. David is describing the state of the person who adheres to the condition he is about to describe. Jesus used a similar mantra in his Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” Happy will be the person who….
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly – the person being describe here is a person who does not listen to nor seek the advice of ungodly people. The Bible teaches that the heart of the ungodly is foolish, lacking in wisdom. Psalms 24:1 says, “The fool says in his heart there is no God.” For only the ungodly would dare say there is no God. They say this because it eases their conscience and justifies their actions. If there is no God to whom they must give account, then they can live any way they choose. The wise man does not seek the counsel of fools. Christians should not seek the counsel of non-Christians. This includes bankers, accountants, psychologists, counselors, lawyers, or doctors. The information they give you might sound pleasant at the time but will give your heartache in the long run.
Nor stands in the path of sinners– I once heard a preacher say that when he first read this verse he thought it was saying that the wise man does not stand in the way of sinners coming to salvation. David was saying is the person who does not stop to converse or hang out with sinners will be a happy person. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that there is no fellowship of light and darkness, of righteousness and lawlessness. This does not mean that Christians are to avoid sinners. On the contrary, these are the people we were left here to lead to salvation. Instead, David is saying that the righteous, Christians, are not to spend too much time with sinners. The law of spiritual gravity says that the will bring a righteous person down to their level before a righteous person brings the sinner up to his. This is true because not only do you have the sinner working against you but also your own sinful nature.
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful – I hope you see the natural progression here. First, the person walks, then he stands, now he sits. Sin will slowly drag you in if you let it. Now it seems the person addressed is comfortable with the ungodly—comfortable enough that he sits down. When a person sits down, they intend to stay a while. This is dangerous because, as this progression shows, the person is subtly being transformed back into the world instead of transforming him- or herself into Christ. I’ve always taught that association breeds assimilation. This means that you become like the people you hang with.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. Hanging with people who are opposed to God does not bring happiness. Instead, a person become happy by reading and meditating on the law (or Word) of God. God’s Word is alive. Each time you read it, it speaks to you. It tells you things you never knew; it shows you things you didn’t see before. Someone once compare the Word to an onion; each time you read it, another layer comes off. Like God, there is always something to discover in God’s Word. God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6 that they were to meditate on the Word day and night. To meditate means to think on something; to turn it over and over in your mind, asking what does each word mean and how do they come together in the thought of the passage. As someone once said, to meditate means to chew on it and then chew on it some more until you get all you can out of it.
He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The person who meditates on the Word will be like a tree planted by streams of water. He or she will have deep set roots and will be unmovable, unshakable. James say that a double-minded person is unstable in all their ways. What is a double-minded person? He is a person who can easily be swayed from one position to another; a person who can be tossed to and fro by every wind and doctrine. If a new truth comes along, they jump on it whether or not it agrees with the Bible. When that new truth turns out to be an old lie, they lose faith and lose heart. They become discontented with “religion”. May even fall away from the church. Blessed people follow the precepts of the Word and, as a result, what they do brings them success. “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take (Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT).”
The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Again David contrasts the plight of the wicked versus the destiny of the righteous. The wicked are like chaff and will soon blow away. It may not seem like soon for us but when we look back on everything we will see that their reign did not last long. God is being longsuffering with them desiring they should repent but even God can say enough is enough.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. When the ungodly stand before God, they will not have a leg to stand on. God will play back their actions, their thoughts, and their words. Those will be contrasted against God’s law. He will even call into evidence their conscience. All this overwhelming evidence will silence the most ardent self-defender. Because of they will acknowledge their own guilt, the ungodly, sinners, will not stand in, or be a part of, the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish. It is a wonderful thing that God knows the fate of the righteous. He directs their steps (Psalms 37:23). He will see them safely to Heaven’s port. Psalms 91 says, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” Not so with the ungodly. They will be destroyed. They sowed destruction; destruction they will reap.
Imagine hanging with friends who are ungodly. They get you to drive them to a convenience store. They tell you to wait here and keep the car running, they’ll run in and get something and be right out. The next thing you know they’re jumping into your car and saying, “Go, go!” You ask, “What’s the hurry?” They answer, “We just robbed the store and the police will be here any minute?” As Keanu Reeves said in Speed, “Pop quiz, what do you do?” If you do nothing, you just hope they don’t get caught because if they do, they’ll rat you out. If you tell on them, you still might get arrested as an accessory; and if not, they might get you for being a snitch. You can’t win in that scenario even though you did nothing but be there.
I admit this is an extreme scenario but I’m sure it has happened to at least one person in their life. For others, other scenarios have played out. Christian girl gets pregnant by ungodly boy who dumps her soon afterward. Christian counselor wrongfully accused of sexual assault by angry, ungodly person. Police search car of a Christian and finds gun/drugs that were lift there by ungodly passenger. And the list goes on. Therefore, the Christians should not avoid the ungodly but keep their associations with the ungodly to a minimum.
Two Great Proofs God Exist
There many proofs that God exist. First, the earth is proof. We are on a planet that is safely distant from the sun. We are close enough that we don’t freeze; yet far enough that we don’t burn up. Human life is other proof. The body is complex. Even the eye is too complex for modern doctors to completely understand. We can even begin to scratch the surface of the brain. Here are two more proofs of God’s existence. Yet, many people think this all happened by chance. But these are not the two great proofs I am referring to. The ones I am referring to are Israel and the Church.
Israel
I believe Israel is one of the greatest proofs or evidences of God’s existence. According to the Bible, Israel was founded by God through the man Abram. God said to him that He would make of him (Abram/Abraham) a great nation. He promised that Abraham’s seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand by the seashore. God promised Israel a land that would be theirs forever.
God allowed Israel to go Egypt in order to grow into a nation large enough to conquer the Promised Land. After 400 years, He visited Israel and delivered her from the Egyptians and led her into the land in which they now live. From the time that they left Egypt until this day, Israel has been under attack. She has been hated and despised by her enemies. Yet, she still exists. Even though she has gone up against enemies bigger and more powerful than she is, she still stands and they have fallen. Whether they are Perizzites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, or Amalekites, God has protected the nation of Israel. Even Adolf Hitler could not wipe out the Jews.
In fulfillment of His promise in Ezekiel 66 that a nation would be born in a day, Israel was recognized as a state in May 14, 1948. During the 6 Day War, God protected Israel when Egypt, Syria, and Jordan sought to invade. Even today, with Iran breathing threats of destruction, the Palestinians sending bombs and missiles into the land, and the whole world looking at Israel with disgust, she will still stand. If God does not exist, how could such a nation still exist in the face of such opposition? God defends Israel, Even when Iran and her Russian and Muslim confederation try to invade her, God will defend Israel by destroying the entire invasion force. Why does Israel still exist? God looks after her. He made a covenant with her and He will see it through to completion.
The Church
Since the Church’s beginning, she, too, has been the target for those who are against God. Why is this? Since her founding, the Church has done nothing but preach love and hope and sought to meet needs. Yes, there were some bad apples along the way. The Crusades were not ordained of God, I believe. But for the most part, the Church has been on the defensive not the offensive.
Nearly all the Disciples of Jesus were martyred; all but John the Revelator. People argue that the Bible account was a lie and that Jesus did not die or that Jesus did not get up from the grave. They pose the hypothesis that it was all a ruse perpetrated by His Disciples. My question is, to what end? They nearly all died miserable deaths. Peter, Philip, Andrew, Simon, Thaddeus, and Bartholomew were all crucified. Paul and Matthias were beheaded. Matthew was killed with a halberd. James the Less had his head bashed in with a fuller’s club. Thomas, also known as “Doubting Thomas” was thrust through with a spear. So, if they made up Christ’s resurrection, why didn’t they recant? Why did they die? How were they to gain from a lie in death?
Persecutions didn’t stop with the Disciples. Church fathers like Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Plutarchus, and Irenaeus were among those martyred for their faith. Arguably, thousands, if not millions, have been tortured and/or killed because they identified themselves with Christ. This is in fulfillment of John 15:18. Thousands of years have passed, millions have been martyred, yet the church still goes on.
Even today, churches are burned. Christians are ridiculed. In foreign countries, they are still hunted and martyred. In fact, a website, called Voice of the Martyrs, has been set up to showcase this persecution and to be a nexus for prayer for these brave soldiers. Yet, the church still goes on.
Why does she [the Church] still go on? She still goes on because she is fueled by God. Temples to Venus and Jupiter and others like them are out of business but the church is still marching on. She’s been attacked by pagans and Muslims, but she still marches on. She’s under attack now by liberals with a self-centered agenda, but she will continue to march on until the Lord calls her home.
Yes, I believe Israel and the Church are the two greatest proofs that God exist. There is no other explanation as to how two entities, who are despised by so many, can continue to exist and thrive except for God. Businesses have come and gone. Empires has risen and fallen but both the Church and Israel continue on. With that, there is no argument.
Honor the Sabbath
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
The next commandment God gave the Israelites was to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy. Just as the Israelites were commanded to be holy, set apart (Deuteronomy 7:6), they were to set apart, consecrate, the seventh day as a holy day. The Sabbath is holy in that it was set apart, different from the rest of the week. The rest of the week they were to work but on the Sabbath, they were to rest.
The word, Sabbath, comes from the ‘shabath’ (shaw-bath’), which means repose, rest, or intermission. The Sabbath was a day of rest or intermission in the week. The Israelites were not to do any work on the Sabbath. This did not mean that they were not to labor but that they were not to work for profit. After Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused Him of breaking the Law. As Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that if their donkey had fallen into a ditch on the Sabbath they would have gotten it out; yet they accuse Him of sinning because He healed someone. He didn’t seem to suggest that saving the animal was a sin but was pointing out the fact that they valued their property more than they valued people.
Jesus told the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. God made the Sabbath as a day of rest for mankind. The Pharisees saw the Sabbath as a day to do no work. They legalistically said what could and what could not be done on the Sabbath thus Jesus’ previously-mentioned encounter with them.
They were not only commanded to honor the Sabbath but they were commanded to remember the Sabbath. Remembering the Sabbath means that they were to keep it before them. They were to calendar it. They were not to forget it. He knew that people’s drive for money, power, and success would cause them to work constantly without rest and the body was not designed to work for long periods at that level. The body needs to rest and be free from stress. Even steel will break under constant stress.
What does this mean for us today? Many businesses are open seven days a week. Some people work two jobs. Should we go back to the days when everything was closed on Sunday? Christians are still called to honor the spirit of the Law if not the letter. The spirit is that we are to take a day off from work to rest. It is also that we are to set aside time for the worship of God and communion with Him. Since we are the church, we no longer have to go to a building to worship Him; we can worship Him anytime, anywhere. In that vein, everyday is a Sabbath Day. But we are not to ignore God’s command to rest. He even used Himself as the example. Six days He created the heavens and the earth and everything in it in six days. On the seventh day, the Lord rested (Genesis 2:2).
Love Thy God
On Mount Sinai God gave Moses Ten Commandments. These were the first among many laws that God gave the Israelites. These first Ten Commandments were to instruct the Israelites how they were to treat God and treat each other. These Commandments were initially inscribed on stone tablets by the hand of God, Himself (Exodus 31:18). In this lesson, we will look at the first three of the Ten Commandments—the ones that pertain to our treatment of God.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me (Exodus 20:2-3).”
When God delivered the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, He delivered them from a land of people who were pantheistic—they worshipped many gods. There was a god of the harvest, the moon god, the sun god, etc. God wanted them to know that there was just one God and He was Him. Who was this God? He was the One who used a mighty hand to deliver the children of Israel out of the land of slavery. He was their Deliverer. It was not the sun god, nor the moon god, nor the god of cattle nor the god of rain. It was He and the Israelites were not to give tribute or worship to any other so-called god.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments (Exodus 20:4-6).
Not only were the Egyptians polytheistic, they were also idol worshippers. The sun was the symbol for Ra, the Sun god. Anubis was half man and half jackal. Hathor, the goddess of motherhood, was imaged as a cow (sometimes female) with a sundisk on her head. This was the culture the Israelites were delivered from. This was the culture they spend four hundred years being indoctrinated into. So, when God gave the command that they should make no graven (or carved) images to Him, this was a whole new way of living, a whole new way of worship. It was a whole new lifestyle. Some people in Egypt made their living making and selling idols. Now God was saying that that was no longer acceptable.
Why was idolatry so bad? First, God was separating His people from the rest of the world. Nearly every other nation had an idol for a God. Even the Philistines had Dagon, a half man, half fish idol. He didn’t want the Israelites to be like the other nations. He was setting them apart.
Another reason is that God wanted His people to have a personal relationship with Him. He did not want them giving His praise to a piece of stone or wood. He wanted them to worship Him directly. As Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.” Worship is a matter of the heart. It is our heart touching the heart of God with praise and adoration. God did not want praise going to anything (or anyone) else.
God says that He is a jealous God. This does not mean that God is envious of the idols that got worshipped. God is saying that He is protective of the worship that He is due and He gets angry when people assign worship due Him to anything or anyone else. Besides that, oftentimes, demons would associate themselves with these idols, thus robbing God of His praise and causing people worship them unaware. Worshipping idols is an empty act.
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name (Exodus 20:7).”
God is holy and His name is holy. When it is spoken, it is be for a purpose and with reverence. Nowadays, people name their children all sorts of “cute” names, but in the Bible days, names meant something. Abraham’s name meant Father of Nations, which he was. He was the father of Israel through Jacob and Arab people through Esau. Jacob’s name meant Deceiver and that is what he was. Samuel’s name meant Heard by God or God Hears, which was exemplified in 1 Samuel 2 when God called and ordained Samuel a prophet to Israel . Jonah’s name means Dove. The dove is a symbol of peace (Genesis 8:11). Jonah brought a message of peace to the Ninevites. God’s name, Jehovah, means I AM.
This is the name by which He called Himself. He doesn’t live because He is life. He doesn’t just exist because all that exist emanate from Him. He is. Not only Is He, but He is whatever you need Him to be in any situation. For Abraham, He was Jehovah-Jireh, the God that Provides. For David, He was Jehovah-Shalom-the God of Peace. As He was for them, He will be the same for us.
There is power in God’s name. This is evident in our society. I am amazed how people take the name of God in vain. I often hear GD this and GD that. Then there’s JESUS CHRIST. Let’s not forget, “Holy Cow, Batman!” Yet, you never hear people misuse the name of Allah, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammad, or Joseph Smith. Why? There’s no power in their names. There’s no spiritual sense of ‘rebellion’ in misusing their names. So people don’t do it.
As we can see from these first three commandments, they are not burdensome nor are they for naught. There is a reason for each of His commands. Next time we will see the purpose and benefits of the Fourth Commandment.
HiStory
History is our study of the past but what really is history? It is His story being played out in our world and in our lives. God knows the end from the beginning. He knows how it is all going to end. (He wrote it out in the Book of Revelation.) This is why He could send prophets to warn the Israelites what was about to come. Sometimes, it was to warn the people about what He knew was coming (i.e.- consequences of their actions). Other times, it was because it was to warn the people about something that He was actively bringing to pass. So, from our perspective, history is the part of the story that we know, the past. In reality, it is His Story unfolding.
Faith That Makes a Difference: Part Two
43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[a] but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” 47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace (Luke 8:43-48).”
These verses tell us about a woman who suffered for thirteen years with some sort of bleeding problem. It could be that she had a menstrual cycle that never ended. In her attempt to end her suffering, she went from doctor to doctor trying to be healed. These doctors likely gave her some herbs and advice on what she could do to stop the bleeding. Yet, none of them worked. Then she heard that Jesus was coming to her town. She knew her problem was over.
She went to where Jesus was. As He walked through town, He was surrounded by a large crowd of people. Yet, this woman knew that if she could get close to Him, if she could just touch Him, even just the hem of His garment, she would be healed. Determined, she made her way through the crowd. She pushed through some and crawled passed others but she made her way to Jesus and reached out and touch the hem of His tunic and she was healed instantly.
The touch didn’t just affect her but it also affected Jesus. When He was touched by the woman, who is unnamed in Scripture, He immediately stopped and asked the question, “Who touched Me?” The Disciples answered, “Master, you are surrounded by hundred of people who are pressing in on us from every side. How can you ask ‘who touched Me?’ when everyone is touching you.” Jesus then turns and sees the woman and says, “Daughter, thy faith has made thee whole.”
Oftentimes, preachers and teachers solely focus on the woman and her faith (and so will I) but for just a moment, let’s focus on the crowd. By the Disciples’ own admission, Jesus was being touched by many people, yet none of their touches caught Jesus’ attention. It was only the touch of this woman. Before her touch, Jesus seemed to be unaware of her presence but after her touch, He took notice of her. What was it about this woman’s touch that caught Jesus’ attention?
I believe it is because it wasn’t the physical touch that Jesus noticed but the spiritual one. Remember, Jesus is being touched physically by many people yet He didn’t notice any of those touches but He noticed hers because “power went out from Him.” When she touched Jesus in faith believing, her faith became a catalyst for healing. She understood that Jesus was God. He wasn’t just a good man. He wasn’t just a prophet. He was God and as God, He was power. She knew that if she could get close to Him and touch Him, or even something that was connected to Him, even the edge of His clothing, she would be healed. She had faith and her faith was manifested in her action—she made her way through the crowd to touch Jesus.
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed,suffering terribly.” 7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith (Matthew 8:5-10).”
Similarly, when the son of a centurion was sick unto death, the centurion sought out Jesus. When Jesus agreed to go to his house, he told Jesus that his house was not worthy of Jesus’ presence, but if Jesus would just say the word, his son would be healed. He said that he was a man of authority and a man under authority. He understood that all Jesus had to do was ‘give the order’ and sickness would leave his son. Jesus responded that He had not seen such great faith in all of Israel.
Hebrews 11 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Both of the people in this article exercised faith that pleased God. This is evidenced by the fact that each got what they sought. If we want to get answers from God, we need to exercise that kind of faith. It was not a faith of maybe it will work or maybe it won’t. Instead, it was a faith of “I know it will work.” It is faith that doesn’t doubt but it believes as concretely as one believes the sky is blue.
Jesus also says that if we have that kind of faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, we shall have nothing withheld from us. What kind of faith do you have? Do you trust in God more than the circumstances around you? The woman with the issue of blood could have said, “I’ve seen so many doctors and none of them were able to do anything so I may as well give up.” If she did this, she would have not sought out Jesus and she would never had been healed. If the Roman centurion thought, “I’m not Jewish, He won’t help me” or “My son is near death, there is nothing that can be done,” then his son would have died that day. Instead, the centurion had faith and he was able to enjoy his son for a little while longer.
We cannot go by what the world says. God has the last word.
Is your faith a faith that makes a difference?
Faith That Makes a Different: Part One
Stepping Out on Nothing
Perhaps you have asked, “What is faith?” I’m sure you’ve heard sermons on it and attended Bible studies regarding it. But what exactly is it? How do we exercise it? How do we walk in it? We are all familiar with Hebrews 11:1—“Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things unseen.” But what does that mean? I believe the Holy Spirit has given us the answer.
Faith is believing in that which is not likely or is impossible to happen. Real faith does not just believe in what is improbable, but what is impossible. Real faith doesn’t just believe in that which is not likely to happen but in that which cannot happen. Real faith is not believing in the face of the odds but believing in spite of the odds. Real faith is believing for that for which there is no earthly way possible it could happen.
Let’s allow a few heroes of the faith bear witness:
· Noah exercised faith by building an ark to be saved from a flood, even though up to that time no rain had fallen on the earth.
· Abraham exercised faith by believing God for a son when he and his wife were elderly and she was unable to bear children!
· David walked in faith when he entered into a battlefield to face down Goliath, an experienced and armored warrior. He exercised his faith by believing that God would give him the victory even though every natural and military law would have marked him for dead.
· Peter literally walked in faith when he stepped out of the boat and stood on the surface of the water even though every natural and physical law dictated that he should have sunk to the bottom like a rock.
The best definition of faith I can think of is line from one of Shirley Caesar’s songs. “Faith is stepping out on nothing/landing on something.” Essentially, that is faith. It is believing God for what you want or need even though everything is against it happening. Circumstances, laws, or situations do not bind God. God is God. He can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or even think.
Genuine faith does not just believe in something or for something that could possibly happen. Genuine faith believes in something or for something that cannot. In short, faith says, ‘yes,’ when everything else says, ‘no.’
The Call to Disciple
God’s Word
Why disciple? The church needs teachers. Teaching, in fact, is one of the core missions of the church. Ephesians 4 tells us the God gave some [people] to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12, emphasis added). As a friend once pointed out, there is no comma between pastor and teacher because a pastor must be a teacher. His job is to equip the saints—giving them the spiritual tools they need to do the work God has given them—witnessing to the lost.
Discipleship is not new. It did not come into being at the dawn of the church age. Discipleship has been around as long as Israel has been around. God commanded the Israelites in the Book of Deuteronomy to disciple their children. “You shall teach them [God’s commands] diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:7).” Later in the Proverbs, Solomon reiterates this command: “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).” Parents are called to be the main disciplers of their children not the church.
Jesus commanded that we be disciplers of men. In the Great Commission, Jesus commanded, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18-20, emphasis added).”This Commission is repeated in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 16:15). It was never the Christian’s job to convert anyone. It was, and still is, the Christian’s responsibility to make disciples. We are called to be two things: witnesses and teachers. When we evangelize, we are simply telling the Gospel story and leaving the results up to God. We can attempt to persuade but the end decision is theirs and the end result is God’s.
Discipleship was the model Christ gave us. When He came to earth and began His ministry, He chose twelve men. These men would accompany Him and watch Him do His work. He would then send them out to do it. Talk about on-the-job training. The model was later used in the Church. Barnabas took Paul under his wings and taught him. Later, Paul took Timothy, Titus, and few others under his tutelage. In his final letter to Timothy, Paul charged Timothy to do the same thing: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).”
There is a desperate need for discipleship in the church. First, it is essential to disciple new believers. Those new to the faith do not fully understand even the fundamental doctrines of the faith. They are babes and they need to be taught the core beliefs. As Peter told his church, “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby.” I believe that this is one of the reasons churches have what has become known as the revolving back door. New members join but they don’t stick around because they are not being spiritually fed. And like any starving soul, they look for nourishment elsewhere.
Second, there is so much false doctrine being taught in our seminaries, on television, and even in our churches. Christians need to be taught the truth so that they will be able to distinguish it from error. Paul wrote “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Ephesians 4:14).” If you don’t know what you believe and why you believe it, you will fall for anything (any lie of the devil or trick of slick talkers). [In another lesson, I will discuss False Doctrine and False Teachers.]
And finally, we should disciple other Christians because it was the model Jesus gave us. As mentioned earlier, it was the method Jesus used to train the twelve. It was the model Barnabas used to train Paul and Paul later used to train Timothy. It should be the same model we use to train others. It is not solely the responsibility of the pastor to teach the Word but it is the responsibility of every mature believer. Just as a parent teaches a child how to walk and to talk, mature Christians should teach newer Christians what the Bible says about how to live godly.
Not only are we to teach or train others, but we are to teach them what the Bible says and not what we want the Bible to say. God gives us enough information to form truthful doctrine. We don’t have to add to it or take away from it. For instance, I have heard some say that the reason Cain’s sacrifice in Genesis 4 was not acceptable to God was because it was not a blood sacrifice. However, that is not what the Bible says nor what God said. The Bible said Abel brought of the firstfruits but Cain just brought an offering. Second, the command to offer blood sacrifices for sin had not even been given yet. Third, God told Cain if he did well, he would be accepted. The Hebrew term means to be cheerful or to do good. This suggests that God was referring to Cain’s heart or motive in offering and not his offering itself. As I’ve heard many times and found to be true, the Bible interprets itself. In other words, rarely does the Bible says anything just once but either the command or lesson is repeated in another place.
I hope you see now why discipleship is so important in the church. Without it, people will fall into all sorts of error and begin to believe things that are ungodly. It is because people failed to disciple the next generation that the churches Paul and Peter and Timothy led were rebuked in the opening chapters of Revelation. They had fallen away from the faith and into false doctrine. It is because the generation before ours and our generation have failed to disciple that our society is in the quandary that it is in—godliness on the decline and homosexuality, pornography, greed, and malice on the uptake.
If we want God to bless America, then we need to bless God by studying and teaching His Word…before it’s too late.
Cyber-Discipleship 