1) Look at the map of Xerxes’ empire above. I always thought we were talking about a localized extinction of the Jewish people. The decree went out to all provinces. If carried out, this would essentially wipe out the dispersed Jewish nation.
Let’s see. Earth was totally corrupted at Noah’s time causing God to step in. Pharoah ordered all Jewish male babies killed. Queen in one of the book of Kings tried to wipe out David’s line. Herod ordered babies killed in Bethlehem. Hitler killed 6 million Jews. Iranian president wants Israel wiped off the map. See a PATTERN? Not sure you can find another ethnic group that over thousands of years has been the object of such “bad luck”. I believe it is part of Satan’s plan to either wipe out the “chosen people” or destroy the Messiah (or the Messiah’s line). If successful, the Bible is a lie, and maybe Satan has a chance to win his rebellion against God.
2) Keep this thought in mind for future reference. Haman was referred to as an Agagite. Most commentators mention that this would make Haman a survivor of the Amalekites. Since Mordecai is a Benjamite it would make hime from the tribe of King Saul. Chickens are coming home to roost from Saul showing mercy on the Amalekites contrary to God’s will.
But there is more. It may be true, and I believe it is, that the Amalekites were descended from Esau. As an Edomite, from a biblical perspective, the whole dynamic of Esau vs. Jacob (Israel) is playing out. We will follow this thread of thought more as readings in Old Testament proceed this year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalek
3) Vance: you can’t be very hard on your friend. Historians are split on the issue of “Esther” being an actual Historical event.
There are valid arguments on both sides. I am in the Historical camp for reasons that will be revealed at end of Esther. However, I can understand those that will not admit to a Historical view of Esther.
1Cor11:17-34
The Corinthains are a handful. So far, they have: had troubles with unity, sexual immorality, marriage and divorce, civil law cases, gender blurring, yielding in love to others, and submission to authority.
Paul now has no praise for them because of the abuses of the “churche’s” communal meals, and it spills over into the Lord’s Supper (Communion).
======================================================
AGAPE OR LOVE FEAST
The early church had a tradition of coming together and having a communal (covered-dish type thing) meal. Followed by communion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape_feast
Before Paul had talked about theological disunity – now he addresses a practical problem.
“..the Corinthian Christians were coming from a culture where the pagans would commonly have wild, riotous banquets given in honor of a pagan god. This is how it might not seem so strange to the Corinthian Christians to even get drunk and a church common meal….In that day, at common meals, it was expected that the “upper class” would receive better and more food than the “lower class.” This cultural custom was being carried over into the church, and the Christians weren’t really sharing with one another. At the agape feast, the rich brought more food and the poor brought less food; but in Corinth they were not sharing the food fairly…Ancient culture, much more than modern American culture, was extremely class concious. It was respect of these class divisions which so grieved Paul.” – David Guzik
Don’t pig out, Don’t get drunk, share equally with those that have less, not only out of Christian Brotherhood – but out of respect for the Lord’s Supper (Communion).
======================================================
LORD’S SUPPER
(Notes)
1) Paul received instruction directly from Christ regarding the words of the Last Supper.
2) I believe Communion is done out of remembrance and to proclaim the sacrifice that was done for us. Christ died once for our sins, and the idea that communion is a re-enactment of his death over and over seems to denigrate that idea. I will just leave it at that.
3) We are “unworthy”, but we are not to partake of Commuinon in an unworthy manner. We should be reverant, submissive, reflective of Christ and His sacrifice for us, acknowledging His love for us, and certainly not drunk.
4)Examine yourself and make sure you are in the right frame of mind. If you partake of Communion in a careless, thoughtless manner that turns it into a ritual rather than an honest moment between you and Christ – “eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
[Note: Not “the” judgment, but a judgment of an action. God can assess this and not necessarily punish immediately or even here on earth, but HE does not forget. Apparently for Corinthians, chastening was meted out. The early church often got this to make sure wrong actions early on were corrected, as an example to others.]
5) Paul does say that because of this act of irreverance, the Corinthains have been punished here on earth – with sickness and even death.
======================================================
SOLUTION
If we judged (diakrino)ourselves, we would not come under judgment (krino).
If we decide for ourselves by self-examination and receive communion in a worthy manner, then we would not receive God’s judgment – it would not be necessary.
If not there will be chastening so that the “body of Christ” does not live as the world (in condemnation).
In Summary – Act rightly at the common meal and Lord’s supper, so that you do not sin and incur judgment and chastening.
John
======== Vance:
I have a good friend who was raised in Turkey; he is Muslim. He lived with me at my house for a time while he was in college obtaining his doctorate degree.
We would talk freely with one another about many things. It is a wonderful honor. We would talk faith, and about the difference between Islam and Christianity.
One day he and I got into a discussion about the book of Esther. Though normally a quiet spoken and gracious person, he became very angry when I told him the story of Esther—a Jewish woman made queen of Persia who God used to save the Jewish people from extinction.
It seems that Muslims do not believe this account ever happened. He informed me that the story was made up by people in the West.
~~~
Esther 3 (Amplified Bible)
10
And the king took HIS SIGNET RING FROM HIS HAND [WITH WHICH TO SEAL HIS LETTERS BY THE KING’S AUTHORITY] and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
12
Then the king’s secretaries were called in on the thirteenth day of the first month, and all that Haman had commanded was written to the king’s chief rulers and to the governors who were over all the provinces and to the princes of each people, to every province in its own script and to each people in their own language; it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus AND IT WAS SEALED WITH THE KING’S [SIGNET] RING.
I Corinthians 11 (Amplified Bible)
24
And when He had given thanks, He broke [it] and said, Take, eat. This is My body, which is broken for you. Do this to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.
25
Similarly when supper was ended, He took the cup also, saying, THIS CUP IS THE NEW COVENANT [RATIFIED AND ESTABLISHED] IN MY BLOOD. Do this, as often as you drink [it], to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.
29
For anyone who eats and drinks without discriminating and recognizing with due appreciation that [it is Christ’s] body, eats and drinks a sentence (a verdict of judgment) upon himself.
32
But when we [fall short and] are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined and chastened, so that we may not [finally] be condemned [to eternal punishment along] with the world.
NOTE:
Blood covenant. “Jesus paid it all—all to Him I owe” as the wonderful hymn goes.
Elements of blood covenant in the ancient world:
a.
God in Genesis 15 was saying to Abraham, “Even as the animals have died, I will stand with you and My promises. May what happened to these animals happen to Me if I do not keep My promise.
b.
Jesus, as the Son Who ratifies God’s Promises, now dies in our place as our Representative. He, as the Perfect Man, and as the Son of God says in the act of blood covenant: “I give Myself to you. I give you My strength. Your enemies are My enemies. I take your sins and weaknesses, and I give you My righteousness.”
c.
Seal of the covenant: Cutting of the flesh—life blood is being shed. The blood flows out of cut with promise of Jesus, “It is finished! Paid in full!”
d.
Jesus has become one with us and we with Him through blood covenant: The scar from the cutting of the flesh will never go away. It is the sign that we are one with Jesus and He is one with us.
e.
Our names change—from rebellious sinner to saved by Grace. When we sin now, it is a child of God who is redeemed. As such, as children, we need to thoroughly repent because we belong to Jesus and He lives inside of us. What an honor and privilege!
f.
Covenant meal of blood covenant in ancient times:
1.
Cup of wine:
* They drank wine, representing blood: “Drink my life’s blood
as I drink your life’s blood”.
* This means, “I see you fulfilling all the terms of the covenant
as I fulfill your life”.
2.
Piece of bread:
* The participants would feed each other as final statement: “Take me—all that I am. Eat of me, I am yours.”
~~~
We can see the blood covenant is how Jesus confirmed the covenant of the Father God with us. Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit are one in Trinity—three in one and one in three in perfect unity and agreement.
Jesus gave Himself as the Bread of Life. He confirmed it with blood covenant. Thus, as the Amplified Bible reads of I Corinthians 11:25: “THIS CUP IS THE NEW COVENANT [RATIFIED AND ESTABLISHED] IN MY BLOOD.”
~~~
Note that King Xerxes gave Haman his signet ring. In ancient times, when letters were signed, they would be sealed and closed with a small portion of melted wax. Then, the king would press the pattern of his signet ring onto the wax signifying that the letter was from him.
Whoever sealed a letter with the king’s ring was granted the same authority as the king!
There is a lot of symbolism here, but it is very practical for us today: Jesus—as the Son of God—ratified the covenant given by the Father for us. He took on our sins so we can become His righteousness. We are forever bonded with Jesus and the Father by blood covenant.
Jesus literally shares His own righteousness, strength, and authority with us. But—as I Corinthians 11 shows—we can only live and act in the Lord’s authority if we are living UNDER HIS AUTHORITY!
May we truly judge ourselves wearing the glasses of God’s Word. May we purge out the vile from the pure in our lives, so we can live up to the potential. We are made new creations in Christ. We are sons and daughters of the King.
If we properly judge ourselves and receive the discipline of the Lord, then we can become strong in our areas of weakness and we can glorify God!
~~~
The Corinthians were not eating and drinking the Lord’s supper in a worthy manner. Why is this? They did not treat the Lord’s supper in serious manner for what it is. As the Amplified Bible reads in I Corinthians 11:29:
“For anyone who eats and drinks without discriminating and recognizing with due appreciation that [it is Christ’s] body, eats and drinks a sentence (a verdict of judgment) upon himself.”
~~~
We are not—thank God—gods unto ourselves (though the devil would like us to believe that so we can enter judgment with him).
We are called to bear the image of Christ, and that only happens as we fulfill our part of the blood covenant: Jesus already shed His blood. Thank God there is no more blood to be shed.
Yet, we are called to give up our lives. “If Jesus be God and died for me, then nothing less than my life is fitting for Him.”
May we give our lives as living sacrifices unto God. When we sin and fail, may we quickly confess and become thoroughly cleansed from every stain of sin through Christ and His wonderful sacrifice.
Then, may we “walk in the Spirit so we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Galatians 5). More than that, we can only fulfill God’s will so others can hear about and see Jesus through us as we yield to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the God’s seal—the seal that Jesus is the down payment guaranteeing God’s promise of salvation to us.
May we be sealed in our life and behavior through surrender to the Holy Spirit so we Christ can truly be “our life” as He in actuality is.
Colossians 3 (NKJV)
1
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4
When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
5
Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Vance
======= Jan:
I ran across an article the other day “Sex in the City” by Mark Buchanan that focuses on Jonah, Esther & Daniel:
How do we respond to a corrupted culture? Two faulty examples and a better one.
In God’s Kingdom, judgement entwines with invitation, and is usually uttered with deep heartache. It’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance.
Jonah is my favorite prophet, and for no better reason than our uncanny resemblance. I’m bald and I figure him bald—why else his emotional tumult over how shade-dappled or sun-scorched his head? I’m short and I imagine him short: a stumpy, wiry guy, all that peevishness compacted tight as a nail bomb. He loved comfort and resented interruption, and that runs pretty close to my own bias. He was possessive, evasive, defensive, obsessive. Things not unknown to me.
Jonah is my least favorite prophet, and for exactly the same reason. He reminds me too much of me. I long to be Daniel-like in wisdom, Isaiah-like in righteousness, Ezekiel-like in faithfulness. I want the courage of Elijah, the endurance of Jeremiah, the long-view of Zechariah. I dream of standing down kings and outrunning horses, commanding drought and deluge with a word, calling down woe like thunderbolts and blessing like manna.
But I’m plagued with Jonah-likeness.
And here’s a deeper worry: so is the church. Not just my church, but the church—especially the church in North America. We’re evasive with God, resentful toward outsiders, smug about our own goodness. Prudish, hawkish, lovers of comfort, and nursing a giant grudge against anyone and anything that threatens it.
Just like Jonah.
That’s half the story, anyhow.
The other half is that the church is Esther, Esther prior to her awakening: assuming an insider status and willing to disguise her true identity for the sake of it, fearful of confronting her culture. We want to be like everyone else, only more so. We’re a people terrified of being peculiar. We’ll do almost anything to win a pagan king’s affections.
Jonah wants just to be left alone, and would happily let everyone else go to hell. Esther wants just to fit in, and willingly forsakes her distinctiveness to achieve that.
Between these two impulses, the kingdom always goes begging.
But this is about sex
And that’s exactly where I find these two stories so compelling, and so disturbing. Jonah and, implicitly, his community are threatened by Assyrian exile. Jonah is called as a missionary to the very people who bear that threat. Esther and, explicitly, her community are in the clutches of Persian exile. Esther is called to take a stand against the very people in whose land she and her people dwell but who now threaten to destroy them.
Neither story is about sex per se (though that’s a subtext in Esther: the things we do for love), but both are about God’s people living amidst pagan culture—a culture that is pervasive, seductive, potentially coercive, and often at deep odds with what God thinks. Both are about the ways God’s people try to negotiate their place toward or within that culture. And so both help us think through spiritual and ethical issues, including sexual ethics, for such a time as this.
How then shall we live?
Jonah chooses the way of condemnation. He hates the culture that threatens his own. His attitude is leave-us-alone and damn if you don’t. He is prideful of his distinctiveness (“I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land,” he smugly tells the sailors whose ship he’s boarded, even though he’s using these men to escape this God), but he’s not the least bit inclined to invite others to share in it.
So when God calls him to confront the people of Nineveh, Assyria’s capital, for their wickedness, Jonah flees. He simply doesn’t want to get involved. When God forces the issue, Jonah goes—grudgingly—and trumpets the doom of Nineveh, and then waits to behold it, and relish it. When the Ninevites repent and God shows mercy, Jonah throws a full-scale tantrum. This is what he long suspected God would do, and he turns surly and self-pitying about it.
Jonah’s attitude toward pagan culture is an old standby for the church. Avoid outsiders, and when you can’t, protest against them. Lament the sorry state of things. Call God’s judgment down. Imagine, with pleasure, the punishment to be visited on the disobedient. Meanwhile, make yourself as comfortable as possible. And if the threatened divine judgment fails to materialize? Sulk. Mightily.
It’s hard not to think here of some conservative churches’ reaction to the homosexual community. I live in Canada, where recently our government, against the wishes of most Canadians, pushed through legislation that legalized same-sex marriage. A few months prior to that, I attended a citywide prayer meeting where this issue was at the forefront.
Emotions were strong. I expected that, but what caught me by surprise was the tone of the meeting. It had a Jonah-like ring: jingoistic, gloating, self-righteous. People warmed quickly to themes of divine vengeance. They evoked it in vivid imagery.
The problem here is tactical as well as spiritual. Spiritually, we should be careful what we eat. Bloodthirst causes heartburn, severely. But tactically, this is hardly a way to start a kingdom revolution. The church on this issue should be begging God to help us to be Mark 2 communities: when people find out Jesus is in the house, they’re willing to break the roof open if that’s what it takes to get themselves and their sick friends inside.
I have talked with gay people about how they see Christians. Generally they see us as, well, you know the drill: bigoted, angry, narrow, hateful, afraid …
It’s a caricature, I know. Only, everything about that citywide prayer meeting supported it.
What if God’s larger desire is to invite people, all people, into the wideness of his mercy? Somehow the Ninevites were able to respond to God despite Jonah’s rancor and belligerence. After all, judgment is real, not to be trifled with. God’s wrath is being revealed against all godlessness and wickedness.
Only, Jonah doesn’t know anything but judgment. He is a Johnny-one-note. In God’s kingdom, judgment entwines with invitation, and is usually uttered with deep heartache (Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem …). It’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance. That kindness needs to be visible in the church. The consummation of the church’s missionary role will be that day when ten people from every tribe and tongue—Nineveh included—take hold of the hem of the robe of one believer and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zech. 8:23).
But Jonah is not interested. He doesn’t want his enemy’s repentance. He doesn’t want them in church, singing the songs of Zion. He certainly doesn’t want them coming to his church and bringing their own strange music with them. He wants them to pay, to suffer. He wants judgment, not mercy.
Jonah’s moral dogmatism, I think, hides his theological ambivalence. That’s usually what dogmatism does. Jonah is wary and begrudging, not just toward Ninevites, but toward God. He’s boastful of his knowledge of God but cagey in his relationship with him. He finds God both too hard and too soft—hard toward his chosen ones, soft toward the enemy. God, in his view, lacks an appropriate sense of favoritism.
I wonder if this isn’t the hidden motive of churches that take up Jonah’s style. Maybe the angry, accusatory stance is mostly a mask for our own misgivings about God.
“Fanaticism,” Carl Jung said, “is overcompensation for doubt.” We can trace this theological trajectory in the Pharisees. They disapproved of whatever they did not initiate. But Jesus identified their problem as a broken relationship with God. They overcompensated for doubt.
Jonah wants to condemn the culture. He would love to see it destroyed. The idea that it could be reclaimed, redeemed, invited to share in the goodness of God—such thinking is anathema to him. After all, he can hardly invite anyone, friend or foe, to taste and see that the Lord is good when he has not tasted and seen such things himself.
That’s only half our problem
The other half is being Esther, prior to her moment of reckoning. When it comes to pagan culture, Esther moves in precisely the opposite direction.
Jonah avoids it, caricatures it, condemns it. Esther accepts it, embraces it, extols it.
Many early interpreters and Bible commentators viewed Esther (and/or the Jewish community depicted in the book) as a type of the church in compromised, semi-pagan form. Modern interpreters generally dismiss typological readings of Scripture (with good reason), but as one who adjusts to a hostile culture, her example can be instructive.
She conforms to whatever standards the culture sets—dress like the reigning pop queen, subscribe to whatever attitudes are au courant—in order to look like everyone else, only better.
And here, it’s hard not to think of many mainline churches. In the recent controversy over same-sex marriage in Canada, entire denominations have aligned themselves with the spirit of the age. They want to be deemed beautiful in the eyes of the pagan king. The Anglican Church in Canada is even ostracizing dissenting churches and defrocking their ministers. The idea that the church should do anything other than endorse the culture’s current thinking on sexual matters is, in the minds of these denominational leaders, a throwback to medievalism. We’re in a new millennium now, is the rallying cry. We must move with the times.
If Jonah’s theological ilk were the Pharisees, Esther’s were the Sadducees. They valued expedience above faithfulness (or, more to the point, equated the two). The worst sin was to be out of kilter with the culture’s dominant values. Their highest goal was to reduce the lag time between the latest trends and their blessing thereof.
Of course, Esther eventually awakens from this. She realizes, in the nick of time, that the culture whose acceptance she craves is laying ambush for her and her people. And then, with savvy and courage, she finds a new way of living in exile.
But before that happens, Esther immerses herself in pagan culture. The idea that she should confront it, or refuse its wares, is unthinkable. She wants to be left alone, too—not by the culture, but by any sense that her primary loyalty lies elsewhere.
Both Jonah and Esther define two of the church’s reactions to today’s sexual values.
Shun and denounce.
Embrace and extol.
In my own church, I see both attitudes. Recently, I made a comment from the pulpit that the starting place for Christians to uphold the “sanctity of marriage” is not the courts but our own households. I cited statistics on divorce rates among evangelical Christians that put us pretty much in a dead heat with society at large. I talked about the high incidence of spousal abuse within conservative churches. I spoke about the widespread estrangement that prevails among many church-going couples. I mentioned the hidden plague of internet porn that is withering intimacy between husbands and wives.
Some people came out swinging: stop meddling with matters in here, they told me. Start condemning what’s happening out there.
Jonah.
On the other side, the statistics on premarital sex among evangelicals hardly distinguish us from all the other people on the face of the earth. And yet whenever I address this, a few folks take me aside and say, in effect, what’s the big deal? Aren’t there more important issues? A few kids are mixing it up between the sheets—well, so? Why fuss over that when we have a crisis of global warming, when the Amazonian rainforests are disappearing, when the sperm whale faces extinction? Recently, the Christian parents of a girl from our church tried to convince her to go on the pill. She sat them down and told them in no uncertain terms that she had no intention of having sex until she was married. They told her that was unrealistic, and she should go on it anyhow.
Esther.
What’s the alternative?
I think Daniel is our best guide for such a time as this. He stands between the extremes of Esther and Jonah. He, like Esther, lived in a time of Exile—Babylonian, then Persian. He lived among people mostly indifferent to his own convictions but who, when put off by those convictions, grew swiftly and menacingly hostile. He had to sort out his place within that culture: what could he, without violating conscience, say “yes” to? What must he, regardless of the personal risk, say “no” to?
Daniel had neither Jonah’s surly, haughty ways, nor Esther’s coy, accommodating manner. He had simple clarity and quiet integrity. Some things about the pagan culture—their education system, the political structure, their habit of naming you after one of their gods—no problem. Go to their schools. Work in their government. Bear their god’s name.
But one thing especially was taboo: king’s food. Of that Daniel would not partake. The food wasn’t wrong in and of itself. But it had been dedicated to pagan deities. To partake was to submit. To eat was to worship. So better to subsist on a diet of raw vegetables than eat the king’s rich meats and richer sauces, his wines and confections.
But Daniel and his companions did not merely subsist on vegetables: they thrived. They ended up more healthy and bright-eyed than all the other young men being trained with them.
We can sit under the teaching of our culture, and emerge shrewder in our own convictions. We can participate in the government of our culture, and bring glory to God by our diligence and integrity. We can be named after our culture’s deities (Mark—god of war!), and not suffer diminishment to our faith.
What we can’t do is eat king’s food.
But what is king’s food now? What is that element within our culture that, if the people of God participate in it, will ruin us?
I think it’s our culture’s sexual ethics.
What this culture lacks is purity. The church—especially Jonah—has not helped here much, because always we want to impose morality. Purity is to morality what intimacy is to acquaintance, what love is to tolerance, what oneness is to equality. Purity is not just a higher thing: it is a category unto itself.
I think we should stop preaching morality and start preaching purity. After all, no one wants to drink merely sterilized water, chlorinated water, water with a drop of iodine.
What awakens and then slakes thirst is pure water.
Daniel embraces the way of purity. He will not taint his body with what has been dedicated to another god. And if there’s a clear lesson from his story, it’s this: that is the one true way to win a pagan king’s heart. Everywhere Daniel goes, the king ends up acknowledging that God alone is God.
At our church, we call young people to the way of purity, not morality. We call them to be Daniels. Far from languishing, they thrive.
Not long ago, I was invited by an Esther-like church to do a one-day seminar on worship. I was surprised by the invitation—I don’t get many like it. The pastor who invited me told me that most of his colleagues were deeply wary of me, some openly hostile. He told me of one fellow pastor who phoned him to denounce me. He denounced evangelicals as a breed. “What has this man in common with us?” he demanded to know.
“Why don’t you come and see?” the host pastor said.
I came with a team of worship leaders and dancers, men and women in their late teens or early 20s. Only a handful of people had registered. Even in the church’s tiny sanctuary, they seemed thinly scattered. I kept watching for the man who hated me. Though I never met him, I knew him the moment he entered. He walked in like he was hunting vermin. He sat down, his arms locked across his chest. When we started singing and asked the people to stand, he remained seated. He scrutinized the words on the overhead.
After lunch, we led seminars. The dancers taught basic choreography. The musicians taught basic song writing. And I taught a basic theology of worship. The man came to mine. He sat beside me, spoiling for a fight.
Ten minutes into it, he erupted. A woman commented how the mainline church had compromised the gospel, and he started trading blows with her. He had a litany of evangelical crimes against humanity. The argument escalated, and the host pastor jumped in.
“Well,” he said, mild-mannered. “I think the mainline tradition is perhaps somewhat narrow in its ecclesiology and broadly tolerant in its theology. Whereas the evangelical tradition is rigidly narrow in its theology, and somewhat loosey-goosey in its ecclesiology.”
A brief moment of silence followed. I seized my opportunity. “Who here are pastors?” I asked. A few put up their hands, including the angry man.
“Let me ask you this,” I said. “The young people I brought today, do you like them?”
Everyone did, including the angry man.
“Are there many young people like that in your own churches, who are that passionate, that in love with God, that committed to the church and her mission?”
No, they all said.
“Do you want young people like these in your churches?”
Yes, they all said.
“With all due respect,” I said. “I think you don’t have them exactly because of your broadly tolerant theology. That theology helped abort a third of their peers. With all due respect, it assisted in a creating a sexual ethic that robbed this generation of intimacy and hope. It has driven most of them out of the church.
“My opinion? If you’re really serious about seeing this kind of young people in your churches—not just warming the pews but leading—you might consider being less broadly tolerant.”
I went on to speak about how we don’t teach our young people to be moral. We teach them to be pure. We call them to be Daniels.
“You can see for yourself,” I said, “the difference that makes.”
I looked over at the man who hated me. He was stricken. I thought he hated me even more. I thought he would walk out. But to my surprise, he came back for the last session.
To my delight, he stood when we sang. To my amazement, he opened his arms and held them like he was catching rain.
And he sang with gusto. “Great is they faithfulness,” he declared. I think he meant it.
Daniel tends to have that effect on people.
Jan
Esther 8-10:3
What I’ve learned after my “Esther” melt-down (see August 18th) is this: God is in control no matter who is on the throne. God is in control even when “His” people, the Jew or Christian fail to acknowledge Him and act like His people. (The Book of Esther is a secular book whose main characters, thou Jewish, are secular.) God can take any situation and use it for His glory even when the participants do not know they are being used to bring about God’s purpose.
Because God’s Word is “incorruptible” (You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23 NET.)), even when used wrongly by those who call themselves His people, the integrity of His Word can still take root in a heart that holds “Good Soil,” and give root to a 30, 40, and yes even a 100 fold harvest (Matthew 13:8).
I Corinthians 12:27-13:13
The church at Corinth had been operating fully in the gifts of the Spirit, they had wonderful teachers in the body that they fought over. They used the gifts of the Spirit as a point of pride and warred over which one was the best proving they were immature Believers. The kind you can see on any schoolyard during lunch or after school. In the schoolyard you can hear “My daddy is bigger than your daddy,” or “My mommies prettier than yours,” but in the church at Corinth you heard, “ …”I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:12 NET.)
Paul is essentially telling the church they are 1) not acting in love which is a fruit of the Sprit and not a gift of the Sprit. Fruit and Gifts are two different things fruit is a by-product of seed, soil and the interaction of the environment (air, rain and fertilizer). Remember we are the branches of the Vine, Jesus Christ, and we produce fruit by being attached to that Vine.
We can operate either out of the works of the flesh, or the Fruit of the Spirit, we have a choice. However as Paul points out, Love, a fruit, is the better way. We are to operate in the gift or gifts God gives us through the Holy Spirit, they don’t belong to us and we cannot manufacture them.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God! But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another. (Galatians 5:19-26 NET.)
Love desires to benefit others at the expense of self; lust desires to benefit self at the expense of others. Mature people always look out for others no matter how old, young and no matter the size. While babies, immature people, are only out for self, “What can I get out of this?”
Psalm 37:1-11
7 Be still in the presence of the LORD,
and wait patiently for him to act.
Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
or fret about their wicked schemes.
8 Stop your anger!
Turn from your rage!
Do not envy others–
it only leads to harm.
Ah, “Don’t worry about evil people.” We humans worry about everything, we grumble when we see people doing wrong, we grumble when we do something wrong and get caught, “Why didn’t they catch Janie speeding,” or “They saw that yellow Toyota speeding why didn’t they stop him/her why did they have to stop me?”
The rage, the envy we exhibit against all those wrong doers does nothing to them but it absolutely kills us. We do it because we think God is not looking out for us or that He is senile and forgotten about us. We may even think that God is out to get us because we are always being caught when we do something wrong then we think wrongly that others do not. What we need to do is stop doing the things we know that are wrong especially when we do what is wrong because the well renowned “They” and “Mr. and Ms Somebody” gets away with it.
Those who know better, do wrong, and are caught should rejoice at being caught because the punishment for that one infraction will be less severe than the punishment for a multitude of wrongdoing. We reap what we sow, that is a universal law; sow a lot of wrongdoing, you will get a great harvest, and remember: the crop harvested looks nothing like the seed sown, and it’s bigger.
Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, (Galatians 6:7 NET.)
Proverbs 21:23-24
23If you keep your mouth shut, you will stay out of trouble.
I love it when scripture defines scripture,
The evil person is ensnared by the transgression of his speech, but the righteous person escapes out of trouble. (Proverbs 12:13 NET.)
AND
If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. (James 1:26 NET.)
Grace and peace,
Ramona
======= Florice:
I am new to this site and I pray that the Lord teaches me his words.
Florice
======= Pat:
Welcome Florice to our daily Bible Study gang. Stick with it and you will find that it’s one of the highlights and great blessings of your day.
God Bless!
Pat
======== Pat:
The thing that jumped out at me this morning while reading in Esther 9 was that even though the Jews were given permission to plunder (take for themselves) the property of their enemies, it says “they did not lay a hand on the plunder.” Just because something is legal today doesn’t make it a right thing or a good thing for a Christian to do or partake of. We should obey the laws of the land but we should live by the laws of our Lord. They will never lead us down the wrong path.
God Bless you on this Sunday – the Lord’s Day!
Pat
======== Michelle:
RE: spiritual gifts
I commented on yesterday’s post with a link to a gifts inventory for the person who wanted to know what their gifts were.
Re: Purim
I think it’s such a great holiday. I always think I want to try to celebrate it with my kids, but I never remember when Purim is! I think that kind of celebration (with masks and drama and parties) can really make spiritual education come alive.
Michelle
====== DeeDee:
I love todays readings. Esther in particular at the end in Chapter 10, where it shows the acts of obedience that Mordecai and Esther took to be still and know that God is God and that they both unselfishisly risked everything not out of position or justification for themselves but out of LOVE for their and “Gods” people! I love it, and the great saying what goes around comes around and you get what asked for! definitely fell true for Haman, when he intended evil for the Jews and it fell on his head, literally, and physically!!
The love chapter in I Corinthians is always nice, to seek out and always look with good intentions at each person, however I also liked in Chapter 12 from yesterday to watch and pray for discernment in others, because I don’t know about anyone else, but I can be swayed really easy and be too trustworthy in people and I like to have that uhoh meter that says beware and “proceed with caution”. I like what Ramona spoke about above about their being two different things in fruits of the spirit and gifts, I also think that we can get into works of the flesh when we try to take on too many church duties and again not listen to God and be unbalanced, that falls into letting our Fruits of the Spirit down, which is “Self-control”. it is like a bookend, with Love at the beginning, and Selfcontrol at the end, if one of them is unbalanced the rest tumble! Again, don’t know if anyone else has the same issues within them selves, I know I am preaching to my self.
Take care, God Bless!!
DeeDee
======= Cheryl:
I couldn’t fall asleep last night because I was thinking about the state of our world today and was filled with fear. There is so much evil going on around the world. Every day there are new stories of evil acts being done to children on up to adults. It’s overwhelming. I spent quite a bit of time praying and crying in bed asking God to help me trust him and know that He is more powerful and loving than anything this world can do. I slept really well!!
Then this morning I read these verses:
5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
7 Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
11 But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.
They spoke direct to my heart!!! God is great! He meets us where we are at and leads us to Him. I’m in awe.
Cheryl
======= Frederick:
Thank you for your sharings, Ramona and Cheryl.
Frederick
======== Joyce:
Mike and everyone,
Esther 8:1-10:3
Mike, thank you for sharing with us the Jewish holiday of Purim – it is very interesting!
Ramona, thank you for noting that God is in control no matter who is on the throne. Indeed, God’s Word and God’s will is “incorruptible”. What a comfort this is when we face unknowns or dark moments in our life!
The verse that stands out to me today is Psalm 37:5 (Amplified Bible):
‘Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.’
This is from biblehub.com, Barnes Note on the Bible:
‘Commit thy way unto the Lord, the Hebrew meaning is “He rolled himself on the Lord.” The idea is rolling a heavy burden from ourselves, laying it upon Him, so that He may bear it.
The term “way” means a course of life. The reference here is to the whole course of life, all our plans or conduct.
Everything, in regard to the manner in which we live, and all its results, are to be committed to the Lord.
And He shall bring it to pass – Hebrew, “He shall do it.”
He will take care of your interests, and will not permit you to suffer, or to be ultimately wronged.’
Father, Your Word provides for us such comfort and anchoring in the ups and downs that we go through in life. Thank You!
I pray that You will take delight in this One Year Bible blog ministry. Please continue to encourage and enable Mike as he serves through this blog daily. Please bring many to come to know You through this blog, and bring many believers to come to know Your Word and Your Truth more through this blog.
pray in Jesus’ Name – amen.
Sincerely,
Joyce
======== Alan:
Thank you for sharing “But the greatest of these link. Very helpful and reassuring. Have a much better perspective it will all work out
Alan
======= Nancy:
What popped into my mind was the seculare song by Tina Turner called “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”.
My reply is… EVERYTHING!!!
Nancy
======= Dee:
I love the book of Esther! One of my faves! I’m glad the Jews won favor in the end.
1 Corinthians 13..another fave..faith hope and love! I love the love chapter..we all have gifts..but no matter what we act in love!
Psalm 37 commit everything to the Lord..trust in Him. Yes! Trust and obey Him
Proverbs 21:3 so true. Keep your mouth shut you will stay out of trouble! Amen
Dee
======= John:
Esther
1) Bob Deffingbaugh has been “hard” on Mordecai and Esther in all his commentaries, and now we come to a point in the book of Esther where I can agree with Bob.
As I mentioned yesterday, I think the point of the book is that God keeps his Word. God is deliberately not mentioned in this book – as God is not dependant on mankind for the carrying out of His purposes, Will, and plan. God may not be mentioned, but He is definately there making sure His Word, that the Jewish nation would be preserved, is kept.
What bothers me here after the hanging of Haman and the king granting Mordecai and Esther the right to make a decree is: There is no fasting (and implied praying to God). Why not? The big day is some nine months away? There was fasting when Mordecai and Esther thought the Jewish people were going to be destroyed. Instead now the two go right to work on the decree.
I BELIEVE that this is the point where “mankind” takes over in the story. The decree is not God’s work, but Mordecai and Esther’s invention. Up to now all the story smacks of God. The opportunities presented (looking like pure chance), Mordecia’s reward for loyalty, the evil doer receiving punishment, all to the principals involved etc. Now the decree smacks of man: to revenge, annhilate, plunder enemies and those perceived to be enemies, avenge as much as “to defend” in a more widespread over the top manner.
[NOTE: Some will say that the decree was a lot like God’s treatment of Canaanites. Yes, but remember God was patient with around four hundred years passing between judgment and implementation. There was time for repentance, warnings (thru prophecy), and exhibitions of God’s power. In the end, Canaanites rejected God and He has the right to pronounce and execute judgment. None of this was evident in Mordecai and Esther’s decree.]
So why doesn’t God step in and stop this vain grab for revenge? I believe that this was in God’s Will for a reason – to show how God carries out justice and revenge versus how “mankind” carries out the same.
======================================================
2) Purim – Historical?
This is the reason I believe that the story relates an actual “event”. If you look at all the other Jewish Feast days/Holidays they all center around an actual event. The one exception is Yom Kippur – the atonement For Israel’s sins.
I know critical historians are split on whether the story of Esther is Historical in nature, and good arguments exist in both camps.
I am willing to go with Historical because the people of that time created a national Holiday for this event. Jewish people do not seem to have the tendency to celebrate myths or legends as National Holidays. Just my opinion.
3) Purim compared to other Feasts. This is a man-made Holiday. It was not instructed by God. It is interesting to see the differences between God decreed Feasts and Purim. God’s declared feasts for Israel center around worship, praise, and thanks. Most are of a serious nature. Purim is a bit different including the custom ‘to get drunk’.
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article.asp?AID=2814
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim
Perhaps the legacy of the book of Esther is not only to show the difference between how God works and man works, but also the differences between the Feasts and this holiday. Purim gives one the opportunity to see the difference between how God celebrates and how “mankind” celebrates.
John
======= Vance:
Esther 9 (NKJV)
3
And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king’s work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
4
For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai became increasingly prominent.
NOTE:
This is so excellent. Even the officials, satraps, governors, and all others in the palace doing the king’s work helped the Jews. (By the way, I wondered what a “satrap” is, so I looked it up. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satrap):
“Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of ancient Median and Persian Achaemenid empires”
THANK GOD that, in our weakness, God is our strength—if we will let Him be Who He is even when we feel so tempted or so weak that we cannot stand. We can be who God created us to be in Christ, and we can do God’s will. We just have to stand, or abide, in Christ and NOT MOVE from there! (Of course… only by grace!)
Esther 8 (NKJV)
2
So the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman.
17
And in every province and city, wherever the king’s command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.
NOTE:
Even Queen Esther could do nothing without the signet ring of authority from the king. Certainly, Mordecai could do nothing without the signet ring of the king.
Christ is our Signet Ring, and we are under His authority.
You and I can really do nothing of ourselves. I need to meditate more on the following verses in the Amplified Bible:
Romans 8 (Amplified)
16
The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
17
And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and FELLOW HEIRS WITH CHRIST [SHARING HIS INHERITANCE WITH HIM]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
~~~
Christ, by taking on our sin and giving us His righteousness through the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension has literally shared with us His very own authority.
Of course, He will never approve or allow that authority to be used for selfish purposes. God will answer our prayers if we live for His glory.
We are literally: FELLOW HEIRS WITH CHRIST [SHARING HIS INHERITANCE WITH HIM]. And of course, we can only walk in this as we follow, obey, and suffer as we face opposition in doing God’s will.
John 15 (NKJV)
7
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
~~~
Many people saw God’s favor on the Jews, and they became Jews. May you and I so walk in the divine favor that God has already bestowed on us in Christ that many would see the beauty and authority of the Lord Jesus in our lives, suffering, and witness.
Romans 5 (NKJV)
17
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
~~~
I Corinthians 13 (J B Phillips New Testament)
13:4 –
This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience – it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
13:5-6 – Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
13:7-8a – Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.
NOTE:
1. Slow to lose patience
2. Eager for being constructive
3. Not possessive
4. Not anxious to impress others
5. Not cherish ideas of my own importance
6. Has good manners
7. Does not pursue selfish advantage
8. Is not touchy
9. Does not keep account of evil
10. Does not gloat over the wickedness of other people (“They had it coming; they deserved it”)
11. Chooses to be glad with all good men when truth prevails
12. God’s Love knows no limit to its endurance
13. God’s Love has no end to its trust
14. God’s Love has no fading of its hope
15. God’s Love can outlast anything.
16. God’s Love is the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.
When I think of this list, I immediately realize how many ways I fall short of who God is and of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God’s Love.
On this list, in particular I note numbers 8, 9, and 10.
How many times have I been touchy?
How many times have I been kept account of the times I have been hurt by someone and nurtured it?
How many times have I been happy that other people were hurt because they had committed evil (or either in my mind I believed they had committed evil)?
We cannot function the way God wants and do God’s will without being filled with God’s Love. I like this quote by Andrew Murray from “With Christ In The School of Prayer”:
“NINTH LESSON – ‘Pray the Lord of the harvest’ or ‘Prayer provides labourers’
Solemn thought! O why is it that we do not obey the injunction of the Master more heartily, and cry more earnestly for labourers? There are two reasons for this. The one is: WE MISS THE COMPASSION OF JESUS, WHICH GAVE RISE TO THIS REQUEST FOR PRAYER. When believers learn that to love their neighbor as themselves, that to live entirely for God’s glory in their fellow-men, is the Father’s first commandment to His redeemed ones, they will accept the perishing ones as the charge entrusted to them by their Lord.”
“And, accepting them not only as a field of labour, but as the objects of loving care and interest, it will not be long before compassion towards the hopelessly perishing will touch their heart, and the cry ascend with an earnestness till then unknown: LORD! send labourers.”
Psalm 37 (Amplified Bible)
1
FRET NOT yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness (that which is not upright or in right standing with God).
2
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
3
Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.
4
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.
5
Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.
NOTE:
I particularly like this chapter as rendered in the Amplified Bible.
In these rich and wonderful verses, I find a way to help me walk in the LOVE OF GOD that is so eloquently and beautifully expressed by the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians 13.
I am called by God to avoid keeping account of evil and do not gloat over the wickedness of other people. How do I do this?
I simply need to focus on this:
a.
FRET NOT MYSELF BECAUSE OF EVILDOERS, NEITHER BE ENVIOUS
b.
DELIGHT MYSELF ALSO IN THE LORD
c.
STAY BEFORE THE LORD UNTIL I AM ABLE TO ROLL AND REPOSE EACH CARE OF YOUR LOAD ON HIM
d.
LEAN ON, RELY ON, AND BE CONFIDENT IN THE LORD JESUS
By the way, I like a further note in the Amplified Bible regarding the concept of “leaning on the Lord” from Hebrews chapter 6:
12
In order that you may not grow disinterested and become [spiritual] sluggards, but imitators, behaving as do those who through faith (BY THEIR LEANING OF THE ENTIRE PERSONALITY ON GOD IN CHRIST IN ABSOLUTE TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN HIS POWER, WISDOM, AND GOODNESS) and by practice of patient endurance and waiting are [now] inheriting the promises.
Again, how can I possibly do be who God wants and do what God wants without spending quality time with Him? Only Jesus can live His life through me. I may be able to do many things, but I cannot do even walk in the tiniest part of God’s Love without Jesus.
Galatians 2 (NKJV)
20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Vance
======= John:
1Cor13
LOVE
Gifts without having love are as “nothing”
Greek word for love used by Paul: “AGAPE”.
“It is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting re-payment. It is love so great that it can be given to the unlovable or unappealing. It is love that loves even when it is rejected. Agape love gives and loves because it wants to; it does not demand or expect repayment from the love given. It gives because it loves, it does not love in order to receive. According to Alan Redpath, we get our English word agony from agape. “It means the actual absorption of our being in one great passion.” (Redpath) Strictly speaking, agape can’t be defined as “God’s love,” because men are said to agape sin and the world (John 3:19, 1 John 2:15). But it can be defined as a sacrificial, giving, absorbing, love. The word has little to do with emotion; it has much to do with self-denial for the sake of another.” – David Guzik
======================================================
Love never fails, but gifts will cease.
If vs. 8 is the scripture that is used to promote the idea that certain gifts are “no more”. Then I disagree.
You can argue the Greek verb tenses all day, but all they indicate is that at some point the “gifts” will stop.
When? In verse 10: “when perfection comes”. To me, that is when Christ (perfection) comes back, or when we die and we are made completely sanctified (perfect) in heaven. The next two verses emphasize that same point using different words. There will be no need for “gifts” at that juncture.
======================================================
1Cor13:13
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” NIV
I wondered about this verse until I read this:
“But the greatest of these is love: Love is greatest because it will continue, even grow, in the eternal state. When we are in heaven, faith and hope will have fulfilled their purpose. We won’t need faith when we see God face to face. We won’t need to hope in the coming of Jesus once He comes. But we will always love the Lord and each other, and grow in that love through eternity.
Love is also the greatest because it is an attribute of God (1 John 4:8), and faith and hope are not part of God’s character and personality. God does not have faith in the way we have faith, because He never has to “trust” outside of Himself. God does not have hope the way we have hope, because He knows all things and is in complete control. But God is love, and will always be love.” – David Guzik
John