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"So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground" (Genesis 4:3)
The setting was somewhere outside the Garden of Eden. The issue was worship and the emotion was rage. Something was about to break wide open. God had accepted the younger brother's offering while rejecting that of the older. Note precisely what it had been that Abel had offered unto God:
"And Abel, on his part had brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard" (Genesis 4:4-5a)
The question that has long puzzled many, beloved, is why God accepted Abel's offering of worship while rejecting his brother's? Had it not been as sincerely given as that of the younger son? Did it not represent the fruit of his fields as Abel's had been the fruit of his flock? I believe that the key to understanding what took place on that occasion can be found in the term "in the course of time." The Hebrew phrase literally means "at the end of days" and suggests strongly that both men had been offering acceptable sacrifices unto God for some time. Cain had no doubt also brought the acceptable offering of the unblemished lamb which he had procured from Abel's flock. Remember that at this early point in man's history, beloved, meat was not yet eaten! The flock was kept for clothing and for sacrifice. Apparently Cain finally grew weary with the ordeal of preparing for worship - selection of a spotless animal, slaying and dressing it, building the altar fire - and had decided that the grains and produce from his own fields would make a worthy substitute. And it was at that particular point of departure from God's instructions to them that God rejected what Cain had so offhandedly offered to Him on that occasion.
What possible lesson could we as Christians today gain from this ancient story from Scripture, beloved? A very important one, I sincerely believe! You see, the offerings brought by Cain and Abel were acts of worship before God, their "going to church," if you will. You and I today bring unto God in worship a sacrifice of righteousness, or at least that is what we are supposed to do. The lesson that we gain from Cain's mistake is that he came to the point where he no longer felt that God needed or deserved his whole heart. He decided that he would "substitute" a lesser sacrifice, a more convenient offering unto the Lord. He would throw some grain into a bushel basket and shove it before God. Worship would be simpler and likely much shorter! Then Cain would be free to go about doing what it was that he wanted to do.
How often today do we sit in a service of worship with our bodies in the right place and our hearts somewhere else? How often do we endure the tedium of what comes between the prelude and the postlude and then scurry away from the altar of God back to those things which are to us more tantalizing? When and if we do so, we are demonstrating unto God "the heart of Cain" and He wants no more to do with such acts of worship than He did when it was offered to Him by Cain so long ago.
Ah, but what an example for us Abel is! Not only did he bring to God that day the prescribed sacrifice of blood that was shed and fat portions that were laid upon the altar of genuine worship, but he did so with a humble and obedient heart. For Abel, it was God who was worthy of worship and God who was the focus of his heart. When Cain when to church, it was all about Cain and what he wanted for himself. But when Abel went to church, it was all about God and the glory and praise he sought for his Creator. What sacrifices are you bringing to God today, beloved? What is worship like when you go to church? Let me leave you with a gentle reminder from God's Word about the offering with which He will always be pleased:
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17)
Ron
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Listening to the Voice of the Shepherd
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27-28)
I love to listen to the preaching of Dr. Charles Stanley, beloved, just as many other believers do as well! Recently he was speaking on the subject of Jesus as our Shepherd and related his own personal experience of being in the Holy Land with a tour group and of stopping by a well to rest. As they sat there, says Dr. Stanley, two groups of sheep led by individual shepherds approached the well from opposite directions. Instantly the two flocks merged and were indistinguishable from each other. The two shepherds stood and chatted for a brief time while their sheep were watered. Finally, each of the shepherds spoke something to that mingled mass of sheep and each moved off in a different direction. Without any confusion at all, the sheep separated themselves and moved off in the direction their particular shepherd had taken. Just as easily as they had mingled themselves, they separated into the same two flocks and followed the voice of their shepherd. Simply, they did so because they had come over time to know that voice and to follow it.
Note here what Jesus said about you and me as Christians, beloved, about our relationship with Him as our Shepherd. He said first that we "hear" His voice. Every true believer is indwelt by the Spirit of God and one of His works within us is to make sure that we can "hear" the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ as He seeks to guide us daily as our Shepherd. But we have to first be listening, don't we? Are you listening for the voice of Jesus each day?
Then Jesus said that He "knows" us personally. That is the sole essence of the gospel, beloved! Jesus said that one day some will come to Him and claim to belong to Him, but He will reply by saying to them, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). The essence of the gospel is a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ! We cannot be His "sheep" if we do not know Him and we cannot know Him if we have not put our trust in Him as Savior and Lord.
Jesus also said that we as His flock will "follow" Him. Did you know, beloved, that in the original language of the New Testament the word "follow" refers to walking in the same direction as? So it is not enough just to go to church and call yourself a Christian. We must actually be willing to let the Shepherd lead and follow Him wherever He may lead.
The final image that I want to share with you from these words of Jesus, beloved, is that of a shepherd's commitment to the sheep to the point of a willingness to sacrifice himself for them. It was said of the Palestinian shepherd that at night he would lay down across the only entrance to the sheepfold so that any predator wishing to get to the flock had to get through him first. Jesus as our Shepherd did that very thing when He went to the cross to bear our sins upon Himself! Consequently, He is able to say to us and of us that we shall "never perish."
How well can you hear the Shepherd's voice today, beloved? How closely are you listening? Are you willing to follow that wonderful voice and to walk where He leads? You will if you are truly of His flock!
Ron
I love to listen to the preaching of Dr. Charles Stanley, beloved, just as many other believers do as well! Recently he was speaking on the subject of Jesus as our Shepherd and related his own personal experience of being in the Holy Land with a tour group and of stopping by a well to rest. As they sat there, says Dr. Stanley, two groups of sheep led by individual shepherds approached the well from opposite directions. Instantly the two flocks merged and were indistinguishable from each other. The two shepherds stood and chatted for a brief time while their sheep were watered. Finally, each of the shepherds spoke something to that mingled mass of sheep and each moved off in a different direction. Without any confusion at all, the sheep separated themselves and moved off in the direction their particular shepherd had taken. Just as easily as they had mingled themselves, they separated into the same two flocks and followed the voice of their shepherd. Simply, they did so because they had come over time to know that voice and to follow it.
Note here what Jesus said about you and me as Christians, beloved, about our relationship with Him as our Shepherd. He said first that we "hear" His voice. Every true believer is indwelt by the Spirit of God and one of His works within us is to make sure that we can "hear" the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ as He seeks to guide us daily as our Shepherd. But we have to first be listening, don't we? Are you listening for the voice of Jesus each day?
Then Jesus said that He "knows" us personally. That is the sole essence of the gospel, beloved! Jesus said that one day some will come to Him and claim to belong to Him, but He will reply by saying to them, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). The essence of the gospel is a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ! We cannot be His "sheep" if we do not know Him and we cannot know Him if we have not put our trust in Him as Savior and Lord.
Jesus also said that we as His flock will "follow" Him. Did you know, beloved, that in the original language of the New Testament the word "follow" refers to walking in the same direction as? So it is not enough just to go to church and call yourself a Christian. We must actually be willing to let the Shepherd lead and follow Him wherever He may lead.
The final image that I want to share with you from these words of Jesus, beloved, is that of a shepherd's commitment to the sheep to the point of a willingness to sacrifice himself for them. It was said of the Palestinian shepherd that at night he would lay down across the only entrance to the sheepfold so that any predator wishing to get to the flock had to get through him first. Jesus as our Shepherd did that very thing when He went to the cross to bear our sins upon Himself! Consequently, He is able to say to us and of us that we shall "never perish."
How well can you hear the Shepherd's voice today, beloved? How closely are you listening? Are you willing to follow that wonderful voice and to walk where He leads? You will if you are truly of His flock!
Ron
Thursday, July 15, 2010
What's the Big Deal about Preaching?
"And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:14-15)
I remember many years ago, beloved, a certain church in our community advertising a special service to which they wanted to invite everyone. They took out a large ad in the local paper and described in that ad all that would take place during the service. What caught my eye, however, was that in the largest and boldest print in that ad they placed in the very center two words - NO PREACHING! The primary drawing card for the people they wanted most to attend that service, then, was the promise that they would not have to listen to a sermon!
I wonder what Jesus would have said about such an attitude toward preaching the gospel to the lost? Mark records for us in his narrative that Jesus "came preaching the gospel of God." When it was time for His ministry to really gear up, what method of communication did Jesus choose? Preaching! And do you recall what the Apostle Paul had to say to those in Corinth about the place of preaching in God's plan for mankind?
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21)
Now you may be thinking at this point - "Of course, you feel that way! You're a preacher!" And to that I would simply add a hearty "Amen!" But it is not that I believe in the preaching of God's Word because I am a preacher, beloved, but rather that it is the way God has chosen to reveal His truth to a lost world. Do you recall one other thing that Paul wrote to those same saints in Corinth?
"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)
Do you get Paul's point, beloved? Preaching is God's chosen method for reaching into the heart and conscience of every man! How many times have you walked out the door on Sunday after a worship service and said something like this to your pastor: "Great sermon, pastor! I really enjoyed it!"? What does that mean? When's the last time you said or heard someone else say in the same setting: "Powerful message, pastor! God's truth really convicted my heart and I am going to do something about it!"?
You see, beloved, preaching is not meant to impress or to entertain. Preaching is meant to transform! That is why Jesus came into Galilee preaching. That is why Paul said that he was anxious to preach the gospel. That is why any true herald of God's truth today steps into the pulpit week after week. It is because we want to see people's lives transformed by the power of God! I love what Pastor Ray Stedman said about this most special of all forms of communication:
"I do not think preaching will ever be superseded by anything else, because good preaching is, at its most essential, the revelation of reality. True, honest, biblical preaching allows people to see what life is really about" (The Servant Who Rules, p.40)
So what is the "big deal" about preaching? Only that it is the means God has chosen to impart biblical truth to masses of people. Oh, there will always be those who think that preaching is just "foolishness"! But for those of us who know better, it is the power of God to transform, to change human thinking and direction. Sinners have been saved by it, families have been rescued by it, nations have been stopped in their tracks and sent off in a new direction by it.
What can you do, then? If your pastor is preaching God's Word faithfully, the first thing you can do is start listening, I mean really listening! Get into your Bible and learn. Then begin to apply what God is showing you to your own life. Let the transforming power of God's truth make you a different person. Oh, and one other thing. As a preacher myself, let me urge you to let your pastor know how much you appreciate the time and effort he puts into bringing you each and every message from the heart of God.
Ron
I remember many years ago, beloved, a certain church in our community advertising a special service to which they wanted to invite everyone. They took out a large ad in the local paper and described in that ad all that would take place during the service. What caught my eye, however, was that in the largest and boldest print in that ad they placed in the very center two words - NO PREACHING! The primary drawing card for the people they wanted most to attend that service, then, was the promise that they would not have to listen to a sermon!
I wonder what Jesus would have said about such an attitude toward preaching the gospel to the lost? Mark records for us in his narrative that Jesus "came preaching the gospel of God." When it was time for His ministry to really gear up, what method of communication did Jesus choose? Preaching! And do you recall what the Apostle Paul had to say to those in Corinth about the place of preaching in God's plan for mankind?
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21)
Now you may be thinking at this point - "Of course, you feel that way! You're a preacher!" And to that I would simply add a hearty "Amen!" But it is not that I believe in the preaching of God's Word because I am a preacher, beloved, but rather that it is the way God has chosen to reveal His truth to a lost world. Do you recall one other thing that Paul wrote to those same saints in Corinth?
"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)
Do you get Paul's point, beloved? Preaching is God's chosen method for reaching into the heart and conscience of every man! How many times have you walked out the door on Sunday after a worship service and said something like this to your pastor: "Great sermon, pastor! I really enjoyed it!"? What does that mean? When's the last time you said or heard someone else say in the same setting: "Powerful message, pastor! God's truth really convicted my heart and I am going to do something about it!"?
You see, beloved, preaching is not meant to impress or to entertain. Preaching is meant to transform! That is why Jesus came into Galilee preaching. That is why Paul said that he was anxious to preach the gospel. That is why any true herald of God's truth today steps into the pulpit week after week. It is because we want to see people's lives transformed by the power of God! I love what Pastor Ray Stedman said about this most special of all forms of communication:
"I do not think preaching will ever be superseded by anything else, because good preaching is, at its most essential, the revelation of reality. True, honest, biblical preaching allows people to see what life is really about" (The Servant Who Rules, p.40)
So what is the "big deal" about preaching? Only that it is the means God has chosen to impart biblical truth to masses of people. Oh, there will always be those who think that preaching is just "foolishness"! But for those of us who know better, it is the power of God to transform, to change human thinking and direction. Sinners have been saved by it, families have been rescued by it, nations have been stopped in their tracks and sent off in a new direction by it.
What can you do, then? If your pastor is preaching God's Word faithfully, the first thing you can do is start listening, I mean really listening! Get into your Bible and learn. Then begin to apply what God is showing you to your own life. Let the transforming power of God's truth make you a different person. Oh, and one other thing. As a preacher myself, let me urge you to let your pastor know how much you appreciate the time and effort he puts into bringing you each and every message from the heart of God.
Ron
Thursday, July 8, 2010
How Heart-Healthy Are You?
"This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me" (Matthew 15:8)
I have recently become much better acquainted with the term "heart-healthy," beloved! Believe me, since my recent experience with a stent implant, I have been doing my best to be "heart-healthy" in my lifestyle. Bev has become quite an authority on what we should eat and what we should not. And you simply won't find much of what we were eating in our house anymore. For years I was guilty of paying "lip service" to the notion of being heart-healthy, but there really wasn't much substance behind that claim.
Jesus had the same problem with the religious leaders of His day, except that their failure to be "heart-healthy" occurred on a much deeper and more consequential level! When the scribes and Pharisees chided His disciples for not observing the man-made tradition of ceremonial religious cleansing before eating, Jesus let them know in no uncertain terms that their own claim to spiritual superiority was just so much "lip service" (Matthew 15:3-6). Then in the verse before us here, He flat out accused them of fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy by being anything but "heart-healthy" spiritually!
How many of us who are professed followers of Jesus Christ are as "heart-healthy" as we ought to be in our personal relationship with Him? In our visible walk before this watching unsaved world? Jesus made it clear by quoting Isaiah's words that there is nothing at all wrong with honoring Him with our lips. In fact, Scripture teaches us that it is "the fruit of (our) lips" that is pleasing to God as we give thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15). When we worship Him in spirit and in truth, we do "honor" Him with our lips! But it is only when our hearts are not in tune with our lips that we become shallow and hypocritical and prove that we are not "heart-healthy" at all. If it is foolish to pay lip service to taking care of our physical health while in reality abusing it with wrongful living, beloved, imagine how much more foolish it is for us to "play" at true spirituality, claiming with our lips to be committed Christians while in reality something or someone else has stolen our heart away.
How "heart-healthy" are you today? Have you made that commitment by faith to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Does the Holy Spirit have complete control of your life so that He can mold you into that kind of Christian that truly does back up his lip service with his living? I encourage you to become a "heart-healthy" person today in all respects, beloved, but especially through a genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
Ron
I have recently become much better acquainted with the term "heart-healthy," beloved! Believe me, since my recent experience with a stent implant, I have been doing my best to be "heart-healthy" in my lifestyle. Bev has become quite an authority on what we should eat and what we should not. And you simply won't find much of what we were eating in our house anymore. For years I was guilty of paying "lip service" to the notion of being heart-healthy, but there really wasn't much substance behind that claim.
Jesus had the same problem with the religious leaders of His day, except that their failure to be "heart-healthy" occurred on a much deeper and more consequential level! When the scribes and Pharisees chided His disciples for not observing the man-made tradition of ceremonial religious cleansing before eating, Jesus let them know in no uncertain terms that their own claim to spiritual superiority was just so much "lip service" (Matthew 15:3-6). Then in the verse before us here, He flat out accused them of fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy by being anything but "heart-healthy" spiritually!
How many of us who are professed followers of Jesus Christ are as "heart-healthy" as we ought to be in our personal relationship with Him? In our visible walk before this watching unsaved world? Jesus made it clear by quoting Isaiah's words that there is nothing at all wrong with honoring Him with our lips. In fact, Scripture teaches us that it is "the fruit of (our) lips" that is pleasing to God as we give thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15). When we worship Him in spirit and in truth, we do "honor" Him with our lips! But it is only when our hearts are not in tune with our lips that we become shallow and hypocritical and prove that we are not "heart-healthy" at all. If it is foolish to pay lip service to taking care of our physical health while in reality abusing it with wrongful living, beloved, imagine how much more foolish it is for us to "play" at true spirituality, claiming with our lips to be committed Christians while in reality something or someone else has stolen our heart away.
How "heart-healthy" are you today? Have you made that commitment by faith to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Does the Holy Spirit have complete control of your life so that He can mold you into that kind of Christian that truly does back up his lip service with his living? I encourage you to become a "heart-healthy" person today in all respects, beloved, but especially through a genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
Ron
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Good News from the Wilderness
"John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4)
I don't know how you may have imagined John the Baptist, beloved, but I believe that many have pictured him as a wild and hairy unkempt prophet who thundered when he preached and ranted on and on about sin and condemnation. Unfortunately, I don't personally believe that characterization does him justice.
Perhaps it is because he has been so closely associated with the environs in which he delivered his message that he has come to be pictured in this way. After all, Mark tells us that he came preaching "in the wilderness." Pastor Ray Stedman described his own firsthand look at the Jordan River valley where John preached as a true wilderness, dry and dreary, parched and barren, the Jordan itself being the only water source for miles around. Yet the people of Jerusalem and Judea flocked to that desolate region in great numbers to hear the message of John and to yield themselves to baptism.
Why? Why would so many travel so far to hear a preacher that they did not even know? What was it that drew them there? I am convinced that it was for them the same basic human need that tugs at the heart of lost mankind today. It is the guilt of the heart over sin and the fear of sin's condemnation. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this or that person give a personal testimony and tell of the "void" that they felt within, a need that could only be met in the person of Jesus Christ. And what more appropriate place to hear about the "wilderness" of our lives spiritually than in an actual wilderness?
John's message spoke directly to that timeless need, beloved! The opening words of Mark's narrative are simply "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." John came to bring to people the good news that they could have forgiveness of sins and be put right with God. Right there in the wilderness of the Jordan River valley, they could confess their sinfulness and be baptized unto genuine repentance.
That is for all today the good news from the wilderness! You do not have to remain in the wilderness of your sins and guilt before God. Jesus has come, that One about whom John preached, and He has broken the power of sin in the life of every person who will turn to Him in faith and in heartfelt repentance. There is good news from the wilderness, beloved. Have you yet made it your own?
Ron
I don't know how you may have imagined John the Baptist, beloved, but I believe that many have pictured him as a wild and hairy unkempt prophet who thundered when he preached and ranted on and on about sin and condemnation. Unfortunately, I don't personally believe that characterization does him justice.
Perhaps it is because he has been so closely associated with the environs in which he delivered his message that he has come to be pictured in this way. After all, Mark tells us that he came preaching "in the wilderness." Pastor Ray Stedman described his own firsthand look at the Jordan River valley where John preached as a true wilderness, dry and dreary, parched and barren, the Jordan itself being the only water source for miles around. Yet the people of Jerusalem and Judea flocked to that desolate region in great numbers to hear the message of John and to yield themselves to baptism.
Why? Why would so many travel so far to hear a preacher that they did not even know? What was it that drew them there? I am convinced that it was for them the same basic human need that tugs at the heart of lost mankind today. It is the guilt of the heart over sin and the fear of sin's condemnation. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this or that person give a personal testimony and tell of the "void" that they felt within, a need that could only be met in the person of Jesus Christ. And what more appropriate place to hear about the "wilderness" of our lives spiritually than in an actual wilderness?
John's message spoke directly to that timeless need, beloved! The opening words of Mark's narrative are simply "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." John came to bring to people the good news that they could have forgiveness of sins and be put right with God. Right there in the wilderness of the Jordan River valley, they could confess their sinfulness and be baptized unto genuine repentance.
That is for all today the good news from the wilderness! You do not have to remain in the wilderness of your sins and guilt before God. Jesus has come, that One about whom John preached, and He has broken the power of sin in the life of every person who will turn to Him in faith and in heartfelt repentance. There is good news from the wilderness, beloved. Have you yet made it your own?
Ron
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