January 5, 2014
Scripture:
Scripture:
I was thinking about a little passage at the end of Ephesians 1. It is the end of a prayer that reminds us of Jesus’ resurrection. Read vv. 22 & 23. Just as Eve was a completion of Adam, we are the completion of Christ, bone of His bone. When the Scriptures speak of Christ and His bride, they speak of fulness. We also get this in the beginning of John 1 (v.
The wise man built his house on a rock
Prayer
In our hymn, there we have two men, a wise man and a foolish man. In the Bible, we have many mentions of fools. Jesus called the two on the road to Emmaus fools for being slow to believe. Also, in Psalms we have, “the fool hath said in his heart there is no God.”
Luke 12:16 - 21
In today’s parable, we have a farmer. In this certain year, the farmer had a very good crop. The crop was so good that he didn’t have enough room in his barn for it all. He decided to pull down his barns and build bigger ones. Once he built bigger barns, he felt that he would be able to relax: eat, drink and be merry. The farmer had taken care of his physical needs, but he forgot about the needs of his soul. What he didn’t know was that he would die that night and he wouldn’t be able to take his plenty with him. Money in the bank and corn in the silo: we only have those while we are living. It’s important to be rich towards God. While we are living we can make deposits into heaven. First and foremost, we need to be saved, but after that we need to do other things for the Lord. Our farmer only thought of himself. He could have given his excess harvest to those that were in need.
The book of Proverbs has a lot of good instruction for young people and it has many warnings about being foolish. As we start a new year it a good idea to resolve to do that which is wise.
Acts 6
Many people came to the Lord during these early days of the church, and accordingly Satan was there to try and ruin things. Here he tries a new tactic, an internal problem: murmuring.
These Grecians who were murmuring weren’t necessarily Greeks, but rather Jews whose ancestry was Greek—Hellenists is the word Mr. Darby uses. Their widows weren’t receiving help in the daily ministrations, and they didn’t feel that this was fair.
This problem came to the apostles, and they said that it wasn’t reasonable for them to leave the ministry of the Word to serve food. So they told the disciples to choose seven men to put in charge of of the daily ministrations, and gave direction as to what sort of men to pick. Satan may have brought this problem to try to distract the Twelve from their proper work. They didn’t buy into it, though, and they dealt with the murmuring quickly so that the problem didn’t grow.
The seven men chosen had to be of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit, and full of wisdom. Honesty would have been important if they were dealing with funds, but aren’t all believers full of the Holy Spirit? Unfortunately not. The difference lies between having the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. All believers have the Spirit, but not all are filled. To be filled with the Spirit, the individual must allow Him liberty to work in his or her life; not grieving Him or quenching Him. If the Holy Spirit must convict us of sin, He can’t use us in the ministry. Worldly and disobedient Christians are not filled with the Spirit of God.
Ephesians 5:18. If you have too much wine, you are not longer in control of yourself; the wine, or spirits, is. Likewise, the Holy Spirit can be the one controlling our lives if we surrender ourselves to Him. What does that look like? Ephesians 5:19-21 shows us, and we could add ‘being in the Word’ to that list as well. If the Spirit is within us, then our outward behaviour will manifest it. Some Christians don’t go on with the Lord, and they aren’t rejoicing in Him. The Spirit is grieved, sad at their lifestyle. They need to change and come back to the joy of the Lord.
Wisdom was the third and last of the three important qualifications for those overseeing the ministry of tables. James encourages us to ask God for wisdom. We need to seek and cherish wisdom as Solomon of old did.
The Apostles didn’t serve tables, instead they prayed and ministered the Word. Notice prayer came first. When we come to the Word we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will show us what is needed. At times when many people are being brought to the Lord—as here in Acts—there is need of much teaching.
The seven men that were chosen were mostly of Greek influence, and they were full of the Holy Spirit and gifted. Stephen was also full of faith. They set these men before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
There is a difference between “faith” and “the faith”. “The faith” is our basic beliefs: the Christian faith. “The faith” is what the apostles taught. On the other hand, the faith that Stephen was full of was trust and belief in God.
May each of us desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that He is able to use us. May we also give ourselves to prayer and the Word of God. It’s precious to have them.
Hymn 104 – Not all the gold of all the world
Prayer