December 27, 2015
Scripture:
In Jude, Jude writes a “woe” to those who have left Christendom. Read v. 11. He gives three examples from the Old Testament. The first one is from Genesis: Cain. Here is a man that tried to bring a bloodless sacrifice, in contrast with Abel, who brought a lamb. But here, near the end of the scriptures, we find that God hasn’t forgotten. How precious it is that we don’t need to go out to get a lamb from our flock and kill it! God did that at Calvary. The blood of atonement was shed and we can rest on that. We are not found followers of Cain, but as those who rest on the precious blood of Jesus.
Hymn 201 - When we walk with the Lord
Prayer
Today instead of reading from Proverbs, we are going to take a look at a couple verses from the first chapter of Joshua. Joshua had just replaced Moses. Moses had led the Children of Israel for forty years, and now they were going into the land of Canaan. But Moses was going to pass away before they did.
Joshua had the spirit of wisdom. God required certain things of him and also gave him encouragement.
Joshua would be leading the Children of Israel into the land of Canaan. How do you think he felt? Maybe a bit nervous: it was a big responsibility to lead all those people.
Joshua was commanded to observe the law. It wasn’t to depart out of his mouth. It was to be something he could feed and meditate on. In Proverbs, we are told we are to get instruction through God’s Word. Joshua was to meditate day and night on the law. He would need to read it so he could get to know God’s Word and would be able to feed on it.
In order to do what God wants we have to have wisdom in our heart. My margin says, “to do wisely” (v. 8). Here God is encouraging Joshua in his responsibility in leading the Children of Israel. In order to have proper success in his responsibility he had to meditate on God’s Word and bring the knowledge to his heart.
We can and should memorize and meditate on God’s Word. We can read it, hear it, study it, memorize it, but meditating on it brings it all into our heart, and that will bring success.
What is meditation? Well, when cows chew the cud, they take what has already been chewed and re-chew it. That’s what we have to do, in a roundabout way. We need to have God’s Word in our mind, and when we “re-chew” or meditate on it, we continually go over it and bring it into our hearts. When it is in our hearts we then can apply it to our life, and live it out.
When God’s Word is grafted into our hearts, we can live in wisdom. In reading meeting, we have gone over the armour of God, and many of the pieces depend on knowing the scripture. The Spirit of Truth depends on knowing the promises in the Bible; while the Sword of the Spirit depends on knowing the scripture well, and having it in our hearts.
When we have the Word of God abiding in us, we can overcome the wicked one. When God was with Joshua, he was a strong conquerer.
Even though we may meditate on God’s Word, that does not mean success will be easy. Things will spring up that will distract us. We must seek to be faithful, and ask the Lord for help.
The man who meditated on God’s Word prospered. The tree by the river always had a supply of water, and therefore could always bare fruit. So, may we be encouraged to mediate on God’s Word, and bring it into our hearts.
Following what the children had, success is defined in different ways. One way is: the realization of predetermined worthy goals. Spiritually, what is our goal? It’s to be Christ-like, and meditation helps with this. The Old Testament saints were to meditate on the law, but we can meditate on grace. That’s marvellous, and meditation is that much better with our portion.
The book of Ephesians has taken us into our inheritance; the Christian’s heavenly land. Joshua took the Children of Israel into their inheritance, and he definitely needed armour! There was a lot of fighting, but the Lord revealed Himself at the beginning as the captain of the Lord’s hosts. He is on our side, too.
There are many things that we need to tackle in this life, and we need to stand strong. Satan can come as a roaring lion, a wily serpent, or a very spiritual angel of light. We need to know our enemy and put on our armour.
Ephesians 6:18-24
We need every piece of armour—the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, sandals of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit—but even when we have it all on, we still need the Lord’s help to win. We can’t have success or prosper by ourselves, in our own wisdom. Joshua couldn’t fight without the Lord; he was defeated at Ai.
Prayer is both offensive and defensive, so we need to live in communion with the Lord. We may feel the need of it more at certain times than at others, but we always need it. Thankfully, the Lord is never tired of us asking for help; and we need to watch for opportunities to pray. Furthermore, we can’t leave out the Spirit of God. We received Him at salvation, and He is essential for success.
We need to pray for all saints. Paul himself felt the need for prayer. He stood before kings and was a gifted preacher, but still needed help to be bold to tell the mystery (something hidden before but revealed now) of the gospel. He was an ambassador in bonds, but we are all ambassadors of our heavenly country.
Finally, we get Paul’s personal notes to the Ephesians. He had brought them to the Lord, and they had a concern for him. Tychicus apparently was the mailman for this letter, and Paul said that he would give them the news. He then winds this letter up with verses 23-24. The things he mentions are important to us—peace, love, faith, grace, etc.—and he bundles them all into a special greeting to the brethren.
We’ve looked at important aspects of Christianity in Ephesians. God reached down to take us from the lowest place in our sins to the highest spot in heaven. He was even thinking of us before the world began! Paul has had us explore the heavenly places we are called to, and then told us to walk worthy of that calling. So we can stand in the truth, he gave us our defence, the armour of God. We can lose much if we don’t sit, walk, and stand in that truth!
Hymn 106 — O Christ in Thee my soul hath found
Prayer