February 28, 2016
Scripture:
Hymn 201 - When we walk with the Lord
Prayer
Let’s look at Proverbs 2. We are going to take a look at an If-Then sentence. That is a sentence that says IF this happens, THEN that is the result.
Proverbs 2:5
In the verses before this one, there are six things that begin with IF; this is what we are working towards.
It says we will know God and understand the fear of the Lord. God created everything, and He has given us the Bible. So our THEN statement is: that we might reverence the Lord and know Him.
Proverbs 2:1-4
In the Bible we read about Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus, and listened to Him, receiving His word. When Paul the Apostle travelled to Berea, the people there wanted to hear God’s Word. They were open to receive it. There were others, though, that rejected God’s Word. We are blessed to have God’s Word. We must receive it.
This one reminds us that we must put God’s Word into our hearts. It protects from sinning. We get close to the Lord by memorizing. Memorizing is easier to do when you are younger. So engraft it into your life while you are young.
To “incline your ear” means to listen. This is similar to receiving. It is easy to listen to something if you enjoy it and want to hear. That is what God’s Word should be to us. It will keep us in the right pathway if we heed it.
When we hear God’s Word, we must apply it to our life. For example, we can apply the verse “Be ye kind one to another” by being kind to those around us. The Bible was given to us to show us how to grow in godliness. To know the Lord more we must apply it to our life.
As we personally spend time with the Lord it is important to pray before to ask God to open our eyes to see what He wants to teach us. God will use the Holy Spirit that He has given us to show us. As we pray He will reveal to us what is in His Word.
God’s Word here, is compared to treasure. We usually think of treasure as gold, silver, and jewels. When people used to look for gold, they would find a little on the surface of the ground, and then dig deep in that area to see if they could find a vein of gold. It is a beautiful picture when applied to studying. There is treasure in the Bible. God wants to show it to us, but we have to search for it.
All these things lead to the THEN statement; learning to reverence and know the Lord. Through this we can grow in wisdom and godliness. It is a blessing to know Him in a deeper way.
Philippians 2:1-11
Paul enjoyed and was comforted by the consolation and love found in Christ, and he also enjoyed the fellowship and love of the believers, and their like-mindedness. They enjoyed and desired the same things. This was all good, but Paul could have been happier. He didn’t want the saints to stop there, he wanted them to go on and be united. It’s one of the main themes of Philippians. Unity—like-mindedness, and having the same love, the same accord, and the same mind—should characterize us Christians, just as it does the Godhead. Division can come if we don’t extend effort to stay united. We’ve had people leave the meeting because they wouldn’t be like-minded. If it brought Paul joy to have the believers united, how much more the Lord?
Being like-minded is only good, of course, if it’s of the right mind. It’s no good to be united in a wrong mind. What mind should we have, then? Paul tells us farther down: Christ’s!
These traits in verse 2 might be progressive. Our minds are the first thing we need to deal with, and then love deals with our hearts. Darby then translates “one accord” as “joined in soul.” We are to be of the same mind, emotions, and will; to think one thing.
We are all able to glean things from the Word; and we all see different things in it, for we’re all at different levels of spiritual growth. Some of the convictions we find are personal issues, while others deal with the assembly. We need to be extremely careful about what personal issues we bring into the assembly, for they can cause great strife for the wrong reasons. It is on assembly issues that we need to be like-minded.
Vainglory, in verse 3, is a “holier than thou” attitude. When there are problems that we need to set straight, we need to approach the situation with humility, not pride. We can’t be loose in our convictions, but do need to give things their proper weight. For that, we need lowliness of mind. Paul brings out the mind often; it’s one of our main spiritual battlegrounds.
This is regular Christian experience. The natural man has strife and vainglory in his life; while we, on the other hand, are not to exalt ourselves, but to praise the good qualities we see in others. We need to live in unity and lowliness, esteeming others better than ourselves. We have reason to be humble: we know what is in our hearts much more than what is in others. OF course, we are nothing compared to God, and give Him all the glory.
Hymn 350 - I will make you fishers of men
Prayer