October 30, 2016
Scripture:
Psalm 42:7
Genesis 1:9 - All the wrath of God gathered together in one place.
We have been thinking of the judgement that the Lord went through for us. But finally, the last drop had been drained from that cup. At that point, the Lord didn’t say, “Take me home.” He wanted to be with His brethren.
Hymn 349 - News for little children
Prayer
Last time we spoke about the importance of our words and what we say. This week we’re going to look at Truthfulness; which is the opposite of lying and deceit. Lying is saying things that are untrue; deceit is tricking people. Proverbs has verses about these bad behaviours, so let’s look at them.
Proverbs 11:1. This verse talks about weighing things. Back in Bible times—and even still today—you could buy things by weight. If you wanted two pounds of flour, they would put a two pound weight on one side of the balance, and then measure flour into the other side until they were even. However, you could lie to your customers by making your “two pound weight” a little bit lighter than two pounds. They would pay for more flour than they got. You would deceive them, and not give them what they deserved. God didn’t like this, because God is a God of truth! It’s important to be truthful.
Verse 18. Deceitfulness is wrong; and we can be tempted to be deceitful in little ways. If we’re playing a board game, and we see that our roll is about to land us on a “Go back to start” square, or something else bad, it might be easy to pretend to miss count, and land on another square. Jacob was a deceiver in big ways. His father Isaac asked Esau to go to hunt and cook him some meat. However, Jacob and his mother made their own meat, and then Jacob lied to Isaac, said he was Esau, and gave him the food. He even put skins on his arms to pretend to be hairy like Esau. He stole Esau’s blessing, but then had to run away, because Esau wanted to kill him. Lying can get us into a lot of trouble. Joseph is a good example of being righteous, like our verse says. He honoured God, and got a good reward.
Proverbs 14:5. In the book of Acts, we’re told the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of land, and brought some of the money to the disciples. They pretended to give all the money, but really only gave part of it. They lied about it, and God let them both die as punishment. He is serious about truthfulness. It’s alright to play make belief and pretend; but God doesn’t want us telling lies and tricking people.
There’s a story told of two boys; Tom and Robert. They went to school one morning and found they had a substitute teacher for the day. So they decided to play a trick on her, and switch names and seats for the day. None of the other children noticed, and they got away with the trick all day long. The last class of the day was art; and this substitute teacher loved art. She had each of the children draw a picture, and sign it. Tom signed his picture as Robert, and Robert signed his picture as Tom. They left school, and thought they had gotten away with their trick. However, this teacher submitted the pictures to an art contest and Tom’s picture won first prize! Their lie came back to trouble them!
Proverbs 12:22. There are a lot of verses in Proverbs about being truthful. The Lord delights in truth, and wants us to be honest. If someone discovers that you have lied to them, it may be a long time before they trust you again. However, if we know we have said something untrue, we can go back and confess it and make it right. Truthfulness is important, and we can ask the Lord to help us speak the truth.
Colossians 3:5-17
Paul’s epistles usually first focus on the doctrinal and then move on to the practical part, showing how to apply the doctrine; and we see the same thing here in Colossians. Our first verses dealt with life and death. There is more than one of each: there is the human and the divine. The natural (human) life comes to an end. A nature goes with each life. You can see it in birds. You won’t be looking for a sandpiper in a forest. You’d head down to the sea shore to look for it. The divine life has a nature, one that is in Christ. We were also born with a nature that wasn’t good. It is our old nature, and it has bad characteristics. It is seen as crucified with Christ, so in God’s sight it is dead (even though it isn’t). We must hold it in the place of death, and encourage the divine nature. We must put off the old and embrace the new. The apostle Paul gives a list to explain. He starts with major characteristics.
So, we are to manifest the new nature, its actions, and its deeds; and also mortify (put to death) the old nature with its actions, and its deeds. God sees us alive in Christ, which is precious for us because it’s not dependent on us. We are seen in the glory of His Own Son. And because that is the way God sees it, that is the way man should see it.
What are the members? They are the characteristics of the old man- things mentioned in this list. These are things on earth, and a lot of it is prevalent today. Franklin Graham said that no political party can straighten out a country - only God can. Countries are filled with sex and violence, and it is all for entertainment. Everything is so mixed up and it all points to this, right here. In Paul’s day everyone had their own man made gods, but Paul had a supernatural God. A man made god has no moral principles. Those who believe in evolution can give no account for principles, life, or laws. They think they get to make and choose their own. It has never been so bad as it is today. Now with the internet there is quick access to it, and it is all totally wrong. We must look at the list and take inventory on ourselves. May God give the power of His Spirit that is in us. Being careful on this is difficult for everyone, but we have supernatural strength. We must mortify the members, and focus on God where there is holiness and purity.
All of this is worth thinking over. Darby writes the list in a way that is easier to understand. We can’t gloss over what God takes seriously. We also must be serious about spiritual life. God is our help. In verse six we see that the unsaved don’t put to death the members, and what was inside comes out. God judges them for it. So, we need to mortify the negative characteristics so light can shine through, and it helps to keep our mind above.
Hymn 163 - Guide us, O Thou gracious Saviour
Prayer