July 16, 2017
Scripture:
Read Ecclesiastes 9:14. We know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ: He became poor for our sakes. What we are doing this morning is remembering that Man who became poor and made us rich in grace.
Hymn 358 - Tell me the story of Jesus
Prayer
Last time we spoke about landmarks and borders, and today we’ll talk about something similar.
Proverbs 23:22-26 These verses encourage us to buy the truth and sell it not. As we said, last time we looked at not removing landmarks, and how many people today are rejecting the borders of the Bible and God. It’s important to recognize what God has given us, and to see the value in it. People want to live their lives their own way—like buying a game, and then changing all the rules to suit yourself. It doesn’t work that way.
God has given us the Bible to show us who He really is, who we really are, and why we need a relationship with Him. That’s truth. John 1:17 tells us that Jesus brought the truth. In fact, He said, “I am the truth.” The truth is like a light: until we turn it on, we can’t see. The truth of the Bible shows us that our hearts need cleaning up.
God is light, but He is also love, as we find in 1 John 4:8,16. That’s the truth, it’s a fact. God is love, and He demonstrated that by sending His Son to die for us. John 3:16, 1 John 4:9. That’s more truth from God’s word. Everything about Jesus and His life showed God’s character, and the truth about Him.
John 18:37-38 tells us why Jesus came to earth: to bear witness to the truth. He demonstrated love, kindness, honesty, obedience, faithfulness, honour, and humility. These are all truths. Are we living by them?
To buy something, we trade money for it, and it becomes ours. It will often cost us something to live by the truth. We told a story a couple of weeks ago about a business man. Someone who was doing landscape work for him offered to save him money by doing something dishonestly. This business man was a Christian, though, and so he didn’t accept the offer. Because he lived by the truth, it cost him more money. Many people are asked to lie by their bosses, and would have to give up their jobs in order to keep the truth.
How do we sell the truth? By doing the opposite of it; to give it up. If we disobey our parents, we may be tempted to tell a lie to get out of being punished. If we believe that the Lord wants us to love others, we won’t be mean to them. If we were mean, that would be selling the truth.
People today want to live without authority; they want to do whatever they want to do. However, God has given us the Bible filled with truth to guide us in how to live. We need to read it, obey it, and hide it in our hearts.
2 Thessalonians 3:4-18
Verse four doesn’t say “We have confidence in you”, but “In the Lord touching you”. Paul knew the Lord was working in and through the Thessalonians. He was anxious to see them put into action what he had taught them. We need to be kept by the power of God to be able to go on in what we have been admonished in.
Jude 21
Here in Thessalonians it’s “The Lord direct your hearts” while in Jude it’s “Keep yourselves in the love of God”. God’s love should direct us. The Lord’s love is brought before us in many different ways. Here it is something that should occupy us. Love is difficult to explain. It is one of God’s dominant characteristics. We have been made objects of that love. That should effect us. It’s a paramount truth that God loves us. It is proved by the way He has acted toward us. How does this act out in our lives? God can also show His wrath. It is what we deserve, but Jesus took the wrath we deserved instead. God showed love to His enemies at the cost of His Son. God can do whatever He wants. All is at His beck and call. We seem to be on His mind.
Romans 5:8
The more we know Him the more we will love Him.
God’s love is pure. Love in the entertainment society isn’t always pure. But this is divine love. It’s a flowing river - an ocean. God loves you and me. It gives Him joy and delight. It’s something to covet. It’s nice to meditate on thoughts like these ones. We usually don’t want to grieve the person who loves us. It should be the same thing in this scenario. We have a special place in God’s heart.
Darby puts verse five as, “But the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of the Christ”. It speaks of the patience of the Lord in waiting for the rapture. Some say, ” It’s been a long time. When is the Lord coming back?“. No one knows when He is coming, but right now He’s waiting. Jesus died on the cross so there could be a rapture. He did all the work. But there’s still something else and He is waiting for you and me in glory. The Lord has exercised more patience than anybody else. He’s been waiting since after the cross. Some of the Thessalonians had given up their jobs while waiting for the Lord. That’s not what we’re supposed to do. He wants us to work while we wait. They were commended for their patience in the first epistle, and in Hebrews we have “run with patience the race”.
In this chapter, there are three references to those who were disorderly. Other translations translate this word as “loafing” or “idleness”. Others show the meaning as of being out of rank or step. We need to be careful. There is an order of truth from the scripture. We can’t bring in things of lower degree.
Hymn 274 - Love divine, all praise excelling
Prayer