Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day 5

Texts:

Summary of Job 8—Bildad responded to Job’s agonizing first with nearly indignant tones—asking how Job could hint that God was/is unjust. If someone sins, God punishes them, if someone does what is right, God will bless them and take care of them. Right after that Bildad says something interesting and challenging—particularly to my generation, those of us in highschool or college—to “ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?” From there Bildad explicated what would happen to those who did not follow God, they would wither away and come to ruin, while the blameless man would be filled with fulfillment and joy.

Summary of Matthew 5:21-48—This next section of the Sermon on the Mount is really just redefining the law. Jesus is explaining to His disciples that there is more to what He wants than mere actions—there has to be a change in the heart. Instead of doing the act of murder, one cannot even wish such a thing, Jesus calls for love and forgiveness. Instead of the act of adultery, the problem must be stopped at even the first lustful thoughts, Jesus calls for purity and holiness. Instead of swearing lengthy oaths, Jesus calls for honesty and commitment at the very beginning levels, “simply let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no,’ ‘no;’…”(37). The change of the heart goes beyond just not sinning, or doing things wrong…it goes deeper and grows more radically—Jesus calls for a change from the norm, instead of simply not returning insult for injury, He asks us to forgive, love, and show that love to the one who hurt us. “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that?”(46-47). Jesus calls for His followers to stand up against what’s wrong, and to act out of the normal mold, to be different, and to be intentional in making a difference.

Summary of “Bay-Bay’s Kids”—First, the authors define “bay-bay’s kids” as the unruly, undisciplined, havoc-causing, parent-raising kids we’ve all seen at one time or another. They go on, lamenting that when parents allow their children to become such, it often causing a great number of problems in their marriage, the children ruin something that belongs to the parents. The authors say that it is the parents responsibility to take back their marriage and to raise their children the way that God wants them to.

Now, for those of you who don’t have kids, or aren’t married yet, remember, I’m not married yet either, and I don’t have kids, so I can understand the feeling of non-applicability that first comes in reading this… or the thought—weeeeell…that might apply to me later, but for right now… it has no relevance…not true, stay tuned =P. Y’see… if we continue to look at the marriage as the one between us and Christ, this can still apply to our faith. Obviously, the quote “bay-bay’s kids” wouldn’t be physical children, but it could be anything in our lives that God wants us to take care of that we are neglecting to deal with as He would have us do, and is, in effect, hurting our relationship with Him.

Summary of Joe’s devotional on John 1:14-18—Joe begins by stating that with some understanding of the text one might pull one of two reactions, either an intense love and passion for Christ, or an overwhelming despair. The first would be through understanding the fullness of what was done, and the other through understanding in part. To gain understanding, Joe began by looking back in the old testament at the 10 commandments, and then at Christ’s redefinition of them in the Sermon on the Mount, with the final blow coming in at Matthew 5:48 when Jesus commands us to be perfect like He is. If we stopped here, it would be only natural to be overwhelmed with despair at this point—there isn’t any way possible to be perfect like Jesus. He came and embodied the perfection that we fail to attain; and, through His death, gave us a way to attain perfection through His blood. “If the Word had not become flesh and dwelt among us, we would still be left trying to satisfy the wrath of a holy God on our own. And we would fail. Instead, now “…we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…” (Hebrews 10:19)!” Thanks be to God for His enduring love… “The Word is our only hope, the only way to God.”

While Bildad was generally wrong as applied to the immediate, he was not wrong as applies to the eternal. God does punish those who do wrong, and does reward those who are righteous in His sight. It may not be here on this earth, but God is just and in the end, His justice will be satisfied and all who do not follow Him now will be most severely punished for it. Unfortunately, looking at Joe’s devotional on John and Matthew 5:21-48, we really don’t stand a chance according to the law, particularly since it’s a matter of the heart and not of deeds…(though even in deeds we fail most miserably.) Fortunately for us, God did send His Son Jesus to pay the price for our sins and satisfy His justice, restore a perfect relationship with us, and offer us the hope to stand before Him perfect for eternity. So, as we are now perfect in His sight, we are to intentionally live out that difference, casting aside and dealing with everything that hinders our relationship with Christ. Praise God for His goodness, and live out the intense love and passion that we ought to show Him for His grace.

May the Lord bless you and may you be intentional in your walk with Him.

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