Sunday, July 20th - Love that Compels

The Lord Jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for those would persecute us. This text was the focus of Stan's sermon and gave us plenty to meditate on and to continue to consider as we seek to obey our Lord.

As I have continued to consider this, I cannot help but think of missions and the proclamation of the Gospel as the ultimate fulfillment of this command. As Stan mentioned during the sermon, in Psalm 139, King David states that he hates those who hate God; they are his enemies who he utterly despises. Under the Old Covenant, David could remain this way and be considered to be a man after God's own heart.

But the Gospel has brought a different command. The apostles could not agree with King David. Paul would not go into pagan lands if he hated those peoples with an utmost hatred. He did not view them as enemies that he wanted to see destroyed and crushed, but rather he desired to see them redeemed and brought near to God and to one another in the Body of Christ. He begged them, as though God were appealing through him that they would be reconciled to God. This is love. This is the commandment of the New Covenant.

May God grant to us the love which our Lord spoke about. May He empower us through the Holy Spirit to pursue others in love, and may His sovereign mercy go forth for the glory of Christ.

Sunday, July 13 - The Other Cheek

This Sunday, Stan's text for the sermon was Matthew 5:38-42. Here we saw the challenging words of our Lord which compels us to die to our own desires for justice and for self-seeking. Though the Old Covenant with Israel was very clear in its commands of justice and vindication, striking the offender to bring justice to the victim, our Lord removes not only the commandments of justice, but also our desires to bring about personal retribution.

Stan brought our attention to the book of Acts, where we find the unjust suffering placed upon the Church, yet they lived by the new Law of Christ. Instead of seeking retribution, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer. While Stephen was being stoned, he was not filled with desires of justice, but prayers of mercy to those who were brutally murdering him.

Is this not the theme of the Scriptures concerning the Bride of Christ? Have not we seen this over and over. In our study of 1 Peter on Wednesday nights we found that we should not think it strange when terrible suffering is directed at us for our faith in the Gospel. But let us not return evil for evil, for then our suffering will be just. Instead, let us be empowered by the Spirit to fulfill the Law of Christ. Let us die to self and live for the glory of God!

As George Mueller put it...
"There was a day when I died, utterly died: died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends. And since then, I have studied only to show myself 'approved unto God.'"

Sunday, July 6

This past Sunday, Stan continued preaching in Matthew 5.  In verses 33-37, we focused our attention on the teaching of Jesus as he continued to contrast his demands of righteousness to that of the Pharisees.  Here, we see the Old Covenant practice described in the Law given to Israel as the taking of vows.  Our Lord shows us that the people of his Kingdom should are expected to show forth truth in all their dealings, no matter how big or small they may seem.

Through this passage, we see how man will twist any regulations set before them to their own selfish ambition.  In this case, the Jews had set up a system that they justified as coming from the Law of God, given through Moses, but had used the system to justify sin instead of pursue righteousness.

As followers of Christ, let us never abuse the Word of God to justify sin.  Let us pursue the glory of God in truth and righteousness.  May it never cross our minds to purposefully defraud one another for our own selfish ambition.  Instead, let us rejoice in Jesus, the Righteous.  Let us see His beauty and seek to reflect that through our lives.

This will only come about through the power of Christ's resurrection in us and the work of the Holy Spirit to enable us.  May God bless us to do so for His glory!

--

During out Bible Study hour, we continued studying the flow and logical progress of Paul's argument in the epistle to the Romans.  We spent most of the time discussing issues from the week before but we are poised to pick up in Romans 6 next week!