Monthly Archives: September 2009

1Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2saying,

“I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,

and he answered me;

out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

and you heard my voice.

3 For you cast me into the deep,

into the heart of the seas,

and the flood surrounded me;

all your waves and your billows

passed over me.

4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away

from your sight;

yet I shall again look

upon your holy temple.’

5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;

the deep surrounded me;

weeds were wrapped about my head

6at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land

whose bars closed upon me forever;

yet you brought up my life from the pit,

O LORD my God.

7When my life was fainting away,

I remembered the LORD,

and my prayer came to you,

into your holy temple.

8 Those who pay regard to vain idols

forsake their hope of steadfast love.

9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving

will sacrifice to you;

what I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

The prophet Jonah has tried to run away from God and now finds himself inside a fish (whale?) All that we have of what Jonah said while he was in the fish are the few words of chapter 2. We can be fairly certain that he spoke more than these.

Why are these particular words the ones that God preserved for us to see and read? There are at least ten Psalms quoted in this prayer that Jonah is uttering. We know that Jonah has a long way to go in his sanctification but we need to see here a man who had a good portion of the Psalms (at least) memorized. It is unlikely that he had a scroll while in the belly of the whale.

There is much that we can benefit from in just considering that truth, but let’s focus on this:

1) Memorize Scripture. One never knows when one is going to need to have to recall the Word of God without the benefit of having one available at the moment. When it came time for Jonah to repent, even though he did not have a Bible handy he was able to recall relevant passages to his situation.

2) Memorizing Scripture does not make one sanctified. Jonah had these verses memorized before he disobeyed God, before he ran away from God, before his seared conscience allowed him to sleep in the boat in peace when he should have been in prayer for his soul and the lives and souls of his fellow travellers. Many Christians think that their Bible knowledge is a guarantee of safety when temptation comes. It is not. People can know much Bible content and still be very far away from God Himself. This applies as well to those who go to church, serve on committee, preach, teach, lead ministries … . We must never think that our involvement is a replacement for Bible study, prayer, Christian fellowship, growing in the knowledge of God and cultivating a close walk with Him.

3) God shows great mercy to a sinner who has a long way to go. The story of Jonah is as much about the rescue of one wayward child of God as it is about the salvation of a whole city of needy souls getting saved. God chases us down and we should be glad for that too. If He did not, we would all be under His judgement.

4) Sometimes it takes a great calamity to get us back to God. We can be sure that Jonah was not quoting much Scripture before he ended up in the whale. We should thank God that He knows what to do to bring us back to Him, even when it includes things we do not like. We can be sure that Jonah did not like it where God had put him.

5) Jonah called to God from the belly of the fish. Repentance comes before rescue. We do not bargain with God. Jonah does not say “Get me out of here and I’ll serve you.”

6) A person can repent of sin and still not be fully committed to the purposes that God has for him. Jonah is now willing to obey, but we know from the rest of the story that he is far from willing to enjoy the works of God that God is using him to be a part of. God has more hardship in store for Jonah to get him where he needs to be. Rejoice that God never tires of doing what it takes to conform us to the image of Christ.

Psalm 47:1-9 (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

Clap your hands, all peoples!

Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

It is easy for us to understand a commandment to sing. If God tells us to sing, we can sing. We open our mouths and let it fly. But God does not just command us to sing. He does not even simply command us to sing loud. He commands us to sing His praises with joy. This means, at the very least, that to sing praises to God without joy is sinful.

God is to be the only Ruler in our hearts, not our emotional state at the moment, not the circumstances that make us sad and certainly not our idiosyncrasies that enslave us to so much hardship.

This commandment also means that in the believer God is working to produce obedience to this type of commandment. If God has given us everything we need for life and godliness then He will give us what we need to sing with joy.

But what about those times when a loved one has died, we have lost our job, the children have gone awry …? Are we to sing with joy then too? And what if our hearts are so preoccupied with the events taking place that we have difficulty doing this kind of singing?

First of all, this commandment does not mean that we cannot mourn when tragedy hits us. Omitting church for a Sunday because of a death is hardly disobedience to this. Never returning to worship with joy again would be.

Secondly, joining in the worship of God and letting those who are not in the midst of great trial lift your heart would be a good therapy. God does not want us to pretend to be happy. He wants us truly happy. If we are not, we are not to wait until we are. We are to do the things that will help us get there. Going to church and feeding on the joyful participation of brothers and sisters in Christ worshipping God from their hearts is part of getting our joy back.

Third, just seeing this commandment is a help to us obeying it. Seeing that we are to worship God in a particular fashion then we, as believers, will seek to be obedient to that call upon us, no matter what. God does not expect us to rejoice in evil or tragedy. But He does expect us to have the joy of salvation, no matter what the circumstance are.

We can be dejected because of a tragedy and joyful over our salvation at the same time. God says to us, “For two hours, get together with the people of God and direct your thoughts to me, even while you are experiencing great turmoil and trouble.” We have to want to do this and that is a work of the Holy Spirit and He will do it for people who call out to God to be able to.

Obadiah 1:1 (ESV)

The vision of Obadiah.

Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:

We have heard a report from the Lord,

and a messenger has been sent among the nations:

“Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”

“Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:” – A prominent recurring theme throughout the whole of the Bible is that God is the God of everything. He is not some regional deity invented by the Jews or the Christians to help primitive ignorant people understand life. God is the God of all things who has revealed Himself for all the world to see.

Obadiah brings a word from God to the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who have their own gods, their own religions, their own system of beliefs. But there is only one God and He is the God of all the peoples. They had sinned against God’s people and God is going to hold them accountable.

Their sin is the sin that all people commit. They think they can live without God. They see their safety in their defences (v. 3), in themselves. Whatever gods they have cannot stop the judgement of the one true God from coming down on them.

There is a powerful Gospel lesson to be learned here. The peoples of the world who faithfully serve their gods cannot be protected by those gods if the One true God sets to judge them. They have sinned against God and God holds them accountable for their behaviour. The only hope for them is the Son of God who came to earth, lived a sinless life, died a death as a substitute for sinners from all the nations of the world, rose from the dead and is returning to set the world right and finally rescue all those who have faith in Him.

The predominating view in the world today that all religions have their truths and all lead to God or gods or eternal life or a place of safety – is deceived. People, all people, need the benefits of the once for all sacrifice for sinners that was offered up by Jesus Christ on the cross. People who call themselves Christians and yet maintain that God will save people who have been faithful to their gods, false or not, are simply wrong and such philosophy condemns people to eternal damnation.

It is a grand insult to Jesus to maintain that His sacrifice is not necessary for all people. It is no mercy that changes the truth into a lie in order to give the belief that faith in Jesus does not matter. “You are safe regardless of what you believe”, is a doctrine from hell.

There is only one God. He is the righteous judge over all the peoples of the world. All people are sinners and are in danger of judgement. But the God who is over all the nations is also the God who in mercy has offered His Son for all the nations. Jesus is for them. He did not just die for people from Christian backgrounds. He did not die just for Jews or those who follow the covenants of the Old Testament. He died for all. Obadiah ends with this prophecy:

Obadiah 1:20 (ESV)

The exiles of this host of the people of Israel

shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath,

and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

shall possess the cities of the Negeb.

This does not mean that Israel, as a nation, is going to one day triumph over the Middle East. It means that those who have faith in Jesus Christ, the true children of Abraham, are going to possess the earth – not because they are strong and not because they deserve it. Simply because they have been the recipients of a great mercy.

That great mercy is for all people from all the nations for all eternity. What an incentive to give the Gospel to all the nations of the world!

Psalm 45

1My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;

I address my verses to the king;

my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

2You are the most handsome of the sons of men;

grace is poured upon your lips;

therefore God has blessed you forever.

3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,

in your splendor and majesty!

4In your majesty ride out victoriously

for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;

let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!

5Your arrows are sharp

in the heart of the king’s enemies;

the peoples fall under you.

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;

7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

8your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.

From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;

9daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;

at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:

forget your people and your father’s house,

11and the king will desire your beauty.

Since he is your lord, bow to him.

12The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,

the richest of the people.

13All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.

14 In many-colored robes she is led to the king,

with her virgin companions following behind her.

15With joy and gladness they are led along

as they enter the palace of the king.

16In place of your fathers shall be your sons;

you will make them princes in all the earth.

17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;

therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.

This is a powerful Christological Psalm. Verses 2 and 3 speak of one of the sons of men whom God has blessed forever who has a sword on his thigh as victor. Some may object that this refers to Christ, despite its obvious overtones of Messianic application.

But verse 6-7 are unmistakable. We know this is about Jesus because the writer of the Book of Hebrews says it is. He brings it out even more strongly. He says in Hebrews 1 that God says to the Son “Your throne O God…”.

God says to God. Here we have Christ the Messiah, the deity of Jesus, the trinity, the exaltation of Christ. Jesus the King.

He has rescued us from sin which was threatening to damn us forever. He is the triumphant One over everything. This Psalm lifts Him up and calls us to bow down and worship (verse 11). He even rescues the Gentile nations and not just Israel (v.12). The church is portrayed in the Psalm as a waiting bride who comes out to be welcomed by her King and husband (v. 13-15). What a glorious example of the unity of Scripture, the supremacy of Christ throughout the Scriptures, the theme of Christ in Scripture and the salvation that is for all those who believe in Him. What a Book, what a God, what a Gospel!

Psalm 44:5 (ESV)

Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.

The strength of the ones God uses is never the issue. This is a recurrent theme throughout all of the Scriptures. Moses, Gideon, David, Samson, Peter, Paul are the biggest examples in the Bible of God using people who do not possess what we normally consider to being the qualities necessary to accomplish great exploits. Yet these men did just that. And there are many more mentioned throughout the Bible.

The Gospel is spread throughout the Roman empire and eventually the whole world by people without power, influence or education, for the most part. In fact, it could be argued that one of the worst things to happen to the church was its legalization and becoming the official religion of the Empire. Once it became accepted and trendy and desirable, it lost its vitality.

Parts of the church today are caught up in the idea that what it takes to grow an effective church is effective leadership and people. What is meant by effective is gifted for the task, skilled, dynamic, charismatic (in a non-theological sense). We see this in our critique of large “successful” churches in that we talk and plan as if using their technique, mimicking their leadership style and generally following them in their methods will reap the kind of growth that they have enjoyed. We want to be like them.

We also see it in church leaders who conclude that since they are not superiorly gifted or talented or dynamic that they should not expect to accomplish much in their ministries. We give lip service to “Without Me you can do nothing” but it is worth asking whether we really believe it. Those who are not experiencing growth as we think they should be, can fall into believing that the lack of growth or effectiveness cannot be reversed since we have so many impediments. And others tell them that is precisely the case.

In the Bible, when leaders called by God used such reasoning (and they did) God’s response was usually along the lines of “This is not about you. It is about Me and what I can do”. The point? To hold back from going into the spiritual battlefield of church leadership against the odds and with great gusto is sin if God has called you to it. It is a testimony that we trust ourselves more than God. It is a way of blaming God for our failures. It is to lay the charge against Him that if only He had made us with the right abilities we could have accomplished so much more. It is to blame Him for our failures.

Our problem is not lack of gifts. If God has called us to a task then He has given us the necessary tools to accomplish it. It is not a matter of insufficient resources whatever we conceive them to be. It is our lack of trust in the power and willingness of God to accomplish His purposes through even us.

If God has called you to a work He has not called you to fail (although it is important to define success as the Scriptures do) and He has not called you to accomplish nothing. But He has called you to go into the battle against the odds and show His power. It is through Him that we will win souls for Christ. It is through Him that we will live non-conformed to this world. It is through Him that we shall do things that no one will be able to analyze and attribute the results to anything in us.

We need to proudly put on the mantle of the great failures of the Bible and take a stand for God against all the odds. Let us not mourn the lack of talent that we possess. Let us remember that God uses the talentless who simply trust in the power of God to do far more than we can ask or think.

Let us not blame God for our fears or our beliefs that victory can only come through the super gifted. The universal testimony of the Scriptures is that our abilities are supremely not the issue. Our fear and sin may be.

Amos 8:1-6 (ESV)

This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. [2] And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them.

[3] The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”

declares the Lord God.

“So many dead bodies!”

“They are thrown everywhere!”

” Silence!”

[4] Hear this, you who trample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end,

[5] saying, “When will the new moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great

and deal deceitfully with false balances,

[6] that we may buy the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

The people of Israel had gotten to the point where the times set aside by God for the people to worship God had become a burden to them because it meant one less day to make money. The worship of God got in the way of their profits and they could barely endure the time that they were in the temple or their homes celebrating the goodness of God. This is too close to home to be very comfortable with.

We live in a culture that is consumed with money. The whole western world is idolatrous with its money and the non-western world is chasing hard after it in wanting to be as successful and as prosperous as the west is. The worship of God is considered fine as long as it does not interfere with commerce. Employers do not want, and are not obliged to give, time off for people to worship.

But, lest we forget, the primary application of this text is not to our culture, but to the church of Christ. There is no place where the godly can say, “here is where the law of God is established”, except in the church.

How many Christians would consider looking for a new job because their current one demands that they work during times of corporate worship? But how many will excuse themselves from the worship of God for the opportunity to make a little extra, or get a deal on a purchase? It takes very little to get the average Christian to find reason to not be with the people of God in the worship of God. And God is not pleased with it any more than He was willing to excuse the people of Amos’ day.

But we will explain how our situation is different, how necessity is upon us, how we are scraping by … . But the result is the same. The question is – “What do we love more than God?” That is what it boils down to. We will forgo what is expendable. A day’s pay is not. The worship of God is.

And this is not just about money. Will you read your Bible or watch the game? Pray or blog? Go to church or sleep? None of us are exempt from this. It afflicts pastors, elders, deacons, the heavily involved, the nominal and the committed. We will not come to a knowledge of God that transforms us if we do not use what God has supplied for us in order for us to grow to know Him better. No matter what the reasons, our souls are in danger of drying up and we do not see it. But we keep right on valuing other things higher. O Lord, please help us to wake up and value the right things in the right way. Help us to get our priorities straight.

Where is our hope in all this? If it is sin to ever put anything ahead of God in our lives then who is not guilty? No one. It is not enough to read Amos and see that people haven’t changed much in 2800 years. We need to see that such sin condemns and God has done all that can be done to deal with it.

The people of Amos’ day needed a Saviour who could stand between them and God and mediate for them. They needed one who could appease the just anger of God so they would not have to bear it themselves. They needed forgiveness. And Jesus Christ is the One they needed. He is what we need too. There is not a day that passes when we are not in need of the sacrifice of Christ and all its benefits. There is not a day when we are not in need of His intercessory work at the right hand of the Father. And for those who turn to Him in repentance and faith those needs and much more are abundantly met.

Psalm 30:1-5 (ESV)

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple.

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up

and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

[2] O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,

and you have healed me.

[3] O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

[4] Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,

and give thanks to his holy name.

[5] For his anger is but for a moment,

and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but joy comes with the morning

[6] As for me, I said in my prosperity,

“I shall never be moved.”

[7] By your favor, O Lord,

you made my mountain stand strong;

you hid your face;

I was dismayed.

[8] To you, O Lord, I cry,

and to the Lord I plead for mercy:

[9] “What profit is there in my death,

if I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise you?

Will it tell of your faithfulness?

[10] Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!

O Lord, be my helper!”

[11] You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

you have loosed my sackcloth

and clothed me with gladness,

[12] that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

It is not wrong to praise God for what He has done for us. Sometimes we get the impression from some Christians that it is never right to praise God for giving us things, answering our prayers or doing things far beyond what we have asked. This is not so. It is wrong to love the gift more than the Giver but it is certainly right to have an attitude of gratitude when God graciously gives us good things.

David thanks God in this Psalm for not letting his enemies win, for helping him, for healing him, for restoring his life. We have much to be thankful for and it is wrong not to express thanks to God for all His goodness.

But the Psalm does not end there. David makes it clear that the reason he asks God for life is so that he can praise God for His goodness to him. How can he sing the praises of God from the grave (verse 9)? Why do we ask God for what we ask for? Is it because we do not want the opportunity to attract attention to Him to end?

The reason we have life is to praise God. We are made for worship. When we do not worship we are acting contrary to our purpose for being here and that is never healthy for us or praising to God. Every sin, every act that we do that does not give God glory is a denial of why we are on the planet. It is to act in cross purposes to why we are here in the first place. We were created for His glory.

To live and not give God glory is an act of rebellion against the reason God put us here. It is no wonder so many people have such a sense of worthlessness. They are trying to fill their lives with purpose that goes counter to the purpose for which they were made in the first place. There are different ways to live for the praise of God’s glory. But there is no way to direct praise to Him while living in rebellion against Him. Love life, be thankful for all you have and know that the reason you have life and things to be thankful for is to deflect attention away from you up to the One who is responsible.