Some Thoughts on Philippians 2&3

Last weekend I was studying these two chapters and found so much richness within them!  Here are some thoughts that I wanted to share with you.

Phil 2:1-8: Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Putting the best interest of others above our own is an attitude to be pursued and cultivated. This is what Jesus modeled even to the point of death.

I was thinking that death is not so much my concern but it is really the thought of being tortured for my faith that is unnerving. As I was talking to the Lord about this, He helped me to see the choice is between having a rich relationship with Him and just avoiding some discomfort. I hate discomfort, as the average person does, but I need to love Him more than I hate discomfort. So I’m resolved that, no matter what, I won’t deny, ignore, or prioritize relationship with someone else (or the pursuit of comfort) above relationship with Him. Even to the point of torturous death.

Phil 2:12&13 - Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Our prayers, our focus, our development is not just for our personal enhancement. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling so that we may rightly respond to God’s prompting of our will and empowering as we act in accord with His will. And this is all for His good purposes; not only in our lives but in the lives of those we come in contact with.

As followers of Christ, we have a call and giftings. And because we are a part of the story for many others we get to plant seeds or water what has already been planted, and God gives the increase. We get to do this all our lives for maybe thousands or millions of others. What a precious process we get to be a part of!

1 Corinthians 3:6&7 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow and [He] gave the increase. So neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but [only] God Who makes it grow and become greater.

Welcome Philippines!!!!

I'm so happy that you have found us!!!! My prayer is that you would visit us on a daily basis. Feel free to post comments here or find us on Facebook under Simply Christian Teaching and post comments or questions there.
Please know that I pray for every reader on a daily basis. My desire is that we would take a simple look at the claims of God and Christ as found in the Bible and find Him to the one we fall in love relationship with.
God loves us and desires to be in relationship with us.
Blessings to you!!!!

Missing You and God's Grace

First and foremost, I want to say that I've sooooo missed connecting daily with you. I've changed jobs and my opportunity to study, write, and share has changed. I still am doing personal study but that is not the same as prepping to share. So, my posts have been few.
We are still enjoying the series on the 10 commandments and I will get caught up soon. However, I believe my posts, at least for a while, will be less than the traditional 6 days per week. :-(

But as I was studying today, I ran across something I'd like to share with you. These are the words of Charles Stanley:
Grace is God's goodness and kindness freely extended to the utterly undeserving- you and me. Because of His grace, He offers salvation through Jesus Christ so that anyone who trusts Him as Savior might have a new relationship with the Father. As a result, God claims us as family.
A spiritual adoption has taken place so that we could become children of God and call Him "Father." The world would have us believe the lie that we are insignificant, but God's view is the truth: As believers, we are children of the eternal King [joint heirs with Jesus] and have great worth.

AMEN!!!! See you soon.

Great Rejoicing!

Today I was reading a devotion regarding developing a solid faith. And I went to look at commentary on 1 Peter 1: 6-7 which was reference in the devotion. Following is a great quote from Matthew Henry's commentary on this passage. I just had to share it with you!  :-)

Every sound Christian has always something wherein he may greatly rejoice. Great rejoicing contains more than an inward placid serenity of mind or sensation of comfort; it will show itself in the countenance and conduct, but especially in praise and gratitude.

No Idols

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20)

This second command seems quite similar to the first. However, there is a nuance within. The first commandment is that we should put no one in the place of or in front of God – we should not worship, devote ourselves, or ascribe worth to anyone or anything above God. In this command, images (some translations say idols) are not to be made.

In the time this was given, there was an influence from those who believed in other gods, and the Israelites were influenced. While other nations were creating images to “facilitate” their worship of their man-made gods, the true God made it clear that His children were not to create anything. Even if they believed they were erecting an image of God, that was forbidden. Their God – our God – was unimaginable. No image of Him would be accurate and therefore would serve as a hindrance to true worship. Matthew Henry further makes the point that “our religious worship should be governed by the power of faith, not by the power of imagination”.

We have the amazing privilege of coming directly to the God of the universe…the One we worship…the one who loves us immutably. We worship Him truly when unhindered by objects of our own creation.

John 4:24 (GW) - God is a spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

No Other Gods

Exodus 20:3 (EXB) - “You must not have any other gods except [or before] me.”

The Isrelites, not unlike people today, were distracted by the worship of other gods. Neighboring peoples were worshipping created gods; not the God of the Israelites – the true God. And the Father told them, as He tells us today, that they were to elevate nothing above Him.

As Matthew Henry says, “The sin against this commandment which we are most in danger of is giving the glory and honour to any creature which are due to God only.”

It is within our nature to trust in…rely on…elevate those things which we can see and touch or exercise some control over. But we are called to live by faith in a God who never fails; not by our limited sight (see 2 Corinthians 5:7). In so doing, we are careful not to give glory and honor to any created thing rather than the Creator of all things.

May we take this command to heart realizing that the God who loves us irrevocably desires that we engage in intimate, informed, and loving relationship with Him.

Ten Commands

Exodus 20:1-17 - And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

This is one of the passages in which we learn the ten commandments that the Lord God spoke directly to Moses and instructed him to share with the recently delivered children of Israel. We also see these commands recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.

Because these words, recorded in the Old Testaments may seem antiquated, the question could be asked “are the 10 commandments really for us today?” The purpose of this study is not to expound on rules to live by but to help us develop into disciples of Christ who would “naturally” pursue these practices. As we desire after God, learning of Him and from Him, we are better equipped and our hearts are moved to imitate Him. As we are in a love relationship with God, knowing Him helps us to transform into beings that desire to imitate Him…to emulate His nature…to desire (by His grace) to be the new creatures we are.

So tomorrow we will begin an in-depth look at these commands.

God's Grace

2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 - Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s grace is rightly defined as His unmerited favor. It is by grace that we have been saved. Today we are living under God’s grace; not according to the law. Our hearts are influenced and our attitudes shaped by the grace of God. His grace is a help to mankind. God’s grace is a gift given to us through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. God’s grace denotes suitableness, graciousness, kindness, and a liberality of joy. God’s grace trains us to renounce ungodliness, gives us freedom. And in this scripture passage we see that God’s grace is a strength for us.

John Gill says of Paul, “he is content things should be as they were, since he had such a promise of a sufficiency of grace to bear him up, under and through whatever was the pleasure of God concerning him; and since the strength of Christ was made illustrious through his weakness, so that Satan was not able to make any advantage over him, he is willing to remain in the same posture and condition:”

The grace of God is a wonderful blessing. Yes, it is His favor but in application, it can be understood so much more deeply. As Dallas Willard once said, if we understand God’s grace only as His favor, we are missing so much! I liken it unto the scripture that tells us that the Father will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory (see Philippians 4:19). Many of us were raised to consider this verse in a financial context. And certainly, God’s “riches” do include unlimited financial resource. But to limit our thinking, and more grievously – God, to only having a wealth of financial riches betrays a limited knowledge of the sovereign God.

So in this verse, where the strengthening power of God’s grace is highlighted, I delight. I greatly desire the unmerited favor of God! It is by His precious grace that I am saved. But I am further encouraged to understand His grace in more contexts than just that of salvation.

We live by God’s grace. His powerful grace is seen throughout our lives in many different ways. His wonderful strengthening, inspiring, wisdom-giving, graceful, favoring grace is a theme weaved throughout our existence on earth and one we will see in the ultimate culmination when we are eternally reconciled to God and live with Him eternally.

Praise God for His grace!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Isa 43:16-19 This is what the Lord says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,  who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Oh, these words are powerful!!!!! As we touched on last year (technically it was yesterday), may we go forward not looking at the past, dwelling in the things of yesterday, ignoring today; but may we confidently expect the Lord’s hand in our lives and move according to His guidance.

Regarding this scripture passage, Matthew Henry says, "Thus saith the Lord, who did make a way  in the sea, the Red Sea, and did bring forth Pharaoh’s chariot and horse, that they might lie down together in the bottom of the sea, and never rise, but be extinct. He that did this can, if he please, make a way for you in the sea when you return out of Babylon, and will do so rather than leave you there.’’ Note, For the encouragement of our faith and hope, it is good for us often to remember what God has done formerly for his people against his and their enemies. Think particularly what he did at the Red Sea, how he made it, 1. A road to his people, a straight way, a near way, nay, a refuge to them, into which they fled and were safe the waters being a wall unto them. A grave to his enemies. The chariot and horse were drawn out by him who is Lord of all hosts, on purpose that they might fall together…IV. He promises to do yet greater things for them than he had done in the days of old; so that they should not have reason to ask, in a way of complaint, as Gideon did, Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? for they should see them repeated, nay, they should see them outdone (v. 18): "Remember not the former things, from them to take occasion, as some do, to undervalue the present things, as if the former days were better than these; no, you may, if you will, comparatively forget them, and yet know enough by the events of your own day to convince you that the Lord is God alone; for, behold, the Lord will do a new thing, no way inferior, both for the wonder and the worth of the mercy, to the things of old.’’  

Know that the God who loves you unconditionally and Who never leaves or forsakes you is with you. He is ready, in 2015, to do a new thing that is no way inferior to the things of old. Stay close to Him, seek Him, desire after Him, and enjoy watching His movement on your behalf.