day no. 13,131: preaching Genesis 42-45 at Candeo this morning

This morning I am teaching on Genesis 42-45 at Candeo Church in our series "Introducing God" going through the whole book of Genesis.

In case you missed it, here's the run down.

1. God's Grace Produces Grief
2. God's Grace Provides Perspective
3. God's Grace Changes Lives
4. God's Grace Saves Sinners

1. We see God graciously helping Joseph's brothers to feel the weight of guilt for their sin committed against their brother over 30 years previous.  At the time, they felt no shame or guilt at the time they did the wickedness against Joseph.

2. We see God graciously helping Joseph's brothers see their problem not merely as one against man, but against God.  Against God they have sinned in sinning against their brother and it is with Him that they have to conduct the business of making it right.

3. We see God graciously give Judah a selfless and sacrificial heart.  Earlier he had helped his brothers sell Joseph into slavery although Joseph had done nothing wrong.  Now we see him begging to be sacrificed instead of his brother Benjamin (even though as far as he knew, Benjamin was actually guilty of sin and deserving of Pharaoh's wrath).

4. We see God graciously orient history and circumstances around saving Joseph's brothers.  He saved Joseph, but He did that in order to save the very brothers that had abused Joseph in the first place.  God's grace extends to those who do not deserve and in fact, deserve something bad in return for their actions.

day no. 13,129: love through the mud‏

1 Corinthians 13:5

(Love) does not act improperly,
is not selfish, is not provoked,
and does not keep a record of wrongs.

This chapter on love most commonly heard next to marriage vows interestingly enough appears in the middle of a discussion on spiritual giftings and serving the local church.

Chapter 12 spoke of the “body” of Christ assembled as the local church and chapter 14 will continue to speak with more detail regarding the local church, its order and the gifts of individuals serving the church.

What is most important in all of this is love. 

More important even than your individual gift is using whatever you do with love to serve the church.

Love is not selfish and self-seeking.

Love is not provoked.

It doesn’t seek glory for itself by getting more noticeable gifts or acknowledgement.

It doesn’t get jealous if someone else is gifted greatly for His service.

Love through the mud.

Clearly it is our calling.

1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully,
as I am fully known.

We will know and be known fully and completely finally forever.

It will happen one day.

All the misunderstanding between people in both directions and between people and their God will be done away with forever.

No more assumptions and speculations.

No more junk like jealousy and provocation.

No more seeds of self-seeking.

Clear, face to face, distinct truth and grace.

Love through the mud.

Clearly it is our only hope.

day no. 13,128: saul of tarsus was not merely a free agent‏

Acts 13:46

Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: “It was necessary that God’s message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles!

Saul of Tarsus was a Christian-persecuting Jew.

He was aggressively committed to his religion to the extent of physically imprisoning and attending the executions of those who opposed his convictions.

That man met the Son of God while on the way to persecute more of those who followed The Way.

The man who hated Christians became one when he met the Christ.

Interestingly enough, however, he did not become a Jew-persecuting Christian.

He was not like a home run hitter who gladly gives his life to hitting homers for whomever will pay him to do it.

Persecuting people who opposed his convictions was not his thing.

At least it wasn’t anymore after he met Jesus.

He adamantly argued and persuaded his fellow Jewish neighbors and countrymen to follow the God of their fathers by the Son He had graciously provided for us.

And when push came to shove, he allowed himself to be shoved.

He didn’t push back.

He didn’t initiate a physical retaliation or stir up an army to persecute those who were persecuting him.

No, he loved his enemies and after being rejected and abused by them, he left them to their own fancies to preach the same God to the Gentiles.

Saul was a different person as a result of meeting Jesus.

He didn’t continue doing what he used to do for a new team.

He began playing an entirely different game.

Are you still playing games?

Are you claiming Team Jesus, yet still playing for Team Self?

day no. 13,127: an eternal argu/arrange-ment‏

1 Corinthians 11:3

But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.

The model of functional subordination is found in the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit being equal in value, but different in function. Jesus obeys the Father.  This is not because He is less than the Father. That is a value we read into that statement, just as we do in hearing that wives should submit to their husbands.  It isn’t a statement of value or worth, it is a statement of order that is rooted ultimately in the order of the Godhead.

This an eternal order, not a culturally bound one. This is not simply a matter of what was once practiced, but is now optional.  Father, Jesus, Husband, Wife is the established order and Paul argues from the very order of the Trinity and the created order produced by this God for the eternal order of authority and responsibility.

1 Corinthians 11:10

This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

1/3 of the angels chose to remove the symbol of authority from their heads in following Satan in outright, open rebellion against God.  If you are a woman who wants to fight back against this created order of God in NOT submitting to your husband, you are following a demonic spirit of rebellion more in keeping with the angels who became demons by following Satan’s proposed order of creation than in keeping with the one created by God.

1 Corinthians 11:16

But if anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.

Anyone want to argue about this? 
Anybody? 
Yep. Many in fact. 

And they are all wrong. 

Sure, you can find churches that don’t hold this position. 
But Paul states emphatically here that those ARE NOT churches.

All the churches OF GOD receive and believe in this God-ordained order of life and home. All of the other churches that deviate from this plan are churches OF MEN, not OF GOD.

day no. 13,126: passing along the most important thing i ever received‏

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

The first and most important thing you can ever pass along to someone else is the first and most important thing you can ever receive.

The Gospel.

Jesus Christ lived a perfect life.

Jesus Christ died for our sins.

Jesus Christ was buried.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Just like the Bible said He would.

day no. 13,125: limitation imitation‏

I vacillated between entitling this “limitation imitation” as I have above and “limited time only: nope, other stuff as well”

You be the judge in the comments below.

1 Corinthians 11:1

Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

Follow Jesus and then urge others to follow you in that regard.

Jesus put others before Himself. He put aside His strength to come alongside those who were weak, which is NOT as His enemies would accuse Him: a weakness of Jesus’.

In fact, this is true STRENGTH.

He was able to control Himself and set Himself aside in order to serve others.

Do you have the strength to deny yourself?

Do you have the control to set yourself aside?

day no. 13,122: an alternate ending‏

Acts 17:16

"While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols."

My friend Josh replied with this observation from Acts 17 which I thought was worth sharing: 

…it seems when Paul was going through this city, there wasn't war with Jews and those who worshipped other gods. It was only Jesus that put the Jews into a frenzy. They didn't care about the other gods.

What a GREAT observation!

The city was full of idols that apparently didn’t provide enough offense to provoke the Jews to persecute their position.

Perhaps it was indifference or arrogance in their compassion or concern for their Gentile neighbors breaking the second commandment.

Perhaps it was because these alternate religions were not directly indicating anything about the Jews’ God.

Either way, things seemed to be alright until Paul strolled into town proclaiming Jesus as God’s Son sacrificed and resurrected on our behalf.