One Year Bible - September 27

ISAIAH 51:1 - 53:12                                                                                                            
WHEN WE GROPE IN DARKNESS: Isa 50:10 says we have one recourse:  "Let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and depend on his God."  "HEARKEN" - "pay attention!" (51:1, 4, 7)
(v.1-3) God, Who lifted us out of a pit of corruption, will preserve us in times of darkness and revive us, restoring joy, gladness, and thanksgiving.
(v.4-6) God's deliverance and righteousness is both sure and trustworthy.
(v.7-8) Our enemies are perishing. Don't worry about them.
(v.9-11) God is the same as He's always been: to rescue, to protect and preserve.
(v.12-16) God's overriding purpose is to deliver. Our fears are ungrounded and are the product of unbelief.  "Who are you that you should be afraid of a man?"  Remember who you are! (Chosen, redeemed, called by God.)  Fear is the result of "forgetting the Lord thy Maker." "Where is the fury of the oppressor?"  Fear God.
(v.17-23) Don't go by appearances. Our ultimate deliverance & triumph is already secured.

GETTING PERSPECTIVE:  (v.1) Rouse yourself. Stir up your spirit. (Pray, sing, read Scripture out loud.)   (v.1) Put on "beautiful garments" - Give praise and thanks to God for His goodness and greatness.   (v.2) Quit rolling around in self-pity.  Don't allow unholy thoughts to rule you anymore.   (v.2) Don't allow yourself to be bound by appearances.   You are actually free!  (v.3-6) Prepare for glory.  God saw it all and is planning to do something about it.  (v.7) God will accomplish His purpose through you.   (v.8-9) Be joyful, God is Present everywhere. "Vent" your joy instead of your fear.   (v.10-12) Be separate and distinct. God will back you up.

WHO CAN BELIEVE THIS? (52:13-15) Our Savior was beaten beyond recognition.  (53:1-3) Our Savior will come from obscurity and weakness.   (53:4-5) Even God wounded Him!  (53:6) We were perverse and God punished our Savior for it.  (53:7-9) He was a willing sacrifice.  (53:10-12) He did it all for the JOY that was set before Him of seeing "the travail of His soul."

RESPONSE: What a shock this must have been for Isaiah.  Without really understanding what he was seeing, he saw God die!  God gave Himself to ransom and redeem us from our sin, our iniquity and our transgression.  We weren't even worth saving!  We were no different from Babylon.  God saved us for His Name's sake.   Isa 55:3 says it was also because He was preserving the House of David, and He had promises to keep.  No wonder Isaiah said, "Who has believed our report?!"

EPHESIANS 5:1-33                                                                                                                
"CHILDREN OF LIGHT":  Ephesians is about UNITY and God's eternal purpose.  Paul's goal with his instructions here is to build unity and cohesion in the church.   It is important that they unify and work together and most important, that they build each other up.   The Kingdom of God is made up of "one new man" (Eph 2:15), so our "issues" are no longer "personal".   We cannot claim ignorance either, because we are not darkness anymore!   In this day of "political correctness", I've been told that I can't even criticize someone who is sinning.   That if they are ”okay" with it, then I have to be "okay" with it, too!   But here, Ephesians says that we are to "reprove" anyone participating in "unfruitful deed of darkness."

"WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY, NOT AS FOOLS":  The Greek word for "circumspectly" is "akribos".   It means to walk like a tightrope walker: exactly and accurately.  How can we do that?  (V.14) Stay alert. (pay attention).  (v.17) Stay purposeful (doing what God wants and what He has determined beforehand).   (v.18) Stay filled with the Holy Spirit.   (v.19-21) Stay together (submitting and encouraging one another). Mutual subjection deals the death-blow to self-will and self-interest.

HEAVENLY WEDLOCK: Husband and wife alike are each and both "in Christ" and can never think of one another as anything apart from that condition.   As a couple, they have a relationship to the "mystery" of the "eternal purpose" of God in that their marriage has, in actuality, a heavenly counterpart.

Paul's immediate objective here is to bolster Christian unity by undermining the Roman ideal of a male-dominated family and turning it into a love-driven Christianized family.  V.22 which is translated "wives be subject to husbands" does not use the word "subject."   It is merely "wives to husbands."  The case of possession implies "to their own."  But the point is this is no different than the kind of submission they were all to exhibit to one another.

WIVES:  As fully "in Christ" and fully free, she is called to an allegiance and faithfulness to her husband, respecting his sacrifices for her.  The word "submission" really means more "cooperate" "assuming responsibility".   It is a voluntary act. No one can "submit you".  It does not imply obedience, but cooperation.

HUSBANDS:  Called to be her self-forgetting servant, saving her (means preserving and protecting). The leader is the servant. The underlying ethic of the Christian home is "agape", which means almost the same thing as "hupostasso".  "Head" does not connote superior rank, but "source (provider) of life and growth".  As Head of the Church, Jesus does not rule over it, but protects and provides for the Church as the "fulness of Him Who fills all in all".   Christ as head provides the body with oneness, cohesion and growth.  This is a servant-provider role, not one of rulership.  His headship to the church is defined as saviorhood which is biblically defined as a servant, self-sacrificing function, not a lordship role.  Christ is the head from whom the whole body grows because it is nourished by him.  Christ is always the servant who gives the church all she needs to become his radiant Bride.  So is the husband to his wife.  Paul is likening the marital relationship to that of Christ/Chruch in one aspect only, that of the sacrificial love for the sake of ONENESS.

HEADSHIP OR LORDSHIP:  The fact is that Christ's headship and Christ's lordship are two different, though related, ideas.  The metaphorical use of the word "kephale" (head) corresponds to a like use of the word "rosh" in the Old Testament, both meaning the "beginning," or "source" of something.  Christ's headship speaks of Him as the beginning, origin, and ground of all being. His lordship speaks of His governing rule in the creation.  Thus His lordship in the creation is the result of His headship, but the two ideas are not synonymous.

RESPONSE: Do I sound a little defensive here? Let me tell you why.  I am sure I speak for a lot of women my age or so, who have been treated as second-class, or even abused, in churches. We have been denied the pulpit, denied voting rights in some cases, denied holding offices, etc. in churches. Yet, truthfully, many churches would not even exist if it weren't for women! Women have prayed, they have worked, they have given money, they have given their children.

In the 60s and 70s there was another move to "put women in their place" in many churches, going so far as to call their husbands their "priests"! The purpose for this was so that this same leadership group could pull ranks in the church structure.   But it had to be accepted in the home first so that it would "work" in the church.  Their logic was that just like there is rank in the home, so there is rank in the Church!   I believe in authority in the church; but those in authority are responsible, not privileged.  They must lead by example, and then give direction and correction, and get the congregation where it's supposed to be in growth and maturity.  This is the role of the husband/father also.  What woman wouldn't respect a man like that???!  And, by the way, my pastor is the best!  He champion's unity for everyone, while ministering in recognizable authority. 

PSALM 69:19-35                                                                                                                
This is obviously prophetic of Jesus. But each one of us could say at some time: "Scorn has broken my heart....I looked for sympathy but there was none."  Jesus also referred to being smitten by God (v.26) in here.  HOWEVER, even this Psalm ends in praise and thanksgiving. Praise and thanks are the way out of depression or sorrow.  MAGNIFY the Lord and our troubles get smaller by comparison.

PROVERBS 24:7                                                                                                            
Sometimes the quiet person looks wise.   However, when wise people get together and talk, a fool has nothing to contribute.  But that doesn't stop some people. 

RESPONSE: We choose our emotions.  We also choose how we will think about a thing. When someone breaks our heart, we must make a choice to be happy anyway.  Our praise and thanks go to God.  1 Thess 5:18 says that giving thanks ALWAYS is God's will for us.