One Year Bible - October 28

JEREMIAH 51:54 - 52:34                                                                                                    
CAST OUT OF GOD'S PRESENCE: Puppet king Zedekiah did "the evil" - idolatry (spiritual adultery) and God cast him and his country out of His sight.  Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon and tried to make an alliance with Egypt.  The hunger in Jerusalem was unbearable, and there was a mad hatred for God and His messenger (Jeremiah).  The Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar finally totally destroyed Jerusalem, burning what was left, including  "the house of the Lord" (586 BC). Eighteen months of agony finally came to an end.  As the Babylonians poured into the city, their officers sat in the "middle gate" (Holy Place) of the Temple, polluting it with their presence.  Some of the priests were slain on the grounds.  The captives were stripped naked and chained up, then marched away to Babylonian prisons.  Only the poorest of the poor were left behind to tend the fields.  All the remaining valuables in the Temple were taken back to Babylon to adorn their palace.   This is a symbolic picture of what awaits US if we turn our backs on God!  Stripped, humiliated, broken, destroyed captives. 

REVERSAL!!!  Vs 31-34 is a cameo of the restoration that takes place in God's Kingdom. The king's head was "lifted up" (NEW MIND), he was "brought out of prison" (NEW FREEDOM), his throne was "set in position" (NEW AUTHORITY), he was given a change of garments (NEW CLOTHING - "put on Christ" - righteousness), a "continual feast" (NEW UNDERSTANDING of spiritual things), and "every day a portion" (NEW PROVISION), "all the days of his life" (NEW ASSURANCE).

RESPONSE:   Judah's pain was intensified and multiplied because they didn't experience God's Presence any more. Their counterfeits for God were poor substitutes. We don't have to live that way!  John 6:37 says He won't cast us out!   The pleasure we seek can and should come from the Lord.  His Presence is what thrills us - and we can train our hearts to believe this and experience this.   God lavishes Himself on us and anything less leaves us incomplete.  Speak the Truth of the Word so loud that your heart can hear it. We look at HIM, not our own inabilities and limitations.  He is our security.   He is our refuge.  He is our safety and freedom.  We don't need to resort to idolatry because God is AVAILABLE anytime.  We remove any obstacles to being in God's presence through REPENTANCE. "Repent and believe".  This connects us to God.  We repent of our independence and of "forgetting" God and then re-connect to Him as our Source of Life.   Psa 63:8, "my soul clings to You".

TITUS 3:1-15                                                                                                                       
Chapter 3: Being Christian in a Heathen Culture:  If anything should typify the life of a Christian believer, it is "grace".  Usually when we think of "grace", we think of God's grace toward us.  God's grace is "His willingness to use His power and ability in our behalf." When we show grace to someone, we are showing them "favor" and refers to our deeds being redemptive in nature.  When we go out into the community, we must take our Christianity with us!  Remember, we are to "garnish the Gospel" - make the Gospel look real, effective, and relevant.   One way we do that is to "be subject" to people in charge.  It doesn't matter whether we agree with them or not; we are to "be subject". We can actually be subject without obeying at times.  For example, when the disciples were told to stop preaching Jesus, they didn't obey, but they went to jail without a fight (submitted to authority) (Acts 4).  It is a matter of attitude. Unless the person in charge is going against Scripture, we must obey, however.

We must always be ready to do good deeds. Don't always be thinking about yourself or your well-timed agenda.  Part of the "sound doctrine" that is taught is "speech that can't be found fault with" . (2:8)   This means that we aren't argumentative, but we are gentle, flexible (meek), not touchy, and don't speak evil of anyone.

"KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD" - manifested as God's great mercy when He washed us by regeneration and renewed us by the Holy Spirit.   If it weren't for the washing and renewing, we'd still be back where we were before Jesus claimed us.  Every opportunity, we must do "good works", manifesting the "kindness and love of God".

"HERETICS" In the context of "Titus", a "heretic" was someone who came up with his own doctrine.  The word actually came from a root that means "choices" and refers to someone who has chosen out what he wants to believe or disbelieve, and is now adhering to heresy - UNtruth.  What they did was to combine and mix Christianity with whatever they believed before - whether it was Judaism or cultural philosophy.  Paul calls them "warped and sinful and self-condemned."  It is a waste of time to argue with them, so if they won't be corrected, ask them to leave.

RESPONSE:   All our works should be redemptive in nature.  That's what our assignment was in Genesis 1:26-28 and is what God means by "dominion".  It is the reason that Christians recycle and replenish.  It is the reason we show kindness and mercy.  It is our mission from Jesus to "go".   We are "reconcilers" (2Cor 5:18-21).

PSALM 100:1-5                                                                                                              
IMPORTANCE OF PSALM 100:  We have to ask ourselves, are these instructions for how to enter God's Presence?  Or are "joy and gladness" requirements to gain admission to God's Presence?  Or are they just feelings that prompt us to enter God's Presence?  Or, are "joy and gladness" just ONE of many ways to go into God's Presence?  Psalm 100 is one of these: instructions, requirements, feelings, or suggestions.

THE ANSWER:  The answer lies in CONTEXT: One of the themes of whole Bible is about access to God.  The Book of Psalms is the practicum: the steps we take, the understanding we need, what to do with our feelings, and even the words we use.  This particular section of Psalms, known as the "Numbers" section (Psa 90-106) is about the actual passage, the crossing over or entrance into the Presence of God (called "the Land" in Numbers), and the consequences for those who "don't bother" because of fear and unbelief (self-preservation).  Psalm 100, itself, is the door.

THE GOAL:  While Jesus' death on the Cross is pivotal and a focal-point, it was never the goal.  God's goal, all along, was to draw us close, for us to dwell in His Presence. Just like the Tabernacle of Moses, we were never intended to stay in the Outer Court at the altar of bloody sacrifice.  The actual goal of the Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies where the Ark of His Presence was.  God was with His people, in that He nourished them, protected them, and even cherished them.  But only Moses actually looked God in the face and spoke with Him. Only Moses really knew God by experience, and not just words or instruction.  Moses loved what God loved.  Moses knew how God wanted things done.  Moses wasn't easily provoked or shaken.  God was the center of Moses' life.  Everything Moses did revolved around God.  This is what it means to dwell in God's Presence.

BACK TO PSALM 100:  Our "labor" as believers is "to intensely go after God".  Hebrews 3 and 4, in explaining Numbers, tells us that when we don't, we have "an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God" (Heb 3:12).  It is either "draw near" or be "departing".  Even being lazy is a form of unbelief, because we just don't believe God is worth all the trouble and sacrifice!   Our fears, feeling threatened, self-pity, complaining, are all manifestations of FEAR AND UNBELIEF!

I believe that the answer to our questions about Psalm 100 is a little of three: instructions, requirements and feelings; and certainly NOT a "suggestion" for one of many ways to go into God's Presence.  If we are commanded to enter God's Presence in a THANKFUL ATTITUDE of FAITH, then anything else would be UNBELIEF.   Again, using the NT explanation for this in 1 Thess 5:16-18: "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." And again, Phil 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice."

There is a reason why we MUST do this: Rom 8:7 says that our "natural mind" (thoughts, feelings, opinions) hates God!  So we have to take it captive (1Co 9:27) and FORCE IT to submit to God with our mouths (James calls my tongue "the rudder" - steering-wheel).  Praise and thanksgiving to God document faith and trust and take our flesh captive to the will of God.  Anything else is "an evil heart of unbelief" .  And so, "when I am afraid, I trust You" (Psa 56:3).  When I am "in distress" I talk to "my own heart" (Psa 4).

Yes, we can come to God and tell Him what is going on. Read the Psalms. David did it. Yes, we can express what our self-centered, self-preserving hearts are telling us - but don't stop there. Bring all that stuff into submission to trusting God thru praise and thanksgiving.  AND DO IT QUICKLY!  Don't dwell in unbelief and fear - it will keep you from God's Presence! Praise God and thank Him that He is in charge of the universe.  He is working His plan.  I am NOT "collateral damage", but I am "the apple of His eye" (Psa 17:8).  God loves me!  God chose me and I am His!   That's what Psalm 100 is about!  Express your praise and thanksgiving and your feelings will follow!  Praise and thanksgiving, in order to come into God's Presence, are our instructions for how to command our whole self to go after God.  They are the requirements to get beyond our flesh (especially our feelings, that only seem to cooperate when I am "happy") in order to experience God's Presence. They are feelings that provoke our desire and hunger for more of God.

PROVERBS 26:18-19                                                                                                          
I hate sarcasm. When we say something insulting, and then say, "I was only kidding", the Bible says we are shooting firebrands.  Sarcasm is a manifestation of ingratitude and self-righteousness.   "Sarcasm" actually comes from two Greek words that mean "to tear the flesh". Gal 5:15 says, "If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."