Wed 8.3 - Another Name Angle

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.17-25; Exodus 20.7;  Acts 11.26; Ephesians 3.14-15

So far this week we have noted two angles through which to look at the idea of “in the name” of Jesus, in verse 17 and 23 of Colossians 3. They were:

1) Acting like him, as we believe he would act were he there in the situation.

2) Acting on behalf of him, as his ambassador to the earth during this time of his physical body’s absence, and his spiritual body’s presence.

Today, let’s take a slightly different approach and round off this idea of acting in the NAME of Jesus Christ. I want to first direct your attention to the selected reading for today from Exodus. I would imagine that most people have at least heard this verse of Scripture before, if not read it or memorized it. We typically speak of this verse when talking about the 10 commandments. However, let’s lift it out of that context today and look at it through our idea from Colossians 3.

That verse tells us not to “TAKE the NAME of the Lord” in vain. So what does that mean. Well, let’s focus on those two words capitalized…

TAKE - what could that mean? Well, let me just say it doesn’t mean “say” or “speak” the name like we so often hear. While that would be included in this truth, it in NO WAY stops there. Think of how we would use that same word in other ways. If I walked up to you and offered you a gift, and I said, “go ahead, take it” how would you hear that word then? Would the idea of speaking about the gift ever even pop into your head? Of course not. You would think I meant it as “receive” or “make it your own”.

NAME - now apply that truth to TAKING the NAME of God…how do we TAKE someone’s name still today? Well, in case this scary wedding picture wasn’t enough hint for you, it’s at a marriage. When Sandy Smith married David Brown, she was no longer Smith, but Brown. She TOOK the NAME of Brown. In the same way, when we are saved, we take on the family name of our Father - the Lord. (one more aspect of the fact that we are now the “sons of God”, see John 1.12-14)

So, here’s the meat of what we should walk away with this morning…

- As a child of God, I have TAKEN His name upon myself when I was saved.

- Now, as part of His family, my actions reflect on Him. (have you ever heard of a father saying to one of their children, “You have disgraced the name of _____”?) It’s that same idea. WHAT WE DO REFLECTS ON HIM. It’s just the hard truth of the matter. As much as I hate to admit it and wish it was different sometimes. Our poor representation of Christ is oftentimes why the World around us wants nothing to do with Him. But then again, why would they if this is how His people act!?!?

- So, it is very important that my actions “WORD OR DEED” would live up to the reality of who I AM in Him. As one of His children, is this right by my Father? That should always be the question at the tip of our tongues.

May God help His children today to act according to who they are in Him. May we represent our Father and His Word well as we go throughout our days. And may all our WORDS and DEEDS be done according to His will and way. Amen.

Tue 8.2 - Capping it off

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.10-17; John 14.13,15.16,16.26;

As we draw towards the end of our study through Colossians 3, I want to remind you of where we came from. What was it we learned so much about in verses 1-2? It was seeking the THINGS ABOVE, and setting our affection on THEM. It was also NOT seeking the things of earth, and setting our affection on them. We then learned that there are a few things that we are clearly identified in Scripture as above… those things were:

the PERSON of God

the WORD of God

the THRONE of God

the FAMILY of God

Now, underneath those categories, we could really see a few more things identified above - the saints who have gone before (Judges 1.14), new Jerusalem (Rev 21.2), but we do not have time to explore every little breakdown of that today.

Now remember that we are to SEEK those things. So, if your mind is constantly preoccupied with the things above, then will that not effect our actions? If our hearts are constantly falling deeper and deeper in love with those things above, then will that not also effect our actions?

You see, God is about to discuss our interactions as husbands and wives, children and parents, servants and masters, and basically cover every type of social relationship. But, before all of that, He summarizes this truth of Colossians by simply saying, “no matter what you do, even down to your very words and deeds, do it all as if you were doing it on Christ’s behalf!” And I just think that if we could get that simple truth, all of those relationships He mentions next would take care of themselves.

Guys, I can’t tell you how much this truth has revolutionized my world in these last 8 weeks. Seeking the things above - the things God is concerned with, the things He decides to be in the presence of, the things He is seeking! Setting my affection on those same things - not on a new Mac, not on a better car, not on popularity, not on music or trends, but on those timeless things where He is. If I would just do that, and NOT seek and set my affection on the things that pertain to this earth (things of my body, and the world system) then I will find that abundant life He mentions in John 10.10.

You may want to check out 2 Corinthians 5.17-21 and see how God described our living for Him…it is as if we are here in Christ’s stead, or in His place! Wow. Those are HUGE shoes to fill! I realize things OF this earth will never fill them, only the things above!

That’s why the verses in our daily readings today talk about answered prayers. When we are praying in accordance with His will and in submission to His way, of course our prayers will be answered, because they will be set to His plan!

Isn’t it amazing how God brings this stuff all back to where we started at??? Praise Him today! Amen.

Sat 7.6 – King Peace

Today’s Readings: Colossians 1.20, 3.10-16; Romans 5.1,10, 14.17; 2 Corinthians 5.18-21; Philippians 4.6-7; I Thessalonians 5.23

We come to a huge statement in our study through Colossians today. Scripture says to “let the peace of God rule in your hearts”[v.15]. Now, what kind of person rules? A King, right? The King get’s his way, the King calls the shots, the King determines the direction of the people of the land.

Now with that in mind, check out the scriptures above. Where does that PEACE come from? I mean that true peace that is to rule our hearts. It comes from God. 1 Corinthians 14.33 actually says God is the AUTHOR of PEACE. He is where it starts, where it originates, where it comes out from. Wow.

So, if God is telling us that the PEACE which only He gives is to RULE in our hearts, how do we get there?

Do you ever feel like your life is RULED by everything EXCEPT PEACE?!?! I do sometimes. It is easy to feel like STRESS, or PROBLEMS, or TENSION, or DEPRESSION, or CONFUSION rules in our hearts. We would be lying if we said anything otherwise. That’s is just the reality of the believer living in this wicked world all around us. When we talk about the HEART we talk about all kinds of EMOTIONS.

Sometimes the EMOTIONS we FEEL are what we base the TRUTH on. If your parents have done something that makes you FEEL forsaken, you can easily talk yourself into believing the FALSE TRUTH that they do not love you anymore. However, that is not the truth but because of your EMOTIONS, your PERCEPTION of the truth can be ALTERED. And if we are going to have a RIGHT PERCEPTION of the TRUTH, we are going to have to put our DECEITFUL HEARTS (Jeremiah 17.9) UNDERNEATH the rule of the true PEACE of God, who sits on the throne over our HEART.

Well, God would not tell us to do something that is impossible would He? Of course not… so then, again, how do we get there? How do we get self, stress, tension, and all those other things off the throne so that PEACE HIMSELF (see I Thess 5.23) can sit down and rule in our hearts? God explains that in the next verse.

We must LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN US RICHLY AND IN ALL WISDOM! [v.16]

In this verse we see the KEY that will open the door to all of the things we have learned to be true of the NEW MAN. Guys, we could talk about 100 reasons that we need to let the WORD OF CHRIST come into our lives and TAKE OVER THE PLACE! It is the key to everything in the Christian life. We talked Wednesday night about the fact that our failures before God are always DIRECTLY RELATED to our failures in STAYING IN THE WORD. God clearly illustrates the WORD OF GOD AS BREAD(Matt 4.4, John 6, Amos 8.11), and just like our PHYSICAL BODIES WOULD DIE if we did not eat food, our SPIRITUAL BODIES WILL DIE if we do not eat spiritual food – the Word of God!

We cannot go everywhere that verse deserves in this short devotion today, but I want to leave you with one thought… YOU ARE LIKE THE PEOPLE YOU HANG OUT WITH (Prov 13.30)!

So, would it not make sense that when we HANG OUT WITH GOD IN HIS WORD, and let that WORD remain (dwell) in us, and we’re constantly thinking on it/Him, and constantly fellowshipping with what parts of it/Him are hidden in our hearts (Ps 119.11), that we would have peace? Forgiveness? Charity? Equality? That we would bare that Image? That we would be RENEWED in our MINDS? And everything that the NEW MAN is!!! I think so!

May the WORD DWELL IN YOU RICHLY AND IN ALL WISDOM today! Amen.

Tue 3.2 – Scripture Heart and Mind

Today’s Reading: Col 3.1-4; Luke 10.38-42; 15.11-32; Ps 119.17-24, 89-96

Many of you are probably not doing Monday’s devotion until Tuesday because of the glitch in my internet over the weekend. Today, we are going to look a little more at the story yesterday in Luke 10. There are some more verses for thought above, and we will mention them at the end of the devotion for further study.

Remember, over the last week or so, we are talking about SEEKING THE THINGS ABOVE and SETTING OUR AFFECTION on them from Col 3.1-2. We have discussed the 4 things God says in His Word that we are to be SEEKING and SETTING OUR AFFECTION on (the Person, Word, Throne, and Family of God – see yesterday’s study for references). We talked about how SEEKING something is to PURSUE it with everything we have. We looked at the words God chose specifically when He said we are to SET our AFFECTION on things above, meaning that we are to CHOOSE with our MIND what we are going to SEEK with our lives and thus make that the AFFECTION of our hearts. Then we began to look at some illustration of that.

Let’s take a minute and settle down into our illustration from yesterday. In Luke 10.38-42 we see the familiar story of Jesus at the house of Mary and Martha. Martha, of course, was busy rushing around the house to make sure it was clean and tidy for Jesus while serving Him and His companions. Mary, on the other hand, is sitting still at the feet of Christ listening to His every word. We have one illustration of WORK in Martha and one of WORSHIP in Mary. The WORKER is troubled that the WORSHIPPER is leaving her to do all the WORK, so she approaches Jesus and complains. His response is awesome, and something we all needed to hear yesterday. Let’s take just a minute and look deeper into the situation, maybe in a new light. . . .

Notice Martha’s complaint in verse 40. Who does she rebuke? It’s not Mary. Wouldn’t you think it would be Mary? No, she rebukes Jesus. That brings a whole new light to this story. Martha didn’t blame Mary for what she was doing. How could she. She had heard Jesus teach before. She knew His WORDS were mesmerizing. She knew anyone who would listen couldn’t help but be consumed by what He had to say. It was His WORD that was so enticing, not Mary that was so lazy. Sure, Mary loved Jesus. But so did Martha. That’s why she was so busy, working so hard, bustling about so frantically. She loved Jesus and wanted to serve Him perfectly. They both had great love for Jesus. So what was it that separated the two? If they both loved Jesus, why did Jesus say that Mary had chosen that “good part” that was “needful”? It’s because MARY was SEEKING the WORD of GOD, and SETTING HER AFFECTION on the WORD of GOD. They both were SEEKING and SETTING THEIR AFFECTION on the Person of God…Jesus Christ… there in real time. But only Mary was passionate after the WORD OF GOD, and that passion for the WORD is where she was able to bridge the gap between worker and worshipper.

Above, you will see some passages of scripture to reflect upon. Luke 15 is a great story of the REMEDY to a lost first love we looked at last week. As you read this passage, allow the spirit of God to speak to your heart about the beauty of His great love for us.

As you close your time with God today, think about MARY and MARTHA. Think about the difference between them and Mary’s passion for the WORD OF GOD (the second thing above we are to be seeking) and evaluate your own passion for it. Are you seeking it? Are you setting your affection on it? Is it so mesmerizing to you that you can’t help but stop what you are doing and listen? Look at those verses above from Ps 119. God said that King David was the MAN AFTER HIS OWN HEART. Notice the love this guy had for the WORD OF GOD as you read his words in Ps 119. Wow. May God help us to seek and set our affection on the things above, and today on the WORD OF GOD.