Freedom is Good News Part 163

In the 22nd chapter of the book of Revelation (the last chapter in the bible), we find the apostle John bringing the entirety of God’s word to completion.  In the 12th verse of that chapter he quotes our Savior Jesus, as saying this, “Behold, I am coming soon!  My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to his works.”

There are some folks who do not think that “works” have any place in the life of a believer.  They will quote this scripture in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith … not by works, so that no one can boast.”  But they confuse the concept of salvation with that of reward. 

Salvation is the free gift of God and can in no way be achieved by our works.  Simply put, it cannot be earned.  The Apostle Paul says it this way in the book of Romans 4:1-5, “What shall we say that Abraham, our father according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?  If, in fact Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God.  What does the scripture say?  ‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”  I hope we all understand this; if not, please let me know.

The concept of reward, however, is different.  Jesus clearly tells us that when He comes back to the earth, He will bring a reward to give to everyone based upon their works.  Because He will give to everyone a reward, we must understand that there are two sides to this reward; the bible calls them, blessings and curses! 

I believe it will do us some good to consider this topic.  I am sure we all want to be on the side of getting blessings and not curses.  Let us take a look.

Above, I mention Abraham, who according to Paul is the father of us all; that is, all the faithful.  In this same chapter of Romans that I quoted above we read, “(Abraham) is the father of us all.  As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’  He is our father in the sight of God in whom he believed.” (Romans 4:16-17)

Did Abraham have to do anything?  Why, yes he did!  In Genesis 12, God told Abram (Abraham’s original name) to, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and come to the land I will show you.”  God tells Abram that He will bless him in several ways (ah ha, blessings for obedience) and so we see that Abram left just as the LORD told him.

The entire story of Abraham is a beautiful one.  From Genesis 12 through 25 we learn of the trials, the joys, the battles, the faith and the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience that Abraham, who is called “our father in the faith”, encountered.

Why look at this topic through the life of an ancient man of God called Abraham?  He is our father in the faith and Jesus said this, “If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the works that Abraham did.” (John 8:39)  We know Abraham was blessed; what works did he do?  Don’t go away folks, there is still more to come!!

Freedom is Good News Part 88

No more locks, no more security cameras, no longer any need to keep your eye on your baggage or laptop at the airport, for everyone has come to see the benefit of obeying the eighth commandment of God!  I know; that is a fantasy scenario in today’s world.  But is there anything wrong with it?  It is good to see the ramifications of “Thou shall not steal.”

Last week we began looking at the law of God and maybe trying to understand that it is we who have gone astray from our God and Creator and not the other way around.  And so if this is true, then we must place the blame squarely upon our shoulders for the chaos we see around us.  God gave us the law as a gift and He tells His people, “I have taught you decrees and laws … that you may follow them in the land … Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations around you, who will hear about these decrees and say.  “What other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?” (Deut. 4:6)  By the way, did you know that the original colonies of the 17 and 18th centuries, used these very laws of God to set up their own laws and judicial systems!   

I mentioned in the previous article, that Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law.  And to this Paul agrees when he tells the Roman church, “I would not have known what sin was except through the law.” (Rom. 7:7)  And then he goes on to say, in this discussion on sin, that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”  What should we twentieth century dwellers, make of this?

You know what?  We all break the law.  The scripture teaches us that, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Rom. 3:10)  So the law of the state of Iowa tells us that the speed limit is 70 MPH on the interstate.  Have you ever exceeded that?  I have.  And so I am a law breaker.  This is a law of man but Paul tells us later on in the book of Romans 13:1, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities.”  So where do we go with this whole concept of sin? 

Allow me to cite a very recent example:  I am a school bus driver.  There are rules for the safety of the students, one of which is that the aisle must be clear at all times.  This is actually a state law.  On the last day of school, one of the pupils asked if we could forgo this rule because it was the last day.  Hmmm.  My answer was to ask her if it would be OK, because it was the last day, to ignore the stop sign at Hwy. 71 and just continue at 55 MPH on into Exira.  Laws have reasons and laws have consequences. 

God has blessed us with a beautiful set of laws.  They are laws that will protect us and bring us security.  And His laws are for our own good.  A loving heavenly Father has told us what it is that we should do to stay out of trouble and; Oh yes, He has told us just how it is that we should honor Him.  The first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”  We perhaps chuckle at the ancient pagans and their idols; statues of wood, stone and precious metals.  But if we are not somehow capable of keeping the simplest of laws made by man, can we really think that we do not break this first of the 10 commandments?  “Oh how I love your law!” (Psalms119:97)

Freedom is Good News Part 23

Do you know that God is good?  There is a song that, for the most part, our grandchildren taught us to sing.  The first few words are, “God is good, all the time; He put a song of praise in this heart of mine.”  It is a delightful song and I find it rolling around in my head from time to time.  For me, it is a reminder that, not only is God good, but that He is good all the time.  He is good even when I don’t feel good.  He is good even when things around me seem quite troubling.  He is good even when the nightly news tells me that the world seems to be falling apart.  Yes, God is very good!!

The good news is that this God and Father of ours, has all things under control.  As the scripture says, “He knows us; that we are but dust”.  That quote is from Psalm 103:14.  And for this week’s article, I would like to look into Psalm 103 to see just how good God really is.  Get your bible out and read the Psalm. 

It begins by telling us to “Praise the LORD” and to do it with all of our “inmost being”.  It tells us to praise His holy name and to forget not all of His benefits.  David then goes on to list some of these benefits:  He forgives all of our sins, heals our diseases, redeems our lives from the pit, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies us with good things and renews our youth like the eagle.  That’s quite a list!  And some of us who are of a hoary head might question David’s enthusiasm.

In the opening word’s we are told to “praise the LORD”.  The word “praise” here is most often translated “bless”.  Have you ever felt that you could bless God?  In Hebrew the word literally means to bow the knee or to kneel.  Have you ever bowed your knee when you approached God in prayer?  Have you ever humbled yourself, in such a manner, before the mighty hand of God?  When you approach the throne room of our Father to ask for forgiveness, healing, redemption, a crown of love and compassion, do you look to blessing Him, bowing before Him, kneeling in His presence?  He is the creator!

In verse 6 of this Psalm we read, “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”  Some might say that they have felt oppressed and yet God never worked these things for them.  But when we, who “are but dust”, kneel before the one who created all the hosts of heaven, do we do so in poorness of spirit, meekness and purity of heart (see Matthew 5:3-8)?

David goes on, in verse 7, to say that He made His ways known to Moses.  Can we pause here and ponder this?  God, the creator of all things, “the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity”, who’s ways are higher than ours “as the heavens are higher than the earth”, stooped down to make known His ways to Moses.  And then He allowed Moses to write them down so as to be passed on to us.  This is good stuff and I am out of space.  We need to visit this Psalm again.

Until next time, remember “God is good, all the time”.

Freedom is Good News Part 14

YES, THERE IS GOOD NEWS!

There are some times in these articles that I write about God blessing us and how that is “good news”.  There are other times when I write about how we should bless God.  Just in our previous article I ended by asking the question, “Will you be a blessing to your heavenly Father?”

Can we bless our Heavenly Father?  Will He be blessed by us?  And if we can, will that blessing of ours turn out to be something we might call “good news”?

In Psalm 103 we read, “Bless the LORD O my soul, all that is within me bless His holy name.”  This is how the Psalm begins and it ends with the words, “Bless the LORD, O you, His holy angels …. Bless the LORD all His hosts …. Bless the LORD all His works …. Bless the LORD O my soul.”  So, in answer to my first question, we can bless God!

The word “bless” comes from the Hebrew word “barak” which literally means to “bend the knee, to kneel; and by implication to bless God”.  It is the very same word that is used back in Genesis 1:27-28, “So God created man in His own image … male and female He created them … and God blessed them …”

When God started to work with Abram (later called Abraham) in Genesis 12:2-3, He said, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”.  God is the originator of life and so He is the originator of blessings.  But as we saw, these blessings may be reciprocal in that when we are blessed by God, we are to kneel before Him and bless Him with reverence and awe.

Have you ever been blessed by God the creator and sustainer of all life?  The question is really ludicrous.  The answer is an emphatic yes!!  The fact that you have life is the first blessing.  The fact that your life is sustained by oxygen, by water, by food in abundance is a blessing that some of us may take for granted.  But where should we stop in enumerating the many blessings we receive from our Heavenly Father?  We have our 5 senses that connect us with the world around us.  We have a super computer the size of a small melon within our skulls that processes all the information our senses feed it.  But perhaps most of all, we have “the breath of life” from our God within us which enables us to reason.  Yes, of all the creatures on this earth, we are the only ones who can come to truly know this God who created all things.  And in His love for us, He even allows us to try and reason Him away.  He does not crush the non-believer, God feeds all His creation.  He “so loves the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

“Bless the LORD O my soul”  Amen.

Until next time….