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Tag: Christ

  • but have not love,

    but have not love,

    1 Corinthians 13

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    The Way of Love
    13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,

    Let us summarize the list (from the ESV):

    •  2 And if I have prophetic powers,
    • and understand all mysteries
    • and all knowledge,
    • and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,

    • but have not love, I am nothing. 

    • 3 If I give away all I have,
    • and if I deliver up my body to be burned [to death],

    • but have not love, I gain nothing.

    WE are nothing and we gain nothing without this love – we are NOT Christians without Christ’s love evident in our faith and in our lives.

    This famous “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13 is most notably read (often at weddings) as an example of the love of a husband and a wife. The following verses, more notably than the opening verses, are truly much more than just the romantic love between a husband and wife; for the Apostle Paul speaks not of eros, nor phileo (brotherly love), but of agape – a godly love to which Christians must cling, pouring out sacrificially from the overflowing fountain of the love of Christ Jesus.

    The literal translation of agape love in the King James Version is charity. (Don’t get it mixed up with the giving away of money; charity is an outpouring of the overflowing love of God.)  Think of ‘charity’ as the love given so personally by our Lord Jesus Christ – charity is the touch of love Jesus would give to another, if He were you.

    1 Corinthians 13 in the original KJV.

    IF you were to replace the word ‘love’ with ‘charity’ or ‘agape’ in your Bible, you would likely come nearer the intention of what the Apostle is telling Christians about its importance in the witness of our lives. The following is such an example from the Amplified Bible:

     4 Agape [Charity] endures long and is patient and kind; charity never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
    5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Agape (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
    6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
    7 Charity bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
    8 Agape never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].

    Please study more about this special love Christians must have for each other; for it is a command of our Lord Christ Jesus.

    Let us close in consideration of the briefness of this life in the flesh, in witness to the charity of Christ Jesus. Closing in the same manner of substituting “charity” or the original Greek word, agape. from the Amplified Bible:

      13 And so faith, hope, charity abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; charity —true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is agape.

     

  • Turn in your hymnal..

    Turn in your hymnal..

    .. to Psalms – Book II.

    You probably know that Psalms is the Hymnal of worship in song to the LORD. You may know that Psalms is divided into five BOOKS, which contain a total of 150 songs (Psalms). Most of us know that many Psalms were written by David and most of us could not name a writer of any other of these holy lyrics.

    Today we are going to focus on hymns attributed to just one ‘lyricist,’ Psalms of worship by the sons of Korah. Some Psalms are introduced as a maskiyl [maschil] or song of contemplation. From these you will recognize many comforting scriptures familiar to us in certain times of distress.

    Psalm 42 MendelssohnPsalm 42

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Book Two
    Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?
    To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

    42 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
    2 My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
    When shall I come and appear before God?
    3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
    while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”

    The Psalmist (a descendant of Korah from the priestly line of Levi) goes on to lament:

     Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?

    I say to God, my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
    Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”

    An explanation of context – conjecture from a commentator from my NLT Bible – may be helpful.

    The psalmists are not afraid to ask questions and express doubts. These questions clarify life issues.

    “The historical context is uncertain; these psalms might be the voice of God’s people in exile, confessing their loyalty to God as he punishes them for their prevailing apostasy.”

    … but if you do not listen…

    … but if you refuse to obey…

    Then I will say, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me you evil doers.’

    WE get indignant to the idea that God would punish ME or punish you (dear believer) for our SIN. Yet the tone of these psalms is a plea for mercy, a confession of faith and a hope of redemption.

    Psalm 43

    Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
    against an ungodly people,
    from the deceitful and unjust man
    deliver me!
    2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
    why have you rejected me?
    Why do I go about mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?

    Psalm 44

    O God, we have heard with our ears,
    our fathers have told us,
    what deeds you performed in their days,
    in the days of old:

    11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter
    and have scattered us among the nations.
    12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
    13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and scorn of those around us.
    14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
    a laughingstock among the peoples.
    15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and shame has covered my face
    16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
    17 All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.

    Do you ever feel like that? … like you deserve the wrath of God?

    Yet WHY will he not save you? Why? …

    Romans 3: “None is righteous, no, not one;
    11 no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
    12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”

    24 Why do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
    25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
    26 Rise up; come to our help!
    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

    Let us remember who these descendants of Korah, Priests of Levi, truly are — remember of the inheritance of their sin (as well we ought to remember as our belly clings to the ground — that to dust we will return).

    Numbers 29: These are the Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the Lord 10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning. 11 But the sons of Korah did not die.

    These were members of the Levitical choir appointed by David, descendants of a fallen Kingdom and a once-again broken people in exile. These were men like us – men (and women; children of broken families) in need of God and wondering how godly men and a godly nation could have so quickly strayed from righteousness – how far we have fallen into destruction and hopelessness.

     Psalm 46a mighty fortress

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    God Is Our Fortress
    To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.

    46 God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
    2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
    3 though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
    4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
    5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
    God will help her when morning dawns.
    6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice, the earth melts.
    7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

    I commend to you all of the Psalms of the sons of Korah, 42-49, which I have only excerpted in part here.

    We close with focus for your serious consideration of the last of these:

    Psalm 49

     English Standard Version (ESV)

    Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?
    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

    49 Hear this, all peoples!
    Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
    2 both low and high,
    rich and poor together!

    5 Why should I fear in times of trouble,
    when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
    6 those who trust in their wealth
    and boast of the abundance of their riches?

    my redeemer lives - job - cross7 Truly no man can ransom another,
    or give to God the price of his life,
    8 for the ransom of their life is costly
    and can never suffice,
    9 that he should live on forever
    and never see the pit.

     A word to the wise:

    10 For he sees that even the wise die;
    the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and leave their wealth to others.
    11 Their graves are their homes forever,
    their dwelling places to all generations,
    though they called lands by their own names.

    14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
    death shall be their shepherd,
    and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
    Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
    15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
    for he will receive me. Selah

    The Living God has ransomed the souls of His chosen.

    Do you call upon the Name of Christ Jesus, our Redeemer?

    16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
    when the glory of his house increases.
    17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
    his glory will not go down after him.
    18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
    —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
    19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
    who will never again see light.

    20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

    Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    You with ears to hear, know that Christ Jesus IS Lord and Redeemer.

    Whom Shall I Fear –  by Chris Tomlin
     
  • Jesus’ Commandment

    Jesus’ Commandment

    “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” – John 15:13 – NKJV 

    Christ Jesus, who would lay down His life for us as sacrifice and redemption for our sins, tells the Disciples how God’s love is unconditional and how God’s love is overflowing beyond description.

    But what about our love for God? What about our love for Jesus?

    I cling to my flesh; I remember my sinful desires. I believe that Jesus died for me, but if He wants me to “follow” Him, I don’t think I can do it. (Isn’t this what we all think when we resist doing what we know God wants us to do?)

    While we brandish our ‘freedom’ to choose to do whatever we want (perhaps even as ‘grace’), most of us struggle with two principles of relationship taught by Jesus Christ: sacrifice and obedience.

    We want to ignore the advice of Jesus (whom we call, ‘Lord‘) when he said:

    “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” – John 12:25

    And:

    And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23

    These sound a lot like ‘conditions’ from Christ Jesus (whom we call, ‘Lord‘). For that matter, another thing Jesus said (which we would rather ignore) is:

    “… whoever does not obey [apeitheō] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” – John 3:36b

    Are you apathetic about Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

    Jesus asked the crowds who claimed His Name:

    “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” – Luke 6:36

     

    Someone (of a higher authority) gives a command and having no choice, you choose to obey. (But you don’t like it, do you?)

    If GOD, the ALL-POWERFUL Creator of life, accountant of your days and judge of your soul – if the LORD GOD gives you a command, can you choose anything but to obey?

    Of course… we often (and regrettably) do not obey our Lord.

    I remind us of all this to point to what Jesus said just prior to His oft-quoted “Greater love has no man than this…” application, which He did fulfill for us on the Cross.

    “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:14

    Imagine Jesus ‘commanding’ you to love other Christians as He has loved you. Can you do it?  (Many of us are most difficult to love.)

    We expect the grace of this Savior we call ‘Lord’ to cover our lack of love for others, but we must not  imagine that Jesus has only suggested it.

    Our Lord has spoken it to us as His “command.”

    Once again, think of yourself as a ‘follower’ of Jesus (even to the cross, if you must… even at some personal sacrifice, if you must) – put yourself in the well-worn sandals of Jesus’ Disciples and hear our ‘Lord’ in the eyes of your heart:

    John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

    13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

    14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

    15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

    17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

    Lord, you have commanded me, your saint and servant, heir to the life and the love of the house of the LORD, forever.

    Have you ever lamented: “Where are my ‘christian’ ‘friends? Have you ever wondered, “Where are my’ fellow ‘saints’ who would lay down their life for me?”

    It is to our shame that any member of our church should have to ask for the love of Jesus in us.

    For our ‘Lord’ and Savior has spoken His commandment to you and to me:

    “…love one another as I have loved you,”