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  • Psalm 34: Like-minded with Peter – 5

    Psalm 34: Like-minded with Peter – 5

    We might describe Peter and David as like-minded, that is, men after God’s own heart.

    Of course, Psalm 34 is a Psalm of David. So what does this Psalm have to do with a letter from Peter (where we left off previously by asking, ‘Why Submit?’)?

    Psalm 34 would have been familiar to first century believers and Peter quotes David’s message as a unifying foundation of hope for these new believers in Christ.

    1 Peter 3:

    8 Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

    Stick with this short list of characteristics of relationships between believers.

    • like-minded
    • sympathetic
    • love one another
    • be compassionate
    • be humble
    • do not return evil for evil
    • never insult
    • bless your brother or sister in Christ.

    Remember the church’s persecution as exiles and their hope from many familiar stanzas of this Psalm Peter does not even mention. We have much to unpack from Peter’s instruction to the church here.

    For now, because he moves on to the Psalm and we most likely lack the familiarity of the first century believers, I will attempt to open the scripture of Psalm 34, returning later to Peter’s letter.

    Psalm 34

    Introduction to Psalm 34

    Charles Spurgeon provides some helpful insight into this Psalm.

    Although the gratitude of the psalmist prompted him thankfully to record the goodness of the Lord in vouchsafing an undeserved deliverance, yet he weaves none of the incidents of the escape into the narrative, but dwells only on the grand fact of his being heard in the hour of peril…

    David in view of the special peril from which he was rescued, was at great pains with this Psalm, and wrote it with considerable regularity, in almost exact accordance with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

    C.H. Spurgeon

    Spurgeon also helpfully points out that this Psalm of David divides into two parts: a hymn [vs.1-10] and a sermon [vs.11-22].

    Have you ever been in such a situation as David when your life as you know it is at stake? Did you praise the Lord for saving you?

    Perhaps this hymn was sung by the persecuted first century church. And maybe the church receiving Peter’s letter already knew well the sermon David preaches. From this context the Apostle’s recalls Psalm 34 in his first letter to the church.

    I will bless the Lord at all times

    [[A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.]]

    לְדָוִ֗ד בְּשַׁנֹּותֹ֣ו אֶת־֭טַעְמֹו לִפְנֵ֣י אֲבִימֶ֑לֶךְ וַֽ֝יְגָרֲשֵׁ֗הוּ וַיֵּלַֽךְ׃ אֲבָרֲכָ֣ה אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה בְּכָל־עֵ֑ת תָּ֝מִ֗יד תְּֽהִלָּתֹ֥ו בְּפִֽי׃

    Psalm 34:1 WLC

    I will bless the LORD at all times;
    His praise shall continually be in my mouth. – Psalm 34:1 NKJV

    Most contemporary Christians know that David was a man after God’s own heart. Certainly the newly founded and persecuted church to whom Peter wrote knew the same. Bless the LORD at all times! It is a good start.

    3 O magnify the Lord with me,
     And let us exalt His name together.
     4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
     And delivered me from all my fears.

    6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
     And saved him out of all his troubles.
     7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
     And rescues them.

    Spurgeon commentary – Psalm 34:6

    Once again Spurgeon relates David’s verse from from the Psalm in a way Peter also knew would resonate with Christians in fear for their lives.

    Verse 6. “This poor man cried.” Here he returns to his own case. He was poor indeed, and so utterly friendless that his life was in great jeopardy; but he cried in his heart to the protector of his people and found relief. His prayer was a cry, for brevity and bitterness, for earnestness and simplicity, for artlessness and grief; it was a poor man’s cry, but it was none the less powerful with heaven, for “the Lord heard him,” and to be heard of God is to be delivered; and so it is added that the Lord “saved him out of all his troubles.”

    Peter then refers to this next stanza [in 1 Peter 3:10]:

    8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
    How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

    Psalm 34:8 NASB

    Peter’s Psalm 34 Sermon

    Peter urges the men of the church to whom he writes:

    1 Peter 3:

    10 For the one who wants to love life
    and to see good days,
    let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit,
    11 and let him turn away from evil
    and do what is good.
    Let him seek peace and pursue it,

    Keep your tongue from evil, Peter urges. Also turn away from evil to do what is good. Pursue peace (with each other, between members of the church).

    12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are open to their prayer.

    This too is from the Psalm [v.15].

    Do you, beloved believer, pray to the Lord? His eyes look toward the righteous.

    Are your actions now righteous because of Christ? His ears are open to your prayers; therefore pray to the Lord in whom you now take refuge. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

    And a reminder from Peter as he continues quoting from Psalm 34 [v.16]:

    But the face of the Lord is against
    those who do what is evil.

    1 Peter 3:12b CSB

    This is actually encouraging to those who have turned to the Lord. For in Christ we no longer want to do what is evil.

    The vengeance of the Lord will prevail against the enemies of God, as when David called on the Lord for help. Again, this Psalm of David will be familiar to the persecuted church of the first century.

    Psalm 34 beyond Peter’s quote

    9 O fear the Lord, you His saints;
    For to those who fear Him there is no want.

    Do we realize that all like-minded servants of the Lord are referred to as saints?

    11 Come, you children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
    12 Who is the man who desires life
    And loves length of days that he may see good?

    Like Peter, the Apostle John also encourages the church. We are called to be like-minded faithful, ‘children of God.’

    But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name

    John 1:12 NASB

    When Peter earlier referred to ‘not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult‘ his advise came from Psalm 34 and other scripture.

    13 Keep your tongue from evil
     And your lips from speaking deceit.
     14 Depart from evil and do good;
     Seek peace and pursue it.

    15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
     And His ears are open to their cry.
     16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
     To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
     17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
     And delivers them out of all their troubles.
     18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
     And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

    Like-minded believers

    What do the faithful do with Scripture?

    Peter’s readers applied Old Testament Scripture to the promises of their faith in Christ Jesus.

    The Lord has done this before and the Lord promises these things; therefore we have faith.

    David, a man after God’s own heart, preaches the sermon of Psalm 34 to the church. Yet first century persecuted followers of Christ probably seemed just as crazy to others as David had when he pretended madness before Abimelech.

    The Psalmist assures us that God hears the cries of the righteous and sees our suffering. Furthermore, the Lord prevailed and saved David.

    The Lord also saves us in spite of humanly impossible circumstances many times; therefore the faithful hear:

    Psalm 34:21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
     And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned
    22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
     And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned

    Is your soul saved?

    The Lord redeems the soul of His servants.

    Are you a servant of the Lord? Will you become like-minded with Jesus in suffering?

    Do you take refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ?

    Once again, turning to the preaching of Spurgeon:

    “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants”—with price and with power, with blood and with water. All providential helps are a part of the redemption by power, hence the Lord is said still to redeem. All thus ransomed belong to him who bought them—this is the law of justice and the verdict of gratitude. Joyfully will we serve him who so graciously purchases us with his blood, and delivers us by his power. “And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Faith is the mark of the ransomed, and wherever it is seen, though in the least and meanest of the saints, it ensures eternal salvation. Believer, thou shalt never be deserted, forsaken, given up to ruin. God, even thy God, is thy guardian and friend, and bliss is thine.

    Charles Spurgeon commentary Psalm 34:22

    Peter continues

    Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, Peter asks, are you all these things in Christ?

    • like-minded and sympathetic?
    • Do you love one another?
    • Are you compassionate and humble?

    Peter will continue by asking the church to be Christlike.

    • Do not return evil for evil and never insult anyone.
    • Bless your brother or sister in Christ.

    Do good, even if you suffer for it.

    If we are in Christ we must be like-minded. For we are now children of the Living God through Christ Jesus!

    Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.

    Isaiah 8:12b;1 Peter 3:14b CSB
    To be continued...
  • Jude -2- Necessity is the Father of Exhortation

    Jude -2- Necessity is the Father of Exhortation

    To Correct or Encourage?

    Do I just keep encouraging my child, servant or follower, or must I instruct them with words of exhortation? Every parent, master, or leader must judge between the value of correction versus positive reinforcement.

    Jude, a leader of the church no less loving of the recipients of his letter than the Apostles, faces this familiar dilemma of the parent. I want to encourage you, my beloved children, by acknowledging all of the good things you do. BUT, (Oh, oh, here it comes…) I have this against you.

    If this approach of dealing with the church and individual wayward relationships to the Lord and each other sounds familiar, it should. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John exhortation to the seven churches also takes this form.

    Like John, Peter, Paul and others, Jude has a close relationship with many individual saints of the church. As a father encourages a son or daughter, so the words of Jude touch the hearts of the hearers of his letter.

    They will hear Jude’s letter as words from a beloved mentor. Many know Jude, Servant of Jesus Christ as the brother of James or know of him.

    Jude’s greeting:

    Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

    Jude 1:2 KJV

    ἔλεος Mercy to you, Jude writes.

    It means kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them. Jude not only knows them but cares about their struggles and community.

    When Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan, our Lord convicts us that we often fail to show mercy to our fellow man. We too tend to qualify which neighbor we choose for our mercy. Yet like those who questioned the Lord we know which one acted as Christ would act.

    “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.
    Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

    Luke 10:37 CSB

    Jude shows the church compassion and mercy, also greeting them with peace and love multiplied. If you are one of those called by the Father you will recognize the same peace of Jesus Christ regardless of what exhortation will follow.

    “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

    The words of Jesus Christ, the Good News of John 14:27 NASB

    ἀγάπη – Love

    Love is much misaligned and misdirected in and by the church. Jude speaks here of agapē [ah-gah’-pay], the love by which all hearers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be known.

    ἀγάπη – Agape is affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love; that visible relationship between Christians. One key reason Jude and others must exhort individuals to such love is so that others will always recognize us as beloved children of our loving Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Jesus warns us in the Gospel of Matthew:

    “Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

    Did our Lord not describe this familiar brokenness of the church in these last days? Jude must warn the saints faithful to the Lord.

    Jesus added an encouragement to this caution about our potential loss of agape love:

    “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

    Jude will exhort believers to keep in Jesus’ love, abide in His love or live as Jesus taught us by His example.

    “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

    If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

    Encouragement of Jesus – Gospel of John 15:9-10 NASB

    Occasion of Jude’s Letter

    Jude – NRSV

    Jude clearly states the reason for his exhortation replacing unsalted positive encouragement.

    3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

    His indictment is clear, a warning to the saints to watch out for those ungodly ‘christians’ who have stolen their way into the trust of the church. They pervert grace into licentiousness.

    Because now we rarely hear such pointed exhortation, let’s look just a bit closer into the problem outlined in verse 4.

    • Certain intruders pervert God’s grace.
      • It’s not everybody or even the majority of the saints.
      • These sinners were marked out beforehand for condemnation, pointing to their same sins from the Old Testament. Jude’s following verses point to these OT examples.
    • This is Jude’s and the church’s general condemnation of ungodly persons who turn from the grace of God, as opposed to the repentance possible for those God allows to return to righteousness.
    • They pervert the grace of God into licencentious.
      • one of Jude’s two serious indictments
    • and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

    How can ANY man or woman identified as a ‘christian’ deny Jesus as the Messiah (Christ), Lord God & ONLY lord and master of your mortal and eternal life?

    Jude, bondservant of Jesus, would have us ask this question of every hearer of his letter. Who truly serves Jesus Christ as your Master and Lord?

    Other Description of Jude’s purpose

    The Geneva Bible of 1599 states:

    3 He warneth the godly to take heed of such men, 4 that make the grace of God a cloak for their wantonness:

    Like licentiousness, wantonness leaves us thinking of an archaic approach to sin rarely mentioned in this day and translated gently for contemporary readers of Jude’s exhortation.

    All will agree that Jude urges the saints (all Christians) to contend earnestly or defend the true faith handed down to the church by Christ and through the faithful word of God in the the Old Testament. From there we easily stray when called upon to confront a false claimant of Christ.

    Who are these?

    Jude writes, ‘certain men have crept in unnoticed,’ or ‘by stealth’ some versions translate.

    Let’s examine Jude’s two-part accusation.

    ἀσέλγεια – Licentiousness

    Defined: unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence

    We tend to think of the sin of these men Jude describes as sexual sin, a sin which may accurately describe just part of their specific acts against God. Yet other sinful behaviors men and women would hide from the saints with whom they worship certainly apply to Jude’s warning.

    Jude’s exhortation describes a general conduct thought to be private which would cause a public disgust. These shameless excesses could include gluttony, tyrannical demeanor, greediness and other excesses of the fleshly senses, which include hunting for victims prone to your sins.

    You may notice the similarity of the Greek word translated as licentiousness, ἀσέλγεια, and it’s Hebrew root, ἄλφα.

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

    Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 22:13 KJV

    This Greek description as a compound negative participle of Alpha, the word of God and Christ, indicates an antichrist, a description other New Testament writers use of those opposed to the Gospel.

    ἀρνέομαι Ἰησοῦς Χριστός – Deny Jesus Christ

    This is the most serious of Jude’s two accusations against these antichrists who have found their way into the church, men and women against whom he must warn other followers of the Lord.

    Ungodly persons [ἀσεβής] καὶ τὸν μόνον δεσπότην καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἀρνούμενοι, that is: “only Master and Lord our Jesus Christ deny.”

    • Jesus is our Lord, the LORD God
    • The LORD IS our only Master
    • Jesus IS the Messiah, the Christ
    • We serve ONLY Him.

    Many deny the Lord, our personal Master whom we serve as Christians. Ungodly persons may claim Jesus or claim God, yet not serve Him. Many more will claim a god or antichrist because they oppose the LORD.

    Jude is not alone in his exhortation for believers. The Apostle John also warns of such antichrists:

    … so now many antichrists have come. …They went out from us, but they did not belong to us… I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you.

    First Letter of John, excerpts from 2:18-19 & 26 NKJV

    Biblical warnings from the Old Testament

    Next we will continue in Jude’s letter to saints of the first century church with his Old Testament examples. Remember, the Old Testament was the only Bible for Jesus, Jude, James and the Apostles. But feel free to preview these few verses as if you knew only this Bible, still applicable today.

    To be continued...
  • Jude – Now I will praise the Lord

    Jude – Now I will praise the Lord

    Who is Jude?

    The first thing I want to know about any letter I receive is who sent it to me. So as a leader or member of one of several churches we would want to be certain of the identity of the author of Jude and the authenticity of Jude’s message.

    Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James

    Letter of Jude 1:1a NKJV

    To fully understand the identity of the man who’s name is translated in English as ‘Jude” we must look to both the original Greek text and the common name of its Hebrew origin in first century Judea and Galilee.

    Ἰούδας

    Pronounced: ē-ü’-däs — Most translations of the Greek use Jude, the Latin Iudas and Yehudah in the Hebrew Names Version. The root word of the Greek name is Yĕhuwdah from the Hebrew יְהוּדָה meaning “praised” and translated at Judas. (We understand why after Jesus’ betrayal no man wanted to be known by this name now synonymous with ‘betrayer.’)

    In James – Witness of a Converted Brother we learned that Roman names derived from local languages had become Hellenized. James could be Jim, but Judas and Judah easily become, Jude.

    Some fathers named their sons after a forefather of their tribe like Judah or Israel. Judah יָדָה is the familiar Hebrew root of both the Greek and English.

    Brother of James

    Jude means: he shall be praised.

    The author of our letter identifies himself as the brother of James.

    Jude refers to James, head of the church of Jerusalem, leader of the first century churches who exchanged letters throughout Asia minor, Greece, Palestine and other areas receiving the Good News of Christ. Most Biblical commentators agree that like James, Jude is is also a half-brother of Jesus.

    Both James and Jude identify themselves as servants of Jesus, rather than claiming their biological relationship to the Lord. Most kings come to power via their family connection and install relatives in high positions.

    One of the great Jewish controversies Jesus would take no part in was that of the legitimacies of kings and followers of certain political traditions. These political/family controversies had progressed and preceded Jude, James and Jesus by several generations back to the second century B.C.

    Maccabees

    Source: BibleHub.org (a hammer), This title, which was originally the surname of Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias, was afterward extended to the heroic family of which he was one of the noblest representatives. Asmonaeans or Hasmonaeans is the Proper name of the family, which is derived from Cashmon, great grandfather of Mattathias. The Maccabees were a family of Jews who resisted the authority of Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria and his successors who had usurped authority over the Jews, conquered Jerusalem, and strove to introduce idolatrous worship.

    Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias generally called in English the Maccabees, a celebrated family who defended Jewish rights and customs in the 2nd century B.C. (1 Maccabees 2:1-3 {from the Apocrypha, for those unfamiliar with extra-Biblical texts.}

    Herodians

    The end of the era of the Hasmoneans is probably the most turbulent time in Jewish history. It is hard to imagine a “Jewish” government more antithetical to Jewish principles and ideals than that of Herod and his successors, whose murderous, tyrannical ways would eventually lead to the destruction of the Temple and the beginning of the long exile that Jews find themselves in. – Source: JewishHistory.org

    Herod the Great, born in Rome around 70 B.C and known as Herodes Magnus, was appointed a governor at around age 20 (along with his brother) and appointed King by the Roman senate in 37 B.C. He became known as Judah’s great builder and built the Temple in Jerusalem.

    During the time of Jesus, James and Jude and continuing into the years of the early church, the Herods wielded much power. Rome finally turned on Jerusalem and their client king appointed to help Rome defend the Empire against enemies east of Palestine. The Herodians failed to control the “Jewish problem,” which caused trouble throughout the Empire.

    Bondservant of Jesus Christ

    The brother of James could have begun his letter to the church as a ‘brother of the King and Messiah,’ implying his authority of position via his family. The Herodians or Maccabees made familial claims to kingdom leadership, but not these half-brothers of Jesus who had not even followed the Lord prior to His resurrection.

    James begins his letter (ἐπιστολή epistle, in greek): ‘James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Jude chooses to identify in the same way as a bondservant of Christ.

    Jude would have been known to his readers as the brother of James, leader of the church in Jerusalem, both related to Jesus the Messiah.

    Understanding the Servant of Christ

    The Bible uses the word ‘servant‘ almost 500 times. A few English translations use the word ‘bondservant,’ a concept we no longer use or understand. Furthermore, many contemporary christians resist this concept of sometime voluntary compliance.

    I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.

    Leviticus 26:13 KJV

    עָבַד עֶבֶד – A slave or servant; to work, serve. Also used as form of address between equals.

    Genesis 18: KJV

    And the LORD appeared unto him [Jacob] in the plains of Mamre: … three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

    Jacob served the LORD. We serve the LORD. Jude served Christ, the Lord.

    Malachi 4:

    About four centuries before Christ (and Jesus’ half-brothers) the prophet Malachi writes:

    “Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

    Malachi 4:4

    The closing verses of Malachi clearly point back to Moses and the Law with the Lord calling Moses, “my servant.” James and Jude are servants of Jesus just as Moses was servant to the Lord at Horeb.

    עֶבֶד – `ebed

    Are you, beloved follower of Christ, first a servant of the Lord?

    διάκονος – diakonos

    “If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

    Command of the Lord Jesus – Gospel of John 12:26 CSB

    The servant (from the Greek context) is ‘one who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master.

    1. the servant of a king
    2. a deacon [diakonos], one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use.
    3. a waiter, one who serves food and drink

    “The greatest among you will be your servant.

    The word of the Lord – Matthew 23:11

    Abraham was a servant of the Lord. Moses was a servant of the Lord. And like their forefathers in the faith, Jude and James became servants of the Lord first and servants of the Lord’s followers second.

    Paul, referring to the church writes to the church at Colossae:

    I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known …

    Jude writes to the church

    Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James:

    To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

    Jude 1:1b CSB

    Are you a fellow servant of Christ Jesus? If so, know that you are loved by God the Father. Know that by His grace you are kept for Jesus Christ at the day of His victorious return.

    2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

    To be continued