October 29, 2013
“… that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)
This Scripture is an excerpt from one of the greatest sermons of Moses. Moses preached that the more we understand the Word of God, the more we understand life. And the more we experience life, the more we understand the Word of God. The two throw light upon each other.
After studying the Word of God in the classroom for seven years I took a job as a social worker. While being on call every night for a year I not only learned a lot about life, I greatly deepened my understanding and appreciation of the Word of God.
For example, we are told in the first Psalm that one of the greatest blessings of the blessed man is that he does not stand in the way of the sinner. As a pastor having picked up the pieces with sinners for many years I know that the way of the sinner is very hard indeed.
I have also enjoyed the benefits and blessings personally and with many others that are the result of building life on the teachings and the value systems of the Bible. We who build our lives on the Word of God are not only saved from sin but for a life that is rich with meaning and fulfillment. We live lives that are filled with meaning and a sense of accomplishment in this life and in the life to come.
Experience is a convincing teacher. That’s why our loving God will make us know that the Word of God shows us how to live.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 24, 2013
“I fed you with milk and not with solid food…” (1 Corinthians 3:2)
The Apostle Paul believed that when a person becomes a believer they are like a newborn baby who critically needs milk and formula to survive. Babies need to be fed milk before they are ready for solid food. Since a baby does not have a fully developed digestive tract we feed them milk. Paul uses milk here as a metaphor for spiritual truth a teacher feeds to believers. When we find spiritual truth without human help that is meat and solid food.
The bottom line is that new believers, like new born babies, critically need their milk and formula if they are going to progress to solid food that makes them grow into spiritual adults.
What is the nutritional formula for a new believer? A primary part is the Word of God. Peter writes that as new believers, we should earnestly desire the Word of God the way newborn babies go after their mothers’ breast knowing that survival depends on what is received there. Prayer is another vital part of that formula. When we pray we talk to God, and when we open God’s word He talks to us.
We must add spiritual community and fellowship to this formula. We need the inspiration and encouragement we receive from other believers. Witnessing and sharing our faith with secular people is another important part of our spiritual diet. So are service and acts of love and charity.
Are you getting your spiritual nutrition? Or are you suffering from spiritual malnutrition, barely surviving because you are not getting your formula and milk? Although we always need the truth we receive from teachers, we should also hunger for the solid food truth we receive directly from the Lord.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 22, 2013
“No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.” (1Corinthians 2:11 NLT)
Our thought life is like a private chamber. Nobody knows what we are thinking and we do not know what others are thinking. Only the spirit within each of us knows our private thoughts.
In the same way, only the Holy Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God. When we therefore receive the Holy Spirit of God we can know what God is thinking. One translation writes that “incredible as it may seem we actually have the mind of Christ” when we receive the Holy Spirit.
When you study the rest of this profound chapter you will find that Paul applies this reality to teach us a great truth about the Holy Spirit. It is a lesson in what we might call “spiritual educational psychology.” We learn through the eye gate, which means everything we read and observe. And we learn through the ear gate, what we listen to and hear. He also references the heart gate, which means our volition and will to apply the truth we are learning.
He then makes the point that when it comes to learning spiritual truth we need another gate: the gate of the Holy Spirit. When we have received the Holy Spirit we have access to the greatest learning experience possible in our lifetime. Think of this the next time you spend time in God’s Word. When you open the Bible, you have access to the very thoughts of God.
Through God’s Holy Spirit and His Word are you learning the thoughts of God?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 18, 2013
“Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for…the life that now is and of that which is to come.” (1Timothy 4:7, 8)
As a young man Timothy was probably very interested in physical fitness. If he lived in our culture he would be the type to join a gym and work out regularly. Paul agreed with Timothy that physical fitness was profitable. But, he declared that godly fitness was more profitable. Paul reasoned that physical fitness improves the quality of our life here and now, but godly fitness improves the quality of our eternal life.
How real and practical is our faith in the life to come? I am intrigued with this question: what is godly exercise? The word “godly” means “like God.” What is God- like? We are told in the Word that God is a Spirit (John 4:24.) To exercise ourselves toward godliness therefore means to submit to disciplines in the spiritual dimension that grow us spiritually.
We also read in the Scripture that God is love. To exercise toward godliness means to commit ourselves to a study of the love that is God. At the heart of the love chapter (1 Corinthians 13), Paul passes the love of God through the prism of his Holy Spirit inspired intellect and it comes out on the other side a cluster of 15 virtues. Pursue intentionally what the 15 virtues are and what they will look like when you apply them in all your relationships.
God is light. Exercise yourself in this dimension of God likeness by filling your mind and heart and life with the truth (light) you find in God’s Word. Walking in that light will profit you in this life and in the life to come.
Do you have a routine for spiritual fitness?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 15, 2013
“… Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress…” (Psalm 4:1 KJV)
Just about every emotional challenge we experience today was faced by the psalmist many years ago. If we will observe what he did when he struggled, and receive from God the grace to respond as the hymn writer responded, we can often overcome our emotional challenges.
In Psalm 4 the psalmist faces the emotional challenge of distress. If you drop the first two letters, the word becomes stress. We all have stress. If we do not have stress we atrophy. I have not put stress on my legs for 30 years. Consequently, my legs are the size of your arms. “If you don’t use it you lose it” is the way the physical therapists describe atrophy.
Our loving Father God knows that what is true for our bodies is also true in our spiritual life. God is fiercely committed to the proposition that we are going to grow spiritually. If we have no spiritual stress we will experience spiritual atrophy. He therefore will not only permit, but direct into our lives any stress that will grow us as He gives us the grace to cope with that stress.
God tells us through the prophet Isaiah: “I create calamity” (Isaiah 45:7). Many of us can trust God for the good things that comfort and sustain us. But do we have the faith and the knowledge of God to see Him in the challenges that make the difference for us between spiritual growth and atrophy?
The Greek compound word hupomone, translated as “perseverance” in our English Bibles, literally means “to abide under.” To apply hupomone, we should ask God for the grace to abide under stress, grow spiritually, and not atrophy.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 11, 2013
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ…” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
The third level of commitment to Christ is identified by the preposition “for Christ.” Paul concludes that when we understand all that we have available to us “by Christ,” and we fully appreciate what it means to be “in Christ,” we are therefore ambassadors “for Christ.”
Paul writes:“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18) According to Paul, everyone who has been reconciled to God by Christ has been given the message and the ministry of reconciliation. This means every believer is a minister. The seventh beatitude “blessed are the peacemakers” is another way of saying the same thing. As conduits of God we should plead with people to be reconciled to God.
There is another application to this third level of commitment as demonstrated by the legendary missionary David Livingstone. On one very hot day in Africa, he faced a stream he had to cross. Holding his gear over his head he waded through sewer-like water that had a terrible odor. Covered with decayed plant life up to his chin, when he reached the other side he laid down his gear. Falling prostrate on his face, David Livingstone cried out, “Father I thank you for the privilege of going through this putrid jungle stream for You!”
I was once asked as a pastor to visit a missionary couple who returned after 48 years in China without any welcome or appreciation. Although living in tenement housing and in poor health, they were in wonderful spirits. When I inquired about their attitude they said, “You have to know Who you are doing it for.”
Do you know Who you are doing it for?
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: 2 corinthians 5, ambassadors for Christ, commitment to Christ, David Livingstone, faith, Faith in action, Jesus Christ, living the Gospel, missionaries, The Gospel | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 9, 2013
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I’m indebted to E. Stanley Jones, a missionary who served in India for 50 years, and his superb daily devotional, In Christ, for showing me the importance of this phrase in the New Testament. I highly recommend his book which highlights the use of this phrase by all the New Testament authors.
According to Dr. Jones, when we think about being “in Christ,” we should realize that Paul was not talking about being in religion. Few people have been more into religion than Paul before he met Jesus. Paul was so religious he fervently persecuted followers of Jesus, sure that he was pleasing God by trying to snuff them out.
It is possible to be in religion, but not be in Christ. It is possible to be in church, and not be in Christ. We can be in doctrine, or theology, and not be in Christ. We can be in the ministry and not be in Christ. We can be committed to Christ, and believe a lot of things about Christ, and still not be in Christ.
To be in Christ locates us in a Person, right now.
Unless we are ‘in Christ’ it’s like we have a powerful engine in our automobile but we cannot find our ignition key that turns the engine on. Being ‘in Christ’ is the ignition key, opening us up to experience “all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3) Paul essentially writes: I live because Christ lives in me and I live in Christ.
Just as you sometimes cannot find the keys to your automobile, have you misplaced this critical spiritual key – are you living by and in Christ?
4 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: 2 Corinthians 5:17, E. Stanley Jones, faith, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, religion, Saint Paul, spiritual blessings, spiritual keys, theology | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 5, 2013
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
The Apostle Paul’s favorite description of committed disciples is found in the two words “in Christ.” Paul uses this expression just under 100 times in his inspired letters. “By Christ” means that by faith we are saved and have access to many blessings. “In Christ” means we are not taking Him into our plans but He is taking us into His plans. It means we can have a relationship with Christ, be united to Him, and draw strength from Him.
Paul also wrote that we have “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3) The heavenly places refer to the spiritual dimension of this life.
While living in Palo Alto, California, I had a friend with a Ph. D in paleontology from Stanford University. He told me that, as a devout believer, when he finished his master’s degree and started work on his doctor’s degree he surrendered to those teaching him by agreeing that there is no God.
He did not want to live if there is no God. He therefore decided to commit suicide. Just before he drank cyanide he bowed his head to pray. He then laughed at himself. He was taking his life because there is no God and the last thing he wanted to do was talk to Him. He then remembered a verse: “God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
He realized we do not find God in a fossil or a test tube. We find God in the spiritual dimension of this life, “in Christ.”
Are you seeking God in the right places?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 1, 2013
“And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18 KJV)
In the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians we find one of the most profound passages of Scripture in the New Testament. In this chapter we have a window into the heart of the Apostle Paul as he writes about what motivates him. It is a passage that clearly defines the Gospel. Paul gives us here the vision absolutes that defend why he lived like a madman. He then clearly writes that every believer who has been reconciled to God by Christ has been commissioned with the message and the ministry of being a peacemaker and a minister of reconciliation. The passage concludes with a very clear description of the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
This profound passage also describes three levels of commitment to Jesus Christ that are identified by prepositions. In the verse quoted above the first ‘entry’ level of commitment to Christ is described as Paul uses the preposition “by Jesus Christ.” We are saved “by Christ.” When He saves us He often fills our life with good things the way He filled Peter’s boat with fish (Luke 5: 1-11). It doesn’t take us long to realize that the changes taking place in our lives are by Jesus Christ. We also discover there are many things we can only do by Jesus Christ.
Study this passage (verse 13 through 21), and see if you can identify two more levels of commitment to Christ. What are they and what would they look like if you applied them to your walk with Christ?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: 2 corinthians 5, by Christ, commitment to Christ, faith, Jesus Christ, reconciliation, the Apostle Paul, The Gospel | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
September 27, 2013
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16)
The gospel Paul proclaimed was the good news that God will not only pardon and forgive our sins, but through our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God will make it just as if we had never sinned. God will also declare us to be as righteous as if we had never sinned.
In Psalm 51 David literally asked God to un-sin his sin. David was a prophet and when he prayed that petition he knew the fulfillment of the answer would be in the word “justified.“ It literally means that God makes it as if our sin never happened and He declares us to be righteous. If you have ever grievously sinned, you know that the cry of your heart is wishing your sin had never happened!
That is precisely what the good news of the gospel proclaims. Imagine two men convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. After 25 years one of them is pardoned by the governor. Evidence is discovered that proves the other man is innocent of his crime. He cannot be pardoned, he needs to be exonerated as if he never committed the crime.
Man’s law can do that. Only God, however, can declare a guilty man as innocent as if he never committed a crime for which he is in fact guilty. That is what God has done and is God’s only remedy for His wrath.
If you believe the Good News of the Gospel, then open your heart to receive this remedy.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, Forgiveness, Gospel faith, justification, pardon, Psalm 51, religion, resurrection of jesus christ, Righteousness, Romans 1:16, The Good News, theology | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
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