December 7

2 CHRONICLES 7
“Our God is a consuming fire.” Abraham experienced it in the reiteration of the covenant in Gen. 15. He experienced it again when he saw Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by fire rained from heaven. Moses and the Children of Israel experienced it as the pillar of fire led them out of Egypt and protected them from Pharaoh’s army. Solomon experienced it. The sacrifice was made, fire consumed it, and then the glory of God filled the tabernacle. Notice the order: sacrifice-fire-glory. God consumes sin. Then glory comes. Am I allowing His cleansing fire to purify me so that His glory may fill me—not for my benefit, but that others may see it and be drawn to Him? When His cleansing fire comes, it throws us to the ground for its magnitude weighs heavy upon us.
One would think that it would be an incredibly painful process; however, it appears that afterward it fills our hearts with joy. Look at what the people proclaimed, “He is good, For His mercy endures forever!” They repeated it several times. What was God’s response? He said that if they would humble themselves, and pray and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, then He would hear from heaven, and would forgive their sin and heal their land. The principle is still true today. Let us repent for our God is a consuming fire. He will burn away our sin and receive us! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PROVERBS 7

25Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths; 26For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong men. 27Her house is the way to hell, Descending to the chambers of death.

Why would anybody leave the pleasures of the glory of the Lord for something else? The lure of pleasure has always been the trap of Satan and our own flesh. Even in the perfection of the Garden of Eden, where Eve saw the glory of the Lord, Satan caused Eve to think that the fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and desirable for food. 2 Cor 11:3 says that the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. She thought the pleasure of the food and wisdom were better than the pleasure of the glory of the Lord? Wow! The power of deception even in the midst of perfection must really be strong! Yet 1 Timothy 2:14 says that Adam was not deceived. Why would Adam choose fruit above the glory of the Lord if he was not deceived? Hmmm. . . I think that Adam was afraid of losing the pleasure of intimacy with Eve, and so he chose her over the glory of God.
Researchers have studied what affect the “True Love Waits” campaign has had upon the sexuality of evangelical kids. The result is that while evangelical kids say they believe sex outside marriage is wrong, the percentage rate of evangelical kids engaging in pre-marital sex is the same as the general population. We say we believe that it is wrong, but we do it anyway. Hmmm. . . Sounds like Adam. Solomon says, “Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, . . . Her house is the way to hell, Descending to the chambers of death.” And he was as guilty as any of us. Here is arguably the wisest of all men, save Jesus, a man who saw the glory of the Lord in a vision, a man blessed immeasurably by the Lord, yet he is a man who willfully ignored His own wisdom. Yet in some measure, are we not all like him?
Where is the glory of Christ in this chapter? Yesterday we learned that our sexuality is meant to be a mirror of the passionate, committed and joy-filled love that exists between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and love between the Son and His bride, the church. The Son remains committed to His church. We the church ought to remain chaste and committed to Him. We must not let our hearts be turned to other lovers. When we remain chaste, we are allowing the purity of His love to be seen through us. When we are unchaste, we obscure His glory like that of a promiscuous fool. Let us remain chaste toward Him. Let us feast upon His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

2 JOHN
I remember my philosophy of ministry class. It was my first quarter in seminary. It is one of the few courses that I can remember the specific content without having to get out the class notes. One thing the Prof drilled into us all quarter, which was the backbone of the class, is: Ministry is a blend of truth and love. Neither truth nor love can be sacrificed for the other. Neither is truly functioning without the other. God is constantly communicating truth to us. But when He does, He wraps it in a relationship of love. Even the Old Testament prophets, known for their fiery condemnation of the sin of the people, balance their caustic condemnations with promise of God's love and forgiveness, if the people will repent. They are filled with the covenant love of Yahweh.
Jesus is the epitome of truth wrapped in love. It is so ironic that when Jesus told Pilate that all who are of the truth follow Him, Pilate cynically responded, "What is truth?" The eternal truth was standing in front of him wrapped in flesh. That flesh was the visible manifestation of God saying, "I love you." The truth is that God is holy and despises sin. But He is also love. He doesn't just over look sin. His holiness will not allow that. He destroys sin. But it is His love that motivated Him to take our place when He destroyed sin. It is His glory to reveal truth while He loves us. The result is that we are to do the same.
Sadly, we cannot seem to find the balance. I consider myself to be very conservative theologically. I believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. Its inspiration extends to every word of its original penmanship right down to the very tenses. Its right interpretation is crucial to hearing the mind of God. Yet, all too occasionally, when walking in circles of people who believe as I do, I get a sense from them that they enjoy using the truth as a sledge hammer with which to bludgeon people. They seem to lack any love or grace. On the other hand, when walking in circles of people who don't view the Bible as being final truth, their positions on different moral issues are so anemic that they make a mockery of love.
Jesus blends them perfectly. He welcomes the sinner. He says to the sinner, "I love you." But He does not ignore the sin. He destroys the sin without destroying the repentant sinner and then says to him/her, "Go and sin no more." He does not hide truth to destroy sin. He exposes truth to destroy sin. Then He calls us to do the same. Isn't He beautiful? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John