September 24
The "Go" of Preparation
"If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23–24).
It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.
The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord's words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. "… go your way. First be reconciled to your brother… ." The "go" of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don't just admit it—confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?
Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, "I will not give up my right to myself"—the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
September 25
The "Go" of Relationship
"Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two" (Matthew 5:41).
Our Lord's teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself—a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, "I am here for God to send me where He will." Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be.
The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.
If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you …" (John 15:16). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work began. Our Lord's making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us—He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.
September 26
The "Go" of Reconciliation
"If you … remember that your brother has something against you …" (Matthew 5:23).
This verse says, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you … ." It is not saying, "If you search and find something because of your unbalanced sensitivity," but, "If you … remember … ." In other words, if something is brought to your conscious mind by the Spirit of God—"First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (5:24). Never object to the intense sensitivity of the Spirit of God in you when He is instructing you down to the smallest detail.
"First be reconciled to your brother … ." Our Lord's directive is simple—"First be reconciled … ." He says, in effect, "Go back the way you came—the way indicated to you by the conviction given to you at the altar; have an attitude in your mind and soul toward the person who has something against you that makes reconciliation as natural as breathing." Jesus does not mention the other person—He says for you to go. It is not a matter of your rights. The true mark of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.
"… and then come and offer your gift." The process of reconciliation is clearly marked. First we have the heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, then the sudden restraint by the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit, and then we are stopped at the point of our conviction. This is followed by obedience to the Word of God, which builds an attitude or state of mind that places no blame on the one with whom you have been in the wrong. And finally there is the glad, simple, unhindered offering of your gift to God.
October 3
"I am your reward" Gen. 15:1.
1After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,£
your very great reward.
£"
The bumper sticker on a van said "Fishing isn’t a matter of life and death—it’s more important than that." Here Abram was reminded that really, a relationship with God is what life is all about. God Himself was Abram’s shield and reward. All Abram had or hoped for was centered in the person of his God.
God is all we have too, and all our hopes are centered in Him. Faith in God’s promises helps keep us focused on the Lord.
October 4
"Abram believed God" Gen. 15:2–6.
2But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit£ my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
4Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
6Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Despite the fact that he was growing older and was still childless, Abram believed God’s promise of countless offspring. The Bible says God "credited it [his faith] to him as righteousness." We cannot offer God a sinless life. We have all fallen short, and will fall short again. All we can do is trust God and have confidence in His promise. In grace God accepts our faith—and writes "righteous" beside our name.
October 5
"How can I know?" Gen. 15:7–21
7He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."
8But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"
9So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
10Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river£ of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
Abram did believe, but he wanted to know. God was not upset. Rather, God had Abram prepare the most binding of all forms of ancient covenants, the "covenant of blood." Hebrews 6:17–18 tells us that God took this action "because [He] wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised." So He "confirmed it [His promise] with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged." We believe. Because God is totally committed to us, we also know.
October 6
"Know for certain" Gen. 15:13.
13Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
God knows and is in full control of the future. On this basis we, like Abram, need have no doubts when the Lord reveals His intentions to us. Abram knew on the basis of God’s word alone. We know, not only because God is the One who speaks to us, but because we can look back, as Abram could not, on fulfilled prophecy. The 400 years in Egypt, the slavery imposed on Abram’s descendants, the punishment of Egypt, and the Exodus deliverance are history today. Everything happened just as God said it would.
We do believe. And we do know.
October 6
"Perhaps I can build a family" Gen. 16:1–16.
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."
6"Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I’m running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.
9Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."
11The angel of the LORD also said to her:
"You are now with child
and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,£
for the LORD has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward
£ all his brothers."
13She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen£ the One who sees me." 14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi£; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
In biblical times, bearing children was viewed by women as giving meaning to their lives. Abram had believed God’s promise, but as the years passed and no children came, Sarai became impatient. Finally she urged Abram to impregnate her maid, Hagar.
According to the customs of those times this was not an immoral act. It was a recognized way to provide a childless wife with children she would then call her own. But in this case, Sarai—and Abram—made a tragic mistake. The error is expressed in Sarai’s thought, "Perhaps I can build a family."
How foolish, when God had said He would build Abram’s family! And how foolish of us when we try to do God’s work in our own strength, or insist on imposing our timing rather than wait for the Lord to act.
October 7
"She despises me" Gen. 16:5.
5Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."
Sarai’s venture in self-effort turned out badly. Hagar did become pregnant. But Hagar then had, and showed, contempt for her mistress! Since she was pregnant by Abram, it was clear that the couple’s childlessness was Sarai’s fault.
Sarai hadn’t expected this result when she ventured out on her own. That’s our problem too. When we try to do things in our own way or in our own strength, things don’t turn out as we intend. The conflict that then dominated Abram’s tents reminds us to wait on God rather than going ahead without His guidance or direction.
Sarai reacted to Hagar’s contempt with predictable hostility. Again, according to ancient custom, Sarai had full authority over her servant. She used it to mistreat Hagar. Hagar finally ran away, returning only when God promised that He would bless the child she carried.
And so, when Abram was 86, his son Ishmael was born, only to become the ancestor of those Arab nations which live, even today, in perpetual hostility toward the descendants of Sarah, the Jews.
October 8
"Your name will be Abraham" Gen. 17:1–22.
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty£; walk before me and be blameless. 2I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
3Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5No longer will you be called Abram£; your name will be Abraham,£ for I have made you a father of many nations. 6I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
Names were especially important in biblical times. They were intended to make a statement about the character or essential identity of the person or thing named. Abram’s name meant "father," and he was childless! What a burden that name must have been.
Now God appeared to him, and told him he was to be called "Abraham," which means "father of many" or "father of a multitude"! Imagine, if you will, the snickers as, the morning after his conversation with God, the 100-year-old man announced to all his servants that, from now on, they were to call him "Abraham"!
Abraham’s assumption of his apparently ridiculous name was another measure of his faith. Abraham was willing, as Noah had been, to be "a fool for God."
If you or I ever feel foolish when trying to please God, let’s remember that name, Abraham. And let’s remember too that Abraham was vindicated. Today he is honored by all as the spiritual father of a multitude beyond our capacity to count.
October 9
"He laughed" Gen. 17:17.
17Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
Abraham’s first reaction to the divine statement that his wife Sarah would bear a child was laughter. It seemed so incredible.
But God stated again, "Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac." And Abraham believed.
You and I are seldom asked to believe the incredible. Or to follow a course of action that involves great risk. But when we are, we can remember that God’s incredible promise to Abraham and Sarah was fulfilled. What God says He will do, He can do. And what God tells us to do, He is able to do through us.
October 10
"Every male among you shall be circumcised" Gen. 17:10–14.
10This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
Circumcision is a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants through Isaac. It was intended to demonstrate faith. Those Jews who in the coming millenniums considered their relationship with God through Abraham important would have themselves and their sons circumcised.
Christians have no single practice that is analogous to circumcision. But there are ways in which we can show that relationship with God is important to us. Our faithfulness at church. Our consistency in reading God’s Word. Our commitment to prayer. Our willingness to share the Good News of Jesus with others. Our generosity in giving. Our attempts to put what we learn from God into practice. None of these is the reality. None in itself establishes or maintains our relationship with the Lord. But each, like circumcision, is a sign. Each is a way we can express the fact that our relationship with God truly is important to us.
