Monday, February 25, 2013

Daniel’s Vision of Change

March 3, 2013 Background Scripture: Daniel 7 Lesson Passage: Daniel 7:1 – 3, 9 – 14 The book of Daniel is a prophetic writing that provides keys that aid in the interpretation of biblical prophecy. The reason is much of Daniel’s prophecy (whether dreams or visions) is also interpreted within the book itself. Examples of this are presented in Chapter 7 where it is made clear that beasts are often symbolic of ungodly rulers and the great sea is indicative of the masses of people. When the beasts are shown coming up out of the sea, then the rulers come from among the people. Also, a beast with many horns can symbolize a dynasty whereby each horn represents a different ruler during the extent of the dynasty. Chapter 7 presents a disturbing vision that covers many years and a number of ungodly rulers. Those rulers have considerable sway over much of the world’s population. Even during the times where dynasties exist, some rulers often arise by subverting other rulers. No matter how disturbing the vision or menacing the ruler, the interpretation of the vision makes it clear that ultimately God is always in control. God, the Ancient of Days, is always on the throne. It is His throne that is above all others. No matter what takes place during the different times where the beasts are allowed to exert persecution upon the masses of people, God continues to sit on His throne and hold judgment in His hands. The interpretation of Daniel’s vision did not provide an explanation of God’s chosen one to overthrow the beasts and take dominion of everything for the saints of God. Daniel would not have needed an interpretation for he had known even as all Israel for years that God was going to send a Messiah to bring everything back in line with its created purpose. The Messiah would be from among the Jews. The Messiah receives everything from God including dominion of everything in heaven and on earth. For those who are simply part of the masses (or running with the crowd), the beasts will exert much pain, suffering, and persecution with no retribution for their suffering. However, for the saints who are among the masses, the Messiah will avenge them and they will reign with him. Here is a great biblical truth: The saints of God always come out on top in the end. We follow God’s instructions and we trust Him with the outcome. God has everything under control. Even as mankind appears to advance because of the invention and use of technology, it is made clearer everyday that there is a great regression in ethics and morality. Technology appears to have made the world smaller and at the same time it has caused people to become more distant one from another. We have become technically savvy and socially ruder. We value things and trample over people. In a sense, it seems as though the beasts who rule influence the behavior of the subjects of their dominion. If not for the Ancient of Days, mankind would eventually destroy himself. The one in Daniel’s vision who needed no interpretation, the Son of man, makes everything new again. The trend may be ugly but the vision makes it clear that there is a positive change coming. When the Son of man sets up his kingdom, it shall not be destroyed ever. Robert C. Hudson February 18, 2013

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Disciplined for Life

February 24, 2013 Background Scripture: Colossians 4 Lesson Passage: Colossians 4:2 – 17 After having thoroughly refuted the heresy in the Colossian church, Paul closes his letter with instructions for righteous living. Note that none of the instructions given address the Sunday worship experience we tend to over emphasize today. Instead, Paul addresses the day in and day out concerns that we all encounter and how Christians should handle them. How are we as Christians to govern ourselves on the job, around non-Christians, concerning the welfare of fellow Christians, within the Christian community in general, and in the fulfillment of our ministries? Let’s see how Paul touches on each of these towards the end of this letter. On the job, supervisors (bosses, managers, coordinators, leaders, etc.) are admonished to remember that God is above them on whatever organization chart they may be listed on. Therefore, be fair and just with those you have oversight of knowing that we desire the same for ourselves from the Lord who has oversight of everyone. It helps to not forget where we have come from since none of us were born managers. We received help from many along the way including both Christians and non-Christians. Therefore, our behavior around non-Christians should be such that it exemplifies the witness of Christ in us. They should not see religion when they are around us but rather a Christ-like demeanor. Our behavior should suggest that we are being guided by a godly wisdom. We should always be prepared to defend our faith; not in an argumentative manner but in the way of explanation for those whose curiosity may be aroused by our manner of living. We should be prayerful for those who are our fellow Christian workers. Not only should we pray for their success but also that their way would be made easy. God can provide opportunities that would not otherwise be available. We should petition God for those unseen opportunities on behalf of others just as we would for ourselves. We rejoice in knowing that other Christians are sincerely concerned about our welfare. Why wouldn’t we want others to experience the same joy when they learn of our concern for them? Finally, encourage others to fulfill their ministry. I am convinced that God has gifted each of us in the body of Christ for the benefit of the body. This is in accordance with what the scriptures reveal to us in Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. Because of this, I conclude that when someone around me does not fulfill the ministry God has given them, then I come short of the benefits God has for me as part of the body of Christ. There is no bench member position in the body of Christ. Perhaps the local church of yesteryear created that position to appease those who wanted to be included in the membership but did not want to commit themselves to serve in ministry. Nevertheless, everyone in the body of Christ has a part to play or a ministry to fulfill. We should not sit back and hope that others will come to their senses one day but realize that we are losing out and therefore we should become encouragers of others—rather, we should provoke them to love and good works. All of these steps will help discipline us for life. When we are disciplined for life by the word of God, then our walk will align with our talk. Robert C. Hudson February 12, 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013

Clothed with Christ

February 17, 2013 Background Scripture: Colossians 3 Lesson Passage: Colossians 3:5 – 17 In 2 Corinthians 5:3, the Apostle Paul speaks of being clothed as a condition or state whereby one is not found naked. Of course in this context, Paul speaks of the body as an outer material covering for the spiritual or immaterial person. We are born with a body of flesh that inherits sin and is mortal. In other words, the spiritual person is born with a flesh covering that is corruptible and decaying. We who are saved have a renewed spiritual person but we are still confined to the corruptible fleshly clothing we are born with. Paul speaks of a groaning in the spirit of redeemed mankind to be clothed upon with an incorruptible and immortal body that would be the perfect complement for our redeemed and renewed spiritual person. Paul further expounded on this concept in the letter he penned to the Colossian church. In the Corinthian letter, Paul addressed this matter from the standpoint of a Christian’s desire for the glorification process to be completed knowing that this will only happen after the physical death and the resurrection of the righteous dead. In the Colossian letter, Paul addressed this matter from the standpoint of the sanctification process the Christian goes through in this life. In the sanctification process, this putting on of newness is a day by day process. None of us wake up fully clothed in Christ in this life. In fact, at the time we are saved, we have received Christ on the inside but we are fully clothed with the old corrupt nature on the outside. It is from this point that the sanctification process begins. Day by day we are to shed bits and pieces of the old nature and embrace more and more of the anointing of Christ that is within us. We allow the Spirit of Christ within us to begin to emerge on the outside when we put away more and more of what we used to be. Anger, hatefulness, malice, blasphemy, and filthy talk are all part of the old nature and must be consciously rejected by Christians. How do we do this? First, we should understand that we don’t get rid of things just to get rid of them. That was part of the failure of the Law to redeem man because man’s old nature of flesh made the Law weak. When we put off things just because they are wrong, this only leaves us naked and vulnerable to more demonic attacks. Instead, we put off the old to put on the new and therefore we are never found naked—which we will constantly reject. We know about the old nature because we were born with it and we nurtured it all of our lives until we accepted Christ. We knew it was wrong before but since we knew of nothing to replace it with, we continued to nurture and maintain it. Salvation brought a regenerated person on the inside that is inconsistent with the outer person. The second thing we must do then is learn about the new nature so that we can begin to put on the new as we take off the old. We learn by studying and embracing the word of God. It is because of the word of God that we understand that it is imperative that we walk in patience, forgiveness, mercy towards others, and benevolent love that is motivated by the needs of others. All of these are consistent with being clothed with Christ. Because of these things we are able to receive peace and experience joy through the outpouring of the grace of God upon the redeemed that walk in obedience. Our response to this is heartfelt thanksgiving, praise, and worship of God. Robert C. Hudson February 6, 2013

Friday, February 1, 2013

Raised with Christ

February 10, 2013 Background Scripture: Colossians 2 Lesson Passage: Colossians 2:6 – 15 As the Apostle Paul continued to refute the heretics who had apparently infiltrated the Colossian congregation, he reminded the congregation that there is no new knowledge or “nuggets” of information, so to speak, outside the wisdom gained from knowing Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ. If there is anything new to be discovered or learned, it is to be found in Christ. Knowing this would keep them from being tricked by those who were smooth talkers and had the “gift of gab”. There was no need to continue to look beyond Christ for a different or more complete salvation. They were admonished to simply live out the salvation they had received from Christ. Their salvation could not be made any more complete by following certain human traditions or worldly philosophy. Their salvation was sure because of their faith in Jesus Christ. (Apparently, someone in the congregation was promoting human tradition over faith and worldly philosophy over the truth that comes from God through Christ.) To be in Christ is to be made complete because Jesus is complete in that the full Godhead lives in him. When we are in Jesus and he is in us, then we are also complete in him and because of him. We are lacking nothing. We have faith in the spiritual operation that God does on the inside of us and therefore we do not depend on external physical rituals for salvation or holiness. Christians demonstrate this by participating in baptism to show that we have died in Christ and therefore when he was raised from the dead, we were also raised because we are in him. As Jesus was dead physically, we were dead spiritually because of our sin. When God put life back into the physical body of Jesus and raised him up, He also put spiritual life in us and raised us up with him. This new birth spiritually shows that our sins have been forgiven. God’s ways are beyond finding out unless He reveals them to us. Even then, we do not understand God’s ways. God used the cruelty of the cross to accomplish our salvation through Christ and to make it real in us. No one who has been born again doubts that something has changed in them. We might not fully comprehend what the change means but we know it took place when we put our trust in Jesus Christ and not because we went through some religious ritual. Therefore, we should not allow anyone to make us feel guilty about outward religious rituals and observances. Participating in those out of guilt could eventually lead us to worship idols that we know nothing about. Many are very proud because of this outward show of pomp and pageantry which have no heavenly reward or eternal value. This world and all that pertains to it will perish. Therefore, we should not treat anything of the world as though it has an eternal value. Pursuing such religious activities can make one feel good and appear wise but it only satisfies the flesh which too will perish with the world. We have been saved from the destruction this world will experience. We were once dead in our sins but now we have been made alive spiritually and raised with Christ. Robert C. Hudson January 30, 2013