Glorify God with Your Body

July 6, 2014 Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:12 – 7:40 Lesson Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:12 – 20 BREAKING NEWS: You are not your own. You have been purchased and the new owner has definite plans for you that will be for His glory and His glory alone. How should you react to this information? One suggestion would be to get the details of your purchase and the new plans that have been put in place for your life. Perhaps we should review the background of how all of this happened. The previous plan for your life was a sure failure. No matter how things went—that is to say, whether you lived or died—you were doomed to spend an eternity living out a painful and never improving existence in a Lake of Fire that cannot be quenched. Neither would you have burned up so that the pain would be forever unending. This was going to be the conclusion of a life where sin had become so normal that it wasn’t even noticeable anymore. However, at some point in your life, you heard about the Calvary option to take away all of your sins and to give you an expected end that is glorious and in the presence of God the Father. But there was even more to the offer. You were given a joy that shines above all of the trials and tribulations you endure in this life on earth. Furthermore, you don’t have to endure any of life’s challenges alone. You have a Redemptive Agent who is ever present and encouraging you at all times to draw closer to Him. Under the terms of the Calvary offer, you are required to allow God to be glorified in you. For every difficulty you have endured and for every trial you went through, God was glorified whenever you trusted Him with the outcome. This glorification of God through you is non-negotiable. You wanted God to destroy your enemies but He said leave them there so that He can bless you in their presence. You wanted your enemies out of your presence but instead God said I will make them your footstool if you hold your peace while I fight for you. Those promises are about public situations but there is something for your private life as well. You have not been made physically handicap to restrict your movements or actions. On the other hand, you have been given specific instructions that demand that you discipline your movements and actions through obedience to God. You can still do all that you have previously done to some degree but you do not have the option of doing some of those things now. You must now ask a twofold question. Will my actions bring glory to God and will my actions build up or tear down my fellow man? All actions are now required to be to the glory of God and those actions should be edifying to others—especially those who are part of the same redemptive plan that you now claim. Our bodies have a new assignment as well. Our bodies make up the temple of the Holy Ghost who lives in us. Therefore we are more than spiritual entities because God owns our bodies and spirits. It is not sufficient to acquiesce to God mentally and accept that we are united with Him in spirit. Because the Holy Ghost lives in our bodies, we must walk circumspectly and glorify God even with our bodies. Robert C. Hudson June 28, 2014

Pursue Unity in Christ

June 29, 2014 Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10 – 17; 3:1 – 17 Lesson Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:10 – 17; 3:4 – 9 A Christian should desire the opportunity to experience fellowship with others who profess the same faith. But what is fellowship? When we speak of Christian fellowship, we speak of time being set aside where members of the Christian faith can gather to spend time with each other. The time could be used for socializing, group study, group prayer, group worship, missions, or some area of ministry. The idea being that we connect with others of the same religious faith as a response to humanity’s social makeup and need for interaction and cooperation. On the spiritual side, the fellowship helps us to grow individually and collective in the faith. This sounds great; however, there are some pitfalls we should be aware of while moving towards this social congruence. In this life, all we have to work with are “real” people. Each of us comes with baggage and ongoing issues of some type. These are things you cannot make go away by dressing up and parading around on Sunday. In fact, some of us find our way to a local church seeking help to deal with our baggage and issues. The good news is that the local church is the proper place to turn while seeking such help. We come as individuals but we come as individual members of the same spiritual body. The body is one and therefore the members must somehow work together in order for the one spiritual body to function in this physical world. When all of the individual members do not collaborate as one, some functions of the body will be greatly inhibited. We understand this with physical bodies but do we truly understand this with a spiritual body? When a stroke or some other form of paralysis attacks a physical body, some functions are limited at best. The local body is constantly in need of spiritual rehabilitation. The individual parts don’t always work well together. There is a role for each Christian in the body of Christ. Many contribute to the overall working of the body by providing physical resources needed by the body. These physical resources are varied and needed for proper functioning of the body. Others contribute to the working of the body by employing spiritual gifts needed by the body. These too are just as varied and needed for the body to be wholesome. Physical and spiritual resources are needed in the church for the parts of the body to function in unison. In the physical body, all parts are kept in unison by a properly functioning head. In the spiritual body, we never have to worry about the head functioning properly because the head of the spiritual body is Christ. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Therefore, he will always function properly to promote unity within the body through the Spirit. Outside of the body, we negotiate with each other to promote a form of unity that is often fleeting. But within the body, the Spirit of Christ works with each member to promote lasting unity throughout. As Christians in the local church, let us pursue unity in Christ. Robert C. Hudson June 21, 2014

Hope for a New Day

June 22, 2014 Background Scripture: Nehemiah 7:1 – 7; Haggai 2:20 – 23; Zechariah 4 Lesson Passage: Haggai 2:23; Zechariah 4:1 – 3, 6 – 14 Out of small things, God brings forth greatness. It is a privilege to be a part of God’s unfolding plan. No matter how menial the task may appear or insignificant the effort that is not celebrated openly, God brings forth glory when those tasks and efforts are ordained of Him. God chooses leaders according to His own pleasure. Those who are chosen of God for honor have character that demonstrates an awe-filled respect and reverence for Him. They recognize that obedience to God brings peace and joy—even in difficult situations. Not many who are wise according to this world or people of status in the world are called of God. But those who are chosen of God are used by God to overcome what would seem to be insurmountable obstacles. Such was the case with Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest. God made choice of them to lead His people back into Canaan after seventy years of exile in Babylon. Zerubbabel was the governor or civil leader of the returning remnant and Joshua was the priest who interceded on behalf of the people of Israel. God promised to provide a better day for His people through the leadership of these two. Although the elders among Israel who had seen the temple of Solomon saw this new temple constructed under Zerubbabel’s leadership as lacking, God assured them through the prophet Haggai that the glory of this latter temple would be greater than the first. Those who looked and saw with their eyes could not understand it but those who trusted in God were given an assurance that a new day was coming. This revelation had to come from within them and not from without. This new day would not be ushered in through some great army of Israel or any other worldly power. Only through the Spirit of God would this new day be realized. Through Zerubabbel’s leadership, no obstacle would be too great. The anointing of God upon him would be greater than any external threat Israel would face. Zerubbabel descended from the lineage of David and therefore had the royal bloodline of Israel in him and Joshua was the high priest ordained of God for such a time as this. These two anointed men of God were seen as olive trees supplying fresh oil to the lamps on the lamp stands. Zechariah’s vision was an image of these two standing beside God. As long as the leaders of Israel stood on God’s side and had the anointing of God upon them, Israel could be assured that there was a new day coming. Godly men leading God’s people will always bring forth a new day. God works directly through them to accomplish His will. The seventy years of exile were over and the temple was being restored. This is indicative that the first priority was to establish the right relationship with God. Many children of Israel remained in the land of exile but those who had returned were laying the spiritual foundation for a bright tomorrow for all of Israel. In God’s own time and in God’s own way, every prophecy was being fulfilled exactly according to God’s plan. Israel had hope because a new day was dawning. Robert C. Hudson June 7, 2014

Live Pure Lives

June 15, 2014 Background Scripture: Haggai 2:10 – 19 Lesson Passage: Haggai 2:10 – 19 Continuous disobedience causes long-term spiritual uncleanness. That’s the message God sent to Israel by way of Haggai. They could not simply be obedient for a short while until God blessed them and then afterwards they could go back to their lives of spiritual disobedience. The nation had become very self-centered and continued to live as though their past actions and activities did not matter. God rejected their attitude of indifference about their past. Apparently, unbeknown to them, their past was indeed affecting their present relationship with God. God clearly expected more from His people than brief moments of uprightness. Again as before, in this passage from Haggai’s message, God shows the connection between the fruit of their labors and their lifestyles. The misfortunes in their lives were the result of how they had been living. Israel was living a life where they were constantly not receiving what they were expecting. There was a clear reason for it. God reminded them that their reality had not measured up to their expectations since the day they started to walk in disobedience to Him. Because Israel refused to accept the connection between their behavior and the lack of blessings, they did not turn to God in repentance. God made it clear that His desire was to bless them but their deliberate lives of ungodliness prevented it. God was not going to reward their disobedience and yet they had refused to change even when punished. God told them that if they would accept responsibility for their unrighteous lives and repent, He would bless them again from that day forward. Strangely, this message from God to Israel sounds quite similar to God’s dialog with Cain after Cain brought an offering to God that was rejected. God did not condemn Cain as an evil person for bringing an unacceptable offering to Him. Rather, God asked Cain to redo his offering so that it would be acceptable and God assured Cain that He would accept it if Cain brought Him an acceptable offering. Israel, like Cain and children of God today, had their own ideas and plans for how they wanted to interact and relate to God. The problem is God does not accept our ideas or plans in place of what He has already provided. We have a relentless propensity to attempt to modify God’s plan and we want Him to endorse our plans instead. We want God to accept what we believe to be superior plans to what He has provided. We want our partnership and relationship with God to be on an equal level. We want the power to veto God’s plan. We want God to accept our plans rather than insist on His. I believe the church today has a lot to learn from Israel’s history. As we study Israel’s history, we study the attributes and expectations of God towards a covenant people. God desires to bless His children as they live in obedience to Him and live pure lives. When we miss the mark, God waits for us to turn to Him for help; for it is He who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. Robert C. Hudson June 2, 2014

Trust God’s Promises

June 8, 2014 Background Scripture: Haggai 1:12 – 2:9 Lesson Passage: Haggai 1:12 – 15; 2:1 – 9 I vividly recall two exercises I participated in as part of my training to become a more effective manager. The first exercise was called “The Trust Walk” and the second exercise was called “The Trust Fall”. In the first exercise, I was blindfolded and someone led me around on a walk that involved different terrain. My sense of sound seemed to be immediately enhanced as a result of no longer being able to use my sight. I recall walking on pavement, grass, and even gravel. The shifting gravel under my feet made my sense of balance seem very awkward to say the least. I was led to various objects to touch—such as the side of a building, a swing set on a playground, and an automobile in a parking lot. The passing traffic seemed exceptionally loud as I was led next to a busy street. It was very uncomfortable to feel so vulnerable. The worse was yet to come. The Trust Fall did not involve a blindfold but it probably would have been easier for me with a blindfold. In the Trust Fall, I had to stand on an elevated platform with a number of people standing on the ground behind me. I had to close my eyes and fall backwards from the platform and trust them to catch me. Never before had those people seemed like such strangers to me. I recall wondering if it would be best to simply resign from the company and avoid all training that involved physical activities from that point forward. The fall from that platform felt like it lasted forever. After it was over, I wondered if any of them thought about letting me hit the ground. I don’t know if I trusted them any more after that than I did before. Through those two exercises over twenty years ago, I became acutely aware of how vulnerable a person feels when they must do something that depends totally on others for their security. Our lesson today reminded me that seeing others struggle in their dependence on God is very different than when you have to do it for yourself. In today’s lesson, Israel was challenged to trust God’s promises. As the Jews worked to rebuild the temple, they were disheartened because it did not measure up to the temple built by Solomon. Moreover, Solomon was beyond rich and they were recently returned from bondage and obviously did not possess Solomon’s resources. But God promised them that His spirit was still among them and He would cause the temple they built to be more glorious than that of Solomon. This was difficult for them to accept seeing that their resources were limited. Solomon had access to whatever resources he needed because his father David provided for him before his death. God reminded them that all of the silver and gold in the world belongs to Him and He can choose to use it as He pleases and where He wants to. God wanted them to use the resources they had and to do the best they could with it. All that we will ever have to work with is what God gives us. We should not compare what we do with the work of others who appear to have more resources. If we are good stewards of what God entrusts us with, God will bring glory to the work. We should always trust God’s promises. Robert C. Hudson May 28, 2014