Thursday, April 14, 2011
Christ Brings Division...
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW'; and 'A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THOSE OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD.' He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.--Matthew 10:34-39
To My Sweet Daughters,
These are some tough, tough words. The ultimate end of the gospel is to bring peace with God. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, however, we enter into a war. We are now at peace with God but enemies of the world.
Jesus demands our all...He wants our whole hearts. There is nothing we are to put before Him. He talks of the cross at the end of this section of Scripture, reiterating that He is demanding total commitment from His disciples...a call to full surrender. When He comes into our hearts we become His bond servants. Our lives are His...they are no longer our own. Whatever we do now, we do in His name and for His glory. Jesus is not repudiating our earthly relationships or denying our responsibility to them, but He is making clear what our priorities should be. Our conversion can cause strain in our family relationships, persecution and even martyrdom.
Yes, Christ is called the Prince of Peace, but He says many times in His word that if we live for Him we will face conflicts, and endure hardship. Sure we can escape conflict but only by denying our God and compromising and witness and that would be sin. We will be misunderstood...we will be persecuted even by those who are the closest to us; yet we must not allow this to affect our witness.
If we are going to suffer though, make sure we suffer for Him...for His name...for righteousness. We do not want to suffer because we are obnoxious and difficult to be around. Yes, the cross is an offense but as Warren Wiersbe says...do not be an offensive Christian.
Love
Mom
Ingratitude...Isaiah 5
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.--Isaiah 5:7
To My Sweet Daughters,
Ingratitude, rejection and coming judgment..that is what this 5th chapter of Isaiah is about. God's Well-beloved, Israel, were to bear good fruit but instead they bore wild grapes. God had done so much for His precious vineyard...His chosen people...and instead of responding by lovingly serving Him and bringing Him who created and sustained them honor and glory, they chose instead to "forget Him" and go their own way and serve themselves...just as many did when Jesus came to the earth and just as many of us do today.
Read Matthew 21:33-46
“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘ The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet."
Hebrews 12:25 says this....
"See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, "
Girls, those who disobeyed the voice of God on Mount Sinai when the law was given were judged. We have been given so much more than they were. We have the blessings of the New Covenant written in the blood of God's Son. Christ is God's best and final revelation to us. If we refuse to hear Him, and reject the incomparable riches that are ours in Him, we will perish in our sins. We are more accountable than those on Mount Sinai. To whom much is given, much is required. If we turn away from Him who so graciously came down from heaven to speak to us, to die for us and even now beseeches us to be reconciled to Him, there will be no escape from the judgment to come.
Verses 8-23 in Isaiah 5 list some of the sins that the people were guilty of committing. Oppression, stealing, raucous, self-indulgent living, calling evil good and good evil, being wise in their own eyes and rejecting God's counsel. Justice was not to be found in the land. Isaiah goes on in verses 24-30 to pronounce judgment telling them it will come as fire devours stubble because they had rejected the law of the Lord and despised His word. The Lord will stretch out His hand against them and strike them and His anger will not be turned away and His hand outstretched still. Uh oh...
Roman 10:21 says, "But to Israel he says: "ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND CONTRARY PEOPLE."
God's hand of mercy is outstretched to us today...not in judgment but in mercy. He is so patient with us. 2nd Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." He invites us to come to Him now in repentance and humility and accept His free offer. There will be an end to this time of grace and mercy...night will come. His patience with us makes us even more accountable and our sin greater. Today is the day to accept the precious gift that He offers. It is yours for the asking.
"Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? --Hebrews 10:29
Love
Mom
To My Sweet Daughters,
Ingratitude, rejection and coming judgment..that is what this 5th chapter of Isaiah is about. God's Well-beloved, Israel, were to bear good fruit but instead they bore wild grapes. God had done so much for His precious vineyard...His chosen people...and instead of responding by lovingly serving Him and bringing Him who created and sustained them honor and glory, they chose instead to "forget Him" and go their own way and serve themselves...just as many did when Jesus came to the earth and just as many of us do today.
Read Matthew 21:33-46
“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘ The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet."
Hebrews 12:25 says this....
"See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, "
Girls, those who disobeyed the voice of God on Mount Sinai when the law was given were judged. We have been given so much more than they were. We have the blessings of the New Covenant written in the blood of God's Son. Christ is God's best and final revelation to us. If we refuse to hear Him, and reject the incomparable riches that are ours in Him, we will perish in our sins. We are more accountable than those on Mount Sinai. To whom much is given, much is required. If we turn away from Him who so graciously came down from heaven to speak to us, to die for us and even now beseeches us to be reconciled to Him, there will be no escape from the judgment to come.
Verses 8-23 in Isaiah 5 list some of the sins that the people were guilty of committing. Oppression, stealing, raucous, self-indulgent living, calling evil good and good evil, being wise in their own eyes and rejecting God's counsel. Justice was not to be found in the land. Isaiah goes on in verses 24-30 to pronounce judgment telling them it will come as fire devours stubble because they had rejected the law of the Lord and despised His word. The Lord will stretch out His hand against them and strike them and His anger will not be turned away and His hand outstretched still. Uh oh...
Roman 10:21 says, "But to Israel he says: "ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND CONTRARY PEOPLE."
God's hand of mercy is outstretched to us today...not in judgment but in mercy. He is so patient with us. 2nd Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." He invites us to come to Him now in repentance and humility and accept His free offer. There will be an end to this time of grace and mercy...night will come. His patience with us makes us even more accountable and our sin greater. Today is the day to accept the precious gift that He offers. It is yours for the asking.
"Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? --Hebrews 10:29
Love
Mom
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