This week we are going to be considering God's glory. Moses pleaded with God not to remove His glory from Israel after the incident with the golden calf, and then he boldly asked God to reveal His glory to Moses. Psalm 99 is a call to God's people to exalt Him, to bring Him glory, for all He has done on or behalf. 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 finds Paul praising the Thessalonians for their faithfulness in imitating the Lord, and for their steadfast hope of... what? Eternity with the Lord in glory. Finally in Matthew 22 we find Jesus urging us to render unto Caesar's what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. But what do we render unto God? Not money, of course, but something else. But what could that be, and how does it tie into this week's theme? What do you think?
This particular passage is one that I've discussed with a few friends (as well as my husband):
"So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s" -- at the time, Caesar was head of an empire that was taking over the entire known world. In essence, Jesus was saying, "The things of this world belong to this world; I and my followers have no desire to hang on to them."
"and [give] to God what is God’s" -- Our hearts, souls, and minds are what God desires. We offer these things to God as praise and worship of Him, to bring Him glory.
Let's try this: The Roman tax coin had the likeness of Caesar – the “glory” of Rome, no more than the “phosphorescence of the devil” “Render to Caesar what is his” – respect, submission. What did the temple tax coin look like? Perhaps an image of the temple – the glory of Israel? “Render unto God what is God’s” – honor, praise, adoration.
Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” (Exodus 33:12-13). Moses was looking for a couple of assurances here. First, he needed to know that God would not abandon Moses to lead the people on his own. Second, Moses needed to know that, even after the golden calf, that God would still be with Israel. Moses' tone may come across as "cheeky," but his relationship with God was so intimate that Moses was comfortable telling God what he was really thinking and feeling. Not that God didn't already know, but many of us somehow convince ourselves that what we say and do are hidden, forgetting that God is always there. Moses had no such delusion, and so he was straightforward with the Lord. What I find most interesting is what Moses asked God to do in order to be reassured. Moses asked God to "teach me your ways." Moses knew that if he was to remain connected with God, his best hope was to discover God's ways and then walk in them. God had graciously chosen Moses to lead His people. Now Moses wanted to gratefully obey God so that he could know Him more. What is your strategy for staying connected with God so that you know that He is with you?
God has proven to me that He will lead me when I study His Word. When I am feeling unsure about something or when Satan is launching an attack, I pray to Him to direct me to the Scripture He wants me to see, and He does!
Of course, I'm not saying that I just plop down on the couch, open the Bible, and expect to "land" on the right page. God uses my past experience in reading His word to direct me. For example, when I was nervous about sharing the message of true hope amongst a group of people I knew would get mad when hearing it, God reminded me of a passage that I had read previously; I did a quick Google search for what I remembered as the 'gist' of the Scripture [yup, Google!], and He brought me to Galatians 1:10.
In the book of Exodus 33:12-23, Moses speaks to God and asks for his guidance and The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."(Exodus 33:14) and then, how cool it is that God show's Moses His glory !
In the book of Psalm 99............ When reading the first sentence, I thought of a song we sing in church during worship time, a great way to honor our Lord ! What I got from Psalm 99 is our God answered Moses, Aron and Samuel from the pillar of cloud, he was forgiving, although, there is punishment for their misdeeds.(taken from Psalm 99:6-7)
In the book of 1 Thesalonians, Paul writes to the church praising them as they became a model to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. A lovely sentence that I love is "your faith in God has become known everywhere."(1 Thessalonians 2:8b)
In the book of Matthew 22:15-22, I find it sad that there was little faith when it came to the Pharisees. It was not about money, it was about trying to fool Jesus. What I got out of this is, there is no fooling Jesus !
So to sum it up, God shows us His glory, He is a forgiving God, although there are consequences for the bad things we do. We are called to model to other's by showing our faith in Him, and He knows our hearts !
Pastor Matt, to answer your second question, the obvious answer is ABC cubed ( : and I pray, read His word, pray, read His word. By doing these things, I feel the Holy Spirit is alive in me, and feel blessed that He loves me and want's to use me to show other's his love. It is all for His glory !
Matthew 22: Yes, render to Caesar what is his – submission, respect, taxes – but when Caesar demands what is not his -- as he did -- worship and glory as if he were a god, then he crossed the line. God said, “I will not yield my Glory to another or my Praise to idols”. Then to render unto God what is God’s demands a decision: “We must obey God rather than men”. How often this led – and continues to lead many Christians today -- to persecution and death.
Psalm 99 provides a long list of reasons as to why God deserves to be glorified. God loves justice, establishes equity, does what is right, is holy, punishes righteously, and forgives graciously. It is the last bit I am perhaps most grateful for on a daily basis. If it weren't for God's grace, He would hold nothing but terror for me. Like the Israelites, I would plead for someone else to behold His glory, content to stand at a safe (?) distance. But God is not merely awesome or fearful; He is also approachable and faithful to HIs covenant, which leads to our forgiveness. Reading Psalm 99 reminds us of all of those things, and helps us to approach the throne with reverence, but also with boldness. Be sure to come before that throne today, secure in the knowledge that the God of all creation, who reigns over all, loves you like no other and has chosen you for His own.
The Thessalonian church was founded by Paul while on his second missionary journey with the help of Silas and Timothy (Acts 17:1-4). This letter was probably written not long after the church's founding in order to encourage them in their faith. Paul was especially interested in praising them for holding fast to their faith in spite of the persecution they were experiencing. As part of that encouragement Paul reminded them of the hope of glory as they awaited the return of "His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:10) This is our hope, as well. When we experience difficulty here on earth, whether it is from our own sin or the attack of the enemy, we are encouraged to remember whose we are and what we have been promised. We know that in this world we will have trouble, but Jesus has left us His peace, that where He is we will also be. (John 16:33) Take heart, dear ones, for Jesus has overcome the world. The God who neither slumbers nor sleeps holds you in the palm of His hand, and you, too, will overcome, for "in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37) So then, glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together, for "we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
I was reading a Bible study last night that had another strength-giving message about earthly afflictions:
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. -1 Peter 1:7
Consider for a moment the ancient process used to refine and purify metals: The silversmith would heat the silver ore in a clay crucible. He would control the temperature of the fire by using bellows and never left the fire unattended.
As the silver was heated, the impurities would rise to the top and the silversmith would skim them off the surface. This process was repeated until all of the impurities were removed. The silversmith knew the process was complete when he could see his image reflected in the silver.
So, too, God refines His precious children through a similar process. Like a silversmith, He casts His people into the furnace of affliction, the refiner's fire. He controls the intensity of the trial, knowing just how much heat is needed to bring our impurities to the surface. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He stays with us throughout the refining process. His ultimate purpose is to refine and purify us so that we will reflect His image.
From today's Devotional from VOM's Extreme Devotion: Fatally wounded by her drunken father for receiving Christ in her life and wearing a white robe to show it, the 10 year old Filipino girl begged for her dress, now bloodied. "Please, I want to show the dress to Jesus. He was willing to bleed for me. I just want Jesus to know that I was willing to bleed for him." Refining fire?
Nobody likes taxes. This was especially true for the Jews living in Palestine during the time of Jesus. The poll tax they were required to pay was just one more way that Rome humiliated them, forcing them to show their allegiance to a government they hated. The Pharisees didn't much want to submit to Rome. But as Jesus deftly pointed out, they didn't much want to submit to God, either. Jesus' response caught the Pharisees in their own trap, and they were amazed. Like the Pharisees, we are challenged by this passage to consider to whom we will submit. It is a plain fact that most of us would rather not submit to anyone. But we are called to render to God what is God's, and what is God's is, well, everything. So we are called to submit everything to Him, body, soul and spirit, and to do so with joy. How we might go about doing that will be the focus of this week's sermon, but in the meantime, how are you finding joy in submitting to Jesus?
I grew up thinking that I had no value. This combined with an introverted personality meant years trying to build an identity around things of this world, "proving" to everyone that I was a certain type of person.
Even after I had the head-knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior, I would not fully submit to Him because it meant giving up all of those things that I had spent so many years building, collecting, and relying on for my sense of worth and identity.
It wasn't until God allowed me to be brought to my lowest that I was finally willing to let go. In doing so -- in submitting to His authorship and ownership of my life -- I finally gained a heart-knowledge of who He is, and was able to experience what I had been longing for: God's love, joy, and peace.
Every day there are temptations to fall back into my old ways -- especially if I run into friends that I haven't seen in a while, or if Satan has launched an attack. But because I now know in my heart the truth of who God is, I am able to submit to Jesus with complete joy!
[T]he truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. -Ephesians 4:21b-24
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy." (Psalm 99:9) Let's do this...not because we "have" to, but because we want to. See you at 10:30 for worship!
This week we are going to be considering God's glory. Moses pleaded with God not to remove His glory from Israel after the incident with the golden calf, and then he boldly asked God to reveal His glory to Moses. Psalm 99 is a call to God's people to exalt Him, to bring Him glory, for all He has done on or behalf. 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 finds Paul praising the Thessalonians for their faithfulness in imitating the Lord, and for their steadfast hope of... what? Eternity with the Lord in glory. Finally in Matthew 22 we find Jesus urging us to render unto Caesar's what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. But what do we render unto God? Not money, of course, but something else. But what could that be, and how does it tie into this week's theme? What do you think?
ReplyDeleteThis particular passage is one that I've discussed with a few friends (as well as my husband):
Delete"So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s" -- at the time, Caesar was head of an empire that was taking over the entire known world. In essence, Jesus was saying, "The things of this world belong to this world; I and my followers have no desire to hang on to them."
"and [give] to God what is God’s" -- Our hearts, souls, and minds are what God desires. We offer these things to God as praise and worship of Him, to bring Him glory.
Let's try this:
ReplyDeleteThe Roman tax coin had the likeness of Caesar – the “glory” of Rome, no more than the “phosphorescence of the devil” “Render to Caesar what is his” – respect, submission.
What did the temple tax coin look like? Perhaps an image of the temple – the glory of Israel? “Render unto God what is God’s” – honor, praise, adoration.
Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” (Exodus 33:12-13). Moses was looking for a couple of assurances here. First, he needed to know that God would not abandon Moses to lead the people on his own. Second, Moses needed to know that, even after the golden calf, that God would still be with Israel. Moses' tone may come across as "cheeky," but his relationship with God was so intimate that Moses was comfortable telling God what he was really thinking and feeling. Not that God didn't already know, but many of us somehow convince ourselves that what we say and do are hidden, forgetting that God is always there. Moses had no such delusion, and so he was straightforward with the Lord. What I find most interesting is what Moses asked God to do in order to be reassured. Moses asked God to "teach me your ways." Moses knew that if he was to remain connected with God, his best hope was to discover God's ways and then walk in them. God had graciously chosen Moses to lead His people. Now Moses wanted to gratefully obey God so that he could know Him more. What is your strategy for staying connected with God so that you know that He is with you?
ReplyDeleteGod has proven to me that He will lead me when I study His Word. When I am feeling unsure about something or when Satan is launching an attack, I pray to Him to direct me to the Scripture He wants me to see, and He does!
DeleteOf course, I'm not saying that I just plop down on the couch, open the Bible, and expect to "land" on the right page. God uses my past experience in reading His word to direct me. For example, when I was nervous about sharing the message of true hope amongst a group of people I knew would get mad when hearing it, God reminded me of a passage that I had read previously; I did a quick Google search for what I remembered as the 'gist' of the Scripture [yup, Google!], and He brought me to Galatians 1:10.
In the book of Exodus 33:12-23, Moses speaks to God and asks for his guidance and The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."(Exodus 33:14) and then, how cool it is that God show's Moses His glory !
ReplyDeleteIn the book of Psalm 99............ When reading the first sentence, I thought of a song we sing in church during worship time, a great way to honor our Lord ! What I got from Psalm 99 is our God answered Moses, Aron and Samuel from the pillar of cloud, he was forgiving, although, there is punishment for their misdeeds.(taken from Psalm 99:6-7)
In the book of 1 Thesalonians, Paul writes to the church praising them as they became a model to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. A lovely sentence that I love is "your faith in God has become known everywhere."(1 Thessalonians 2:8b)
In the book of Matthew 22:15-22, I find it sad that there was little faith when it came to the Pharisees. It was not about money, it was about trying to fool Jesus. What I got out of this is, there is no fooling Jesus !
So to sum it up, God shows us His glory, He is a forgiving God, although there are consequences for the bad things we do. We are called to model to other's by showing our faith in Him, and He knows our hearts !
Pastor Matt, to answer your second question, the obvious answer is ABC cubed ( : and I pray, read His word, pray, read His word. By doing these things, I feel the Holy Spirit is alive in me, and feel blessed that He loves me and want's to use me to show other's his love. It is all for His glory !
Matthew 22: Yes, render to Caesar what is his – submission, respect, taxes – but when Caesar demands what is not his -- as he did -- worship and glory as if he were a god, then he crossed the line. God said, “I will not yield my Glory to another or my Praise to idols”. Then to render unto God what is God’s demands a decision: “We must obey God rather than men”. How often this led – and continues to lead many Christians today -- to persecution and death.
ReplyDeletePsalm 99 provides a long list of reasons as to why God deserves to be glorified. God loves justice, establishes equity, does what is right, is holy, punishes righteously, and forgives graciously. It is the last bit I am perhaps most grateful for on a daily basis. If it weren't for God's grace, He would hold nothing but terror for me. Like the Israelites, I would plead for someone else to behold His glory, content to stand at a safe (?) distance. But God is not merely awesome or fearful; He is also approachable and faithful to HIs covenant, which leads to our forgiveness. Reading Psalm 99 reminds us of all of those things, and helps us to approach the throne with reverence, but also with boldness. Be sure to come before that throne today, secure in the knowledge that the God of all creation, who reigns over all, loves you like no other and has chosen you for His own.
ReplyDeleteThe Thessalonian church was founded by Paul while on his second missionary journey with the help of Silas and Timothy (Acts 17:1-4). This letter was probably written not long after the church's founding in order to encourage them in their faith. Paul was especially interested in praising them for holding fast to their faith in spite of the persecution they were experiencing. As part of that encouragement Paul reminded them of the hope of glory as they awaited the return of "His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:10) This is our hope, as well. When we experience difficulty here on earth, whether it is from our own sin or the attack of the enemy, we are encouraged to remember whose we are and what we have been promised. We know that in this world we will have trouble, but Jesus has left us His peace, that where He is we will also be. (John 16:33) Take heart, dear ones, for Jesus has overcome the world. The God who neither slumbers nor sleeps holds you in the palm of His hand, and you, too, will overcome, for "in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37) So then, glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together, for "we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
ReplyDeleteI was reading a Bible study last night that had another strength-giving message about earthly afflictions:
DeleteThese have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. -1 Peter 1:7
Consider for a moment the ancient process used to refine and purify metals: The silversmith would heat the silver ore in a clay crucible. He would control the temperature of the fire by using bellows and never left the fire unattended.
As the silver was heated, the impurities would rise to the top and the silversmith would skim them off the surface. This process was repeated until all of the impurities were removed. The silversmith knew the process was complete when he could see his image reflected in the silver.
So, too, God refines His precious children through a similar process. Like a silversmith, He casts His people into the furnace of affliction, the refiner's fire. He controls the intensity of the trial, knowing just how much heat is needed to bring our impurities to the surface. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He stays with us throughout the refining process. His ultimate purpose is to refine and purify us so that we will reflect His image.
-Kay Arthur, Bob & Diane Vereen
From today's Devotional from VOM's Extreme Devotion: Fatally wounded by her drunken father for receiving Christ in her life and wearing a white robe to show it, the 10 year old Filipino girl begged for her dress, now bloodied. "Please, I want to show the dress to Jesus. He was willing to bleed for me. I just want Jesus to know that I was willing to bleed for him." Refining fire?
ReplyDeleteNobody likes taxes. This was especially true for the Jews living in Palestine during the time of Jesus. The poll tax they were required to pay was just one more way that Rome humiliated them, forcing them to show their allegiance to a government they hated. The Pharisees didn't much want to submit to Rome. But as Jesus deftly pointed out, they didn't much want to submit to God, either. Jesus' response caught the Pharisees in their own trap, and they were amazed. Like the Pharisees, we are challenged by this passage to consider to whom we will submit. It is a plain fact that most of us would rather not submit to anyone. But we are called to render to God what is God's, and what is God's is, well, everything. So we are called to submit everything to Him, body, soul and spirit, and to do so with joy. How we might go about doing that will be the focus of this week's sermon, but in the meantime, how are you finding joy in submitting to Jesus?
ReplyDeleteI grew up thinking that I had no value. This combined with an introverted personality meant years trying to build an identity around things of this world, "proving" to everyone that I was a certain type of person.
DeleteEven after I had the head-knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior, I would not fully submit to Him because it meant giving up all of those things that I had spent so many years building, collecting, and relying on for my sense of worth and identity.
It wasn't until God allowed me to be brought to my lowest that I was finally willing to let go. In doing so -- in submitting to His authorship and ownership of my life -- I finally gained a heart-knowledge of who He is, and was able to experience what I had been longing for: God's love, joy, and peace.
Every day there are temptations to fall back into my old ways -- especially if I run into friends that I haven't seen in a while, or if Satan has launched an attack. But because I now know in my heart the truth of who God is, I am able to submit to Jesus with complete joy!
[T]he truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. -Ephesians 4:21b-24
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy." (Psalm 99:9) Let's do this...not because we "have" to, but because we want to. See you at 10:30 for worship!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to worshiping our Lord with our church family today !
ReplyDelete