The Ken Read Podcast

0617 LEARNING THE DANCE

LEARNING THE DANCE

Here in chapter 5, Paul strings together some really powerful, challenging and encouraging words for us. Let’s delve into each of them and then try to tie it together.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. 

In the battle of strong and weak faith, you remember how essential it was that those who are weak not judge those who are stronger, and that the stronger ones yield to defer to the consciences of the weaker. So Paul is basically summarizing that controversy. God is allowing us to be strong by removing the strict rules and permitting us to be free, without the burden of the law and the guilt that came with it. Freedom means that we are all on the “stronger” side again. But . . . 

But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

The freedom of being a person of “stronger” faith does not yield so much freedom that God doesn’t continue to care about what we do. It’s like having been an heir who is still an underage child really having no true rights. But now Paul is saying even when you are grown up, you are still not really free to simply do what you want. Life is funny that way, ain’t it? You spend your childhood longing to be an adult, and by the time you get there you realize that the life of freedom you imagined is actually a life of adult responsibilities, not simply of freedom. You got a car, thinking you would use it to drive and get donuts every morning and have freedom to drive wherever you want whenever you want. But you discover that you have to pay for the gas and the insurance, and they require money for the donuts, and all of that freedom simply took you full circle back to having to do things you don’t want to do in order to gain this small measure of freedom. And you end up buying a dozen donuts and only eating one of them because you have other people that you are responsible for. Sigh. I guess that’s why mom and dad didn’t gush all over about how great adulthood is and how much fun you’re going to have when you turn 18.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 

It’s simple, really. Paul has said it before to the Corinthians. The Holy Spirit will always guide you to holiness, not to selfish choices and sinful actions. So we can try following a massive set of rules that will make us good people. Or we can simply follow the maxim, “Love God, and do as you please.” Notice how Paul words it, however: “you will not” gratify “the desires” of the flesh. Your flesh is still a part of your life, and the desires of this baser part of you do not go away. Paul elaborates further:

For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

The flesh and the Spirit are opposite poles in your life. And your calling is not to walk down the equator between them. No. You “do not do as you want.” That thing your flesh wants to do? You say no. The desire is still screaming. But you have your fingers in your ears and you are talking to yourself, drowning out the sound of your flesh’s voice by quoting Scripture you have memorized. And you discover, once again, that growing up into freedom is not a walk in the park, it’s more like running a gauntlet.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

In conclusion, Paul summarizes our relationship with the Holy Spirit. We live by the Spirit, you know. The flesh did nothing to bring us life. It only brought guilt and shame and followed the road to death. But the Spirit gave us life and led us into the light, stirred our faith to believe and our wills to choose holiness. And when we keep in step with the Spirit, day by day, hour by hour, we find ourselves matching the Spirit’s stride, breathing in synch with the Spirit, speaking the words that the Spirit prompts us to say. It is a beautiful dance of discipleship, the wedding dance of the Bride with her Groom. 

May you hear the Spirit’s invitation this day, asking, “May I have this dance?” And may you join in while the angels play your favorite song. Amen.

0618B SWEET MYSTERY (SONG OF THE WEEK)

SWEET MYSTERY (SONG OF THE WEEK)

[In the year 2010 I was creating a series of firsthand accounts of the gospel called Tales from Gal'lee County. This song was written and recorded to go with one of the audiobooks. It has been done by a few ensembles, but I don't seem to have any recordings of it. So this is me in a studio demo.]

Did you know that the little baby boy was born in Bethlehem?

Did you know that he grew into a man just to die in Jerusalem?

He was born just to die

Then he died just to live

By his life though we die we shall live

 

It's a sweet sweet sweet sweet mystery

Such a sweet sweet sweet sweet mystery

 

Did you know that they called his name Jesus Christ Emmanuel?

Did you know that He was God and he was man as well?

He was God sent to men

To bring men back to God

God and man man and God made as one

It's a sweet sweet sweet sweet mystery

Such a sweet sweet sweet sweet mystery

 

Such a sweet mystery

God and man

Slave and free

Man and king

Me in him

Him in me

Sweet sweet sweet sweet mystery

Such a sweet sweet sweet sweet mystery

 

 

0618 SECRETLY MOCKING

MOCKING GOD

God is good. By nature, He is inherently good. By which, I mean God cannot/will not be bad. He conceived the universe and spoke it into being. He placed everything in it, so that planets align and forces balance. He established light in darkness, and He set seasons and planets, water cycles and circulatory systems. And he looked and noted that it was good. And He set “right” and “wrong” into the hearts of the crown of his creation mankind. He also established time and natural consequences to help the discerning heart to choose to do right, because sowing right things yields a reaping of right things.

It does take discernment to recognize the wisdom of cause-and-effect, though. Our selfish wills would like to imagine a world in which we can live as exceptions. I want to be able to lie and cheat and steal and do as I please, and to be able to get away with it all, because, well, I’m an exception. So I hedge my bets and take my chances and assume that I can get away with foolish behavior. After all, it seems to be working for the devil, right?

Day after day, year after year, the evil enemy of God mocks the righteous balance of the universe and says, “I can do what I please and nothing bad will happen to me.” And, sure enough, nothing happens to me—today, anyway. And I assume I snuck into the secret planning room and broke the mold. I believe what the serpent said back in the garden: “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely not die.”

Did it work? Did I sneak in uninvited to the wedding banquet, without so much as a piece of formal attire? I did! I ate the fruit, and I did not die! I win!

But keep in mind what Paul wrote: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 

Notice how Paul words it here: God CANnot be mocked. Not just God doesn’t want to be mocked. Or God won’t allow you to mock his rules forever. No, it says he CANnot be mocked. We mock God when we ignore the rules of the universe. And that moves us from being people of doubt and hesitation to being full-fledged God-mockers. Just like Adam and Eve back in the garden. They took the forbidden fruit and ate it.

Bad idea! You know it’s going to backfire, right?

Sure enough. Adam and Eve are banished from the garden, now facing their inevitable death.

Sure enough. God cannot be mocked. We mock God when we try to think of ourselves as exceptions to the rules of life and go against the commands of God. But Paul goes on with his line of thinking, when he says,

Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 

Talk about long-term and short-term strategy for gratification! Do what feels good in the moment, and it will destroy you. Go ahead. Try to think of anything that pleases your so-called “flesh,” and see where it leads if you over-indulge in it constantly. It leads to your destruction (or possibly to the destruction of someone else). In any case, the short-term gains are lost in some sort of flesh-driven drive that leads to self-destruction. 

On the other hand, imagine what happens when you make investments of time and energy into things that will yield long-term results, and you will see it to be true that when you sow to please the Holy Spirit, you reap forever. And those habits are not self-destructive, but are usually good for making your body better, even while you focus on internal and eternal things.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 

And so Paul wraps up the topic by cheering us on. It’s easy to become weary when you are doing what is not pleasant to you. Sometimes we need to discipline ourselves to say no to our flesh and say yes to the spiritual discipline focus God calls from us. But if we don’t become weary, and if we don’t give up, the harvest will come. It might not be in this lifetime, but it will be worth it all. So, it’s about time for Paul to start a sentence with “therefore.”

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Do good to everyone, says Paul. But especially be sure to be good to those who are your “family.” Amen.

0619 CHOSEN!

JUNE 19 = EPHESIANS 1

CHOSEN

Some things just happen. Other things are a conscious choice. I wake up in the morning. It just happens. But I choose whether or not to get out of bed.

Some of us grew up in a home of faith, and the path of least resistance for us is to go to church, believe the words being said, and follow the church’s cultural norms. But then there is the choice, where we knowingly become a wholehearted follower of Jesus Christ. We repent, change our path, and walk in a new way. As Joshua challenged the people of Israel, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” And the people all shouted back, “We will serve the Lord!” And then they didn’t. Not really.

As the book of Hebrews says, now is the appointed time; today is the day of salvation. We cannot decide today that tomorrow we will repent, when we get good and convicted. No, if the conviction comes today, then this is the appointed time to act on that conviction.

So far, we’ve talked here about us making a choice, today, to say yes to the Spirit’s nudging and make a change. But what about God? Does God make a choice? It’s hard to limit God to our vocabulary of finite mental decisions, but God tells us that he makes choices. Choices that involve you and me! Take a look at the concept of “chosen by God” found in Ephesians 1:

“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.” 

Thinking about the wording of this, he seems to be saying that it was not a matter of Paul choosing to be an apostle, but of God choosing Paul for him to be an apostle. The word “apostle” means someone who is sent. So implied by this verse, Paul is saying that it’s not so much Paul making the decision to do this with his life, as it is that God is the one who is calling him, having already determined what his will was for Paul. 

How about you? Where have you felt the clear guidance of God for your life? Paul goes on,

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” 

There it is again: God chose us! He loved us! In Christ we are chosen to be holy and without fault in his eyes! All we have to do is to Say yes!

“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”

Some people come into our families by birth. Like it or not, we have one another for life. But others come into our families by choice–adoption, foster, marriage, friends–and that gives them a certain advantage. They were chosen. Loved. At least by someone in the family. And so, we all who are in Christ have been adopted. Chosen. Wanted.

“This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” 

 This is the part that blows me away: God made the choice He made to adopt me, because he wanted to do so, and it gave him great pleasure. I please God by saying yes to Jesus! There was joy in heaven the day that I gave my life to Christ. 

“Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” 

You know what? You are not God’s Plan B. You were chosen in advance! And then God worked everything out according to his plan. And his plan was that Jew and Gentile would become one in his Son. His plan was to rescue you and me. And it was not an inconvenience to him to rescue us–it was his good pleasure! 

As you and I were driving down the road of life, we saw a billboard. Jesus was beckoning and saying, “Whosoever will may come…” We thought about it. And , at the last second, we both swerved off of the broad downward-sloping highway, and headed onto the Exit ramp, up and away onto the ages.

The thing is, as we take that exit ramp, we glance back at that road sign and do a double-take. There is also a message on the back of the sign! The front invites “whosoever will” to come. And so we came. But on the back of the giant billboard is this message: “Chosen from the foundation of the world.”

Chosen. You are. Can you believe it? Amen.

0620 TROPHIES OF HIS GRACE

JUNE 20 = EPHESIANS 2

TROPHIES OF HIS GRACE

What follows is the story of grace and truth

And how we found favor with God

It is the tale about me and you

And how we are one in the Lord

And it is Ephesians chapter 2 set to verse 

 

Once upon a time, You and I were dead. 

because of disobedience and of our many sins. 

We used to live in sin, just like all the rest, 

Heeding the commander of the unseen world below.

 

He is the spirit who’s working in the hearts

 of those who choose to not obey the Lord. 

All of us were with them, following our desires 

Following inclinations of our hearts.

 

We by very nature were subjects of God’s wrath, 

just like all the peoples of the earth. 

But God is rich in mercy, He loved us oh so much, 

He raised us up as he raised Jesus Christ.

 

For we were just as dead as the crucified

Living under bondage of our sins

God made us alive when he raised Jesus Christ

(Only by God’s grace have you been saved!) 

 

(He raised us from among the dead 

along with our Messiah Jesus Christ 

Then seated us with him above

Now ride with us in pleasure, united with Christ Jesus.”

 

“So God can point to us in all 

The future ages as examples of 

the endless wealth of all his grace 

as shown in all he’s done for us 

who makes us one with Jesus Christ.”

You and I now stand as trophies of God’s grace. I imagine a thousand years from now, an angel hanging out in the eternal vestibule in the sky, looking intently at all the trophies God had earned and placed in his trophy case. 

He and some nearby angels had been in conversation on the topic for the last century or so, conjecturing as to which they think the Lord will say is his favorite? “Creating light?” “The rainbow after the great flood?” “The Cubs winning the World Series?”

And now the angel finds himself one-on-one with the king of the universe. The angel asks Him, “Of all the trophies you have won, which is your favorite?”

Without hesitation, Almighty God points to one of the smaller trophies. “That one right there.” The angel walks over to see the inscription. It is the name of one of the most notorious sinners in all history!

The Lord explains: “This guy. This trophy and its inscription shows how deep my love is. It stands forever as my favorite trophy of grace.”

The angel steps closer and leans in to see more exactly where the finger of God is pointing. And do you know what he sees? The name inscribed on the trophy is YOUR name! And under it is written: Had been dead in sin. Made alive in Christ.”

0621 GRASPING THE LOVE

JUNE 21 = EPHESIANS 3

THE CRUCIFORM LOVE OF GOD

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”

Let’s explore today why Paul would describe God’s love in four dimensions. What is the significance of each of those directions of Paul’s description? And what should we have the power to grasp about it all?

Let’s try exploring this three-dimensional image that Paul uses. God’s love is wide, long, high and deep.

How wide is the love of God? It spreads from shore to shore. As John describes it in the Revelation, God’s love includes people from every tribe and language and people and nation. Every local sub-grouping, found as a tribe, or village, or extended family. Every culturally-distinct grouping of people who share a common language. Each language may be setting a people apart, but in the end, each one of those languages will be swallowed up in a new and better way, as God reverses the curse of Eden to bring all nations back together through the blood of His Son.

It also separates our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. Interesting that Paul and God both agree on which direction to describe width. If the psalms had told us that God removes our sin as far as the north is from the south, that would be a long way, but it’s still a finite distance. But east to west? That goes on forever. Which means, I guess, that God removes our sins So completely that you can just keep going forever and never dig a forgiven sin back up again. 

Paul then says that the love of God extends, not just wide, but also “long.” I picture “wide” as going side to side (left to right), while “long” would go forward and backward. It is equivalent in distance, if you can measure such things. But it is long. Long, as in the journey of a thousand miles. Long, as in time.

God’s love would go so far as to chase you down. Like the Hound of Heaven, God pursues you as far as it takes to find you, in spite of how far you have gone astray. Like Adam, who had gone astray and lost fellowship with God. But God went looking for Adam, asking, “Adam, where are you?” Like Jonah, whom God pursued across the sea, bringing a great storm, preparing a great fish, and depositing near a great city, all to bring the people of that far-away city of Nineveh to repentance. Like the prodigal son’s loving father, who stood day after day scanning the horizon, waiting for a distant glimpse of his rebellious son, the young man. God’s love is LONG, as in distance.

God’s love is also long, as in time. His love is long suffering. He does not become impatient with waiting, even when he says that all day long he has held out his hands to a stubborn and rebellious people. His love goes back to before the foundation of the world, and extends for all of eternity.

How high does the love of God reach? In answer, let me ask, “How high is heaven?” As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts, and God’s ways are higher than our ways. In other words, you might say that just as with east and west, there is no ceiling to stop the height of God’s love. It reaches up to bring a simple, single person up to the throne room itself. As he called to John in Revelation, “Come up here, and I will show you what is to come.” In the same way, he calls us higher, up the mountain, up to heaven itself, to join in fellowship with him.

God’s love reaches higher than we can imagine. Mountains and hills bow down before him in worship. Beyond sun and moon and stars. Beyond the highest position on earth—kings and all those in authority. God’s love does not ever fall short, whether in integrity or intelligence, strength or beauty, service or sacrifice. Nothing is higher than the love of God. Nothing is higher.

Then Paul uses the word “deeper” for God’s love. No one can be so far in sin that he is not reachable. No one can be so far enslaved that he is not redeemable. Nothing is beneath the “son of man,” as Jesus referred to himself. 

I’m saying that you cannot sin enough to be beyond the reach of the love of God.

The cross itself thus demonstrates the immense power of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The cross shows just how wide, and far, and high and deep is the love of God, especially when seen through the eyes of one watching the Lamb of God being slain from the foundation of the world.

 He then urges for the saints there.

0623 THE FIVEFOLD GIFTS

JUNE 22 = EPHESIANS 4

THE FIVEFOLD GIFT

When the church started, Jesus was already departed into heaven for ten days. He had been with a dozen men or so for about three years. Other than that, without his direct supervision anymore, how was Christ to bring his church to be built up, to do his work and to no longer be immature like children? What was to keep them unified and growing? 

It sort of seems like the Lord left too soon, doesn’t it? But Jesus knew something. He knew how his work was going to continue. He had taught men to be discerning, and then he sent the Holy Spirit to guide. What’s more, he equipped certain people with certain gifts, so that they would be able to carry out the leadership that the Holy Spirit could bring.

We know that Jesus left the 11 faithful disciples together, and he had them wait in Jerusalem “until” power from heaven came to them. And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, he launched the church with an amazing sign.

But Jesus wasn’t done giving gifts to guide his church. He gave out special gifts to the eleven, and on for many generations. The eleven were to be with him. Then they were to go into all the world, making disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to obey all that Jesus had commanded. He said that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea, then in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Then he left. But he sent his Spirit to abide with them, to teach them, and to guide them, to remind them of all that he had said, to comfort them and counsel them. And the Spirit imparted gifts to them, and then on to the rest of the church. Some of the gifts implied offices or roles, and that’s what we find here in Ephesians 5.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: 

the apostles, 

the prophets, 

the evangelists, 

and the pastors and teachers. 

Let’s talk about what each of these roles might be. They all seem sort of like the same thing from this distance, but since Paul didn’t provide definitions or descriptions, we have to conjecture based on what scholars are able to piece together.

Apostles. We think of the original 12 when we see the word apostles. Originally they were disciples, meaning followers. Then Jesus sent them, and the Greek word for one who is sent is apostole. But perhaps Paul, who counts himself as among those apostles, was referring to a broader circle than just the original ones whom Jesus sent. We might never know. But today we have church planters and missionaries, which are the same sort of function, but using more universal terms. More than just being sent, though, the office of apostle seems to carry a spiritual authority as being a “foundation.”

The prophets. Prophets seem to also carry a sort of foundational authority about them. And as with the use of the word apostle, so the word prophet could be referring to the prophets of the Old Testament plus those like Agabus of the New Testament whose words carry the weight of inspiration or of revelation from God to mankind. To be a prophet is more than just being someone who prophesies on occasion. The office of prophet seems to carry with it the weight of prophesying so regularly that people put trust in your words as coming from God himself. Philip had four daughters who were prophetesses (literally, “who were prophesying”). Would this circle of people who prophesy be included in this list that Paul is creating? Perhaps so.

The evangelists. Literally it means those who bear good news or bring good news. They are the next circle out, you might say, in the realm of spiritual authority. Philip was called an evangelist. Timothy was told to do the work of an evangelist. Could those men also have been considered to be prophets? Did they prophesy? Paul said his goal for the church would be for everyone to prophesy. But he didn’t say that he would have everyone be a prophet. In the same way, could we say that any preacher is an evangelist? Church planters? Must they speak from a pulpit? Could their work be one on one? We all are evangelists in this sense. And yet Christ has given a gift to the church of some who are called evangelists. So they have a specific calling and authority to do the spreading of the good news.

The pastors and teachers. Notice how the first four words included an article “the”, while teachers does not. This is subtle and might not be worth noting, but most scholars agree that the article missing here means that pastors are automatically also teachers. As some translate it, they are pastor/teachers. And again we’re asking the question as to whether a pastor is a professional sent-out person with singular authority in a church, or whether this is more generally a term for elders, shepherds or pastor/teachers.  As with the others, once again we conclude that some in the church even today are called to pastor the people, to shepherd them all, to serve as a plurality of elders in each congregation. And as with the others, in a sense it doesn’t matter, as long as the members also take responsibility for one another’s spiritual lives, to teach them and to shepherd them. Pastor means shepherd.

So, having said all that, what is the purpose of these 4 or 5  offices or callings to serve? Let’s see what Paul says they are to do: 

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work 

An office with a title implying great responsibility implies that there is great work to be done. But, did you notice something important here? The work of those fivefold leaders is to equip, but it is the work of God’s people to do his work. The pastor equips. The people work. Maybe that’s not how we are used to thinking about it. But let us pray to the lord of the harvest asking him to send more workers!

and build up the church, the body of Christ. 

Don’t you love the description of the church as not being an organization, but being the body of Christ. A living, moving organism. With Christ as the head and every part doing its work. This is what moves a church forward!

Then we will no longer be immature like children. 

We will grow up and become mature, functioning like the body of Christ. But I’m afraid that many of us who are in these ministry positions continue to keep the congregation immature. It’s a kind of job security, you might say, to keep the saints immature enough to be dependent on him.

We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 

Imagine church life before the New Testament was complete. There was not a “new testament” that could be read and memorized by the church. So in would come a sheep whose teachings differ from the majority. Having worked out a theological explanation, this new teacher promotes a whole different way of explaining what the members are to do. This is the very reason that God set in place those various offices: to equip the church so that new teachings that come along can be measured by the heart of wisdom.

Don’t be taken in. Be built up. Pray that God will send more workers. Pray that it might be you. Amen!

0623B JOIN IN THE SONG (SONG OF THE WEEK, WITH SPOKEN INTRO)

JOIN IN THE SONG (1984 live concert)

We moved to Rockford, IL in January 1983 to minister at Central Christian Church. In 1984 I did a live concert with Ellen. This particular song from that concert has a short comedy bit introducing it that has a serious point to set up the song. May it speak to you through the years and miles now.

When you wake up in the morning your hair down in your eyes

Do you ever look in the mirror and begin to criticize 

The way that God has made you—his creation

 

Do you ever feel self-conscious wonder how people look at you

Well did you ever stop to realize that they’re wondering that same thing too

And we are all his creation

 

Join in the song of the symphony of praise

You’re a child of God for whom the savior came

Join in the song of the symphony of praise

God created you to bless his holy name

 

That beautiful work of creation that you despise

Is a wonderful work of the master if you’ll just see it through his eyes

For he has made us we’re his creation

 

God made each one of us different

With different talents and traits

So thank him right now for his gift to you and join in the praise

 

Join in the song of the symphony of praise

You’re a child of God for whom the savior came

Join in the song of the symphony of praise

God created you to bless his holy name

 

0624 WHAT PLEASES THE LORD

JUNE 23 = EPHESIANS 5

FINDING OUT WHAT PLEASES THE LORD

In the midst of a whole list of directives, Paul includes this single sentence:

“Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.”

In other versions, it is translated, “And find out what pleases the Lord.”

Let’s start with this encouraging concept of “pleasing” God. The Lord said several times in the Old Testament that the aroma of an animal sacrifice is “pleasing” to him. I suspect that is because of the gift, more than the actual aroma. The psalmist said, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord.” Other translations properly translate it as “pleasing in your sight.” The words of my mouth can actually bring the Lord pleasure, and the things I think about can do the same.

So we see some things that bring the Lord pleasure. But Paul challenges us to still “find out” or discover what bring pleasure to the Lord.

What do you think? What brings him pleasure? He doesn’t directly say it here. So let’s find out what brings him pleasure.

Jesus said that there is more celebration in heaven over one sinner who repents than all the ones who never needed to repent. So repentance brings him pleasure. Psalm 51 goes on to say that a broken and a contrite heart the Lord will not despise.

Jesus said that the most important commandment is to love God, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. All the law is summarized by those two commandments, he said. So it seems pretty safe to say that God is pleased with our love for him and for one another. In fact, that just might be the single most important relationship for any of us, and it touches on the very purpose for our lives. Repentance and love. Sounds like a winning formula.

How we behave and where our hearts are centered makes a difference to God. He says “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Being fully devoted to the Lord. The eyes of the Lord roam throughout all the earth, seeking to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Elsewhere Paul says those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And he works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. He takes delight in those who fear him.

Heartfelt praise surely brings the Lord pleasure. But only when it is accompanied by good works and devotion. Love brings him pleasure. He will 

God loves a cheerful giver. Giving him our best, returning the gifts he gave to us, brings him pleasure. However, our gifts must be in a context of social justice. God tells Israel, “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, i will not accept them . . . but let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. God loved his grandson Isaac, but hated his brother Esau. Perhaps that was based on their behavior, but God’s choices were made before they were even born.

So, as we plumb the depths of what brings the Lord delight, we find a whole new relationship with Almighty God than we might have thought possible. Let him delight in you, and rejoice over you with singing! Amen.

0625 THE DAY OF EVIL

JUNE 24 = EPHESIANS 6

THE DAY OF EVIL

Most people who have been around church for any length of time have heard about the “full armor of God.” It includes belt, breastplate, footwear, shield, helmet, and sword. And Paul is saying that all of this will help you to stand your ground. I’ve heard about and read this description dozens of times in my life. But the context of the battle being in “the day of evil” is what jumps out at me today.

First, here is what Paul said:

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

This equipment is needed in warfare, of course. It is not for show, and not for fun. It is a matter of life and death—eternal life and death. 

So, what exactly are we preparing for? It is “The day of evil.” “The evil day.” It is not talking about a cataclysmic day of judgment, or any other end times catastrophe. Paul is talking individually, that in everyone’s life comes a “day of evil.” Maybe it’s as simple as the day you first fall under conviction and you repent unto salvation. But likely it’s one of “those” later days in which what some call “spiritual warfare” breaks out around you. You are tempted. Relationships are falling apart. You are tempted. You don’t know what to do. You are tempted. Tempted to give up your faith. Tempted to give in to some activity. Tempted to give way to the wrong influences. Tempted to give out under the stress. 

This is when you need to have the weapons of spiritual warfare already in place. It is too late to just start to acquire them. 

If you don’t already know the truth, then you won’t have the belt of truth holding the sword of the Spirit by your side. So you need to study the truth today to be ready for when the day of evil comes.

If you are not working to practice righteousness now, you will have nothing to protect your heart from the onslaught of daggers and arrows seeking to pierce it. So the breastplate of righteousness is something that should already be in place, before the evil day arrives. After all, you can’t be putting on your armor once the battle has already begun.

Can you imagine a soldier in battle who steps his bare feet into a pile of nails while in battle? It would not go well at a strategic time in the battle, would it? So we must already have our feet shod and the straps tight by having the gospel of peace already clear in our mind.

Know this about the day of evil: the devil does not only excel in hand-to-hand combat. He has flaming arrows, or even missiles, that can strike from a distance. You might see it coming, but you can’t get out of the way, and unless you have a shield, you are a goner. The shield is faith, and the flaming arrows could be some sort of indirect attack on your convictions or pressure from society. If your actions are not coming from a place of faith, but have merely been habit or convenience or culture, then at the very time when you need to stand your ground, instead you are thrown into confusion by the unexpected attack that comes from out of nowhere.

And what is protecting your head in the midst of this battle? Your head, the control center of the rest of your body. Your head, that vulnerable and exposed spot that can bring instant death. Why would you not want to protect your head with a helmet while in battle? Your helmet would be salvation. When the day of evil comes, you cannot protect your head, spiritually, without already knowing that you know that you are saved. 

And when that day of evil comes, you are mostly defending yourself, protecting yourself as best you can, while the enemy pounds away at you. But you do have one weapon with which to strike, not just defend. That weapon is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The written word (Bible). The spoken word. The memorized word. This is what you can use to drive the enemy away and overcome in the day when evil surpasses human strength.

May you and I be ready for the day of evil. You know it is coming. You don’t know when. But it will be the day of evil, and we cannot prepare casually for it. Amen.