God cannot . . .

This week we start worship with:

2 Timothy 2:11-13 

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

This verse is introduced as a “trustworthy saying” (pistos logos).  In our current day, this is indeed a rare find.  Something we can actually trust. 

But when we read it, we find that we are the ones who cannot necessarily be trusted.  Will we endure?  Will we continue to identify ourselves with the crucified Christ?  Will we remain faithful?

Against this frailty, we are given the backstop, the buttress, and the foundation that God cannot deny (arneomai) Himself.  That is, He cannot act outside His character.

Job 10:11-12 

You clothed me with skin and flesh,

    and knit me together with bones and sinews. 

You have granted me life and steadfast love,

    and your care has preserved my spirit.

Worship today that divine character.

Cursed

 Today we start worship with:

Galatians 3:13

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

When we say that someone is cursed, we often think of fate being against them.

But a curse (katara) is really a “down prayer”.  God is being asked to do something against someone. 

We forget that a curse has a requester.  The request was recorded on Mount Ebal:

Deuteronomy 27:26

‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

We called down that curse.  We called down that curse upon ourselves.  Jesus has stepped into that place.  To receive not only what we deserved, but what we called for.

May our worship start with that thought.

Follow me!

 This morning we begin worship with:

Jeremiah 17:9–10a

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind..."

The heart (lēḇ) is the origin of thought and emotion.  Here it is declared deceitful (ʿāqōḇ).  

It will fool you.  It will trip you up.  Recall please how Jacob tricked Esau and bought his birthright for the cost of a bowl of soup and how Jacob was born holding Esau’s heel.  That Hebrew word for “deceit” is derived from that very action (ʿāqaḇ).

When placed into a situation where you have to deal with a deceitful person, who you cannot trust, what do you do?  Would you follow them?  No.  The counsel to “follow your heart” is from the pit of Hell.  A moment of anger or desire can trick you out of a life’s work or a life long relationship.

Instead, you keep them at arm’s length.  You watch them, understand their selfish motives, and you protect yourself from their actions.  We have a partner in this, this verse tells us the Lord tests our heart and knows all its tricks.  His advice:

John 21:22b

You follow me!”

Forever

Today we start worship with Psalm 73.

Like the Torah, Psalms has five internal books. This psalm is the first psalm of the middle book. This verse is, not it’s valley, but rather it’s pinnacle.

The psalmist describes personally almost giving in to the envy of the unrighteousness. He saw them succeeding in life and not receiving their just do.  In his envy he was driven to anger.

Psalm 73:21-22

21 

When my soul was embittered,

    when I was pricked in heart,

22 

I was brutish and ignorant;

    I was like a beast toward you.

But when the Psalmist entered the sanctuary of God he “discerned their end” (Psalm 73:17) and was released from that anger.

Climbing out of that pit, he reaches the pinnacle which is our verse for today:

Psalm 73:25

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you

He sees that one day his own body will fail, but that God will not.

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail

   but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

 

Sake

 Today we are called to worship with:

Isaiah 45:4

For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.

Here the Lord was speaking through Isaiah calling Cyrus as His chosen servant to free Israel from the Babylonian exile.  

God did this for the sake or purpose (maʿan) of His servants Jacob and Israel.  This was being done because of a prior promise that had no cause in Cyrus. 

Genesis 17:5 

No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Today we wake, worship, and go back to work this week under that same prior promise and for that same purpose.  Paul said it well:

2 Timothy 2:10

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.