keep

 This week we begin worship with:

John 15:9-11

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

God first loved us.  That truth is under all of scripture.  God loved us before He made us.

Ephesians 1:4b-5

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, . . .

That love is un-ending.

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, . . .

Even if we slip up, it does not change.

2 Timothy 2:13

if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself. 

It has been observed that John never used the word "faith", he always used the active word "believe".  To remain in that place of joy, our task is to actively "keep" His commandments.  Inaction separates us from the joy God intends.

Let

 This week we begin worship with:

Ephesians 4:31-32

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

This comes at the end of Paul’s instruction to live the new life we have been given. 

Ephesians 4:22-24

. . . 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.

We are to put off the old and, yes we are to put on the new, but let us never forget that in order for that to be even possible there must be something new!  And it is God “in the spirit” who has done that renewal.  And being renewed in that way the new self takes on the very “likeness of God”.

Guys know this experience.  It is like putting on a well tailored suit. It simply fits. The old pattern doesn’t. The new pattern does.  

In fact, it fits so well, that our text for the week is passive. We don’t put away “all bitterness . . .”, we “let” it be put away.  Enjoy the fit. The new self looks good on you. 

shine

 This week we begin worship with:

1 John 3:2-3

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

We are already a child of God and we have been taught to call Him, "Heavenly Father" (Matthew 6:9-13).  But we have not received our new body, for we have not yet suffered death like Jesus, and we have not yet heard our name calling us anew from the grave.  When that does occurs we will then be "like him" in body:

Philippians 3:20-21

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

What makes us "like him"?  The word "because" in this week's verse explains that this happens because we will "see him as he is".  His absolute purity is transformative and will be glorified by it.

Isaiah 60:1,19

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 

The sun shall be no more

    your light by day,

nor for brightness shall the moon

    give you light;

but the Lord will be your everlasting light,

    and your God will be your glory.

But between now and then we have been given a task ("purifies himself").  Our actions today should already start to reflect that future glory:

2 Corinthians 3:15-18a

Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. 

Each morning my mother would come to my room and wake me with a cheerful "Arise and shine".  Thanks, Mom. 

infinite

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 147:5-6

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.

The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.

I prefer the King James "infinite" (KJV).  His power and understanding is not simply beyond our ability to measure, it has no end.

Then what is incredible is what God does with that infinite capacity, He shares it with those dependent on Him.

For it is that dependence is the entrance requirement for the Kingdom of God:

Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.