October 7, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Acts 5-6

Weekly Memory Verse: Mark 12:30

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I want to remind all of you that this study is based upon the book by Rick Warren, “The Purpose Driven Life.”  The intention of this running commentary is to encourage you first to follow along in the book, and second to try to generate some conversation regarding the daily readings.  Therefore if you wish to comment, agree or disagree on the contents of the book, or on my comments, don’t hesitate to write in.  For the long-time members of this Bible study, we will return to the daily walk through the Bible once the forty days are over.

Proverbs 3:32 (NASB95)
³² For the devious are an abomination to the Lord; But He is intimate with the upright.

James 4:8 (NASB95)
⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Matthew 11:19 (NASB95)
¹⁹ “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”^[1]

Yesterday we discussed the idea of being a friend of God, and what it took to begin that relationship.  Today we will continue the discussion.  In any friendship honesty is required for two persons to be friends with each other.  As soon as deceit or lies enter into a friendship, the relationship between the two people is severely handicapped.  In most cases it is the end of the friendship.  This is not so with God.  He remains your friend even if you are not honest with him.  But if you are honest with Him, you can expect power to enter your life due to a very close relationship that will develop with God.

Rick points out several people who were candid with God about their feelings, and the result of the arguments and disappointments that they had with God.  First, consider Abraham as he pleaded for the lives of the people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah.  When you read the account, it is almost comical to read how that Abraham dickered with God on the fate of the people. 

Genesis 18:24-33 (NASB95)
²⁴ “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. ²⁸ “Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

Jeremiah 4:10 (NASB95)
¹⁰ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.”

Jeremiah 20:7 (NASB95)
⁷ O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.

Job 42:7 (NASB95)
⁷ It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.

Exodus 33:12-17 (NASB95)
¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” ¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”

John 1:1 (NASB95)
¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^[2]

As you can see, Abraham bargained God down to ten righteous people, unfortunately, there wasn’t even ten righteous found in the city.  God delivered Lot and his family from the city before destroying it.  David was another who cried and bellyached to
God.  Jeremiah, Job and Isaiah also were very candid with God about their feelings toward Him.  The expressed their frustration with God, even to the point of claiming that God had tricked them into things, or that God had forgotten them, venting bitterness as well as praise and worship.  Moses didn’t beat around the bush when he demanded action from God. 

Yet where does all of this take us.  Why is it that God honored all of these prophets who argued with Him?  As I thought about this, I considered that in John 1:1 it states that “In the beginning the was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  The greek word for “word” was logos, where we get our word logic from.  Think about that, God placed in our heads an incredible brain that is capable of making decisions based upon input that goes way beyond what the super computers are capable of.  Our brains are wired in such an incredible way that it is truly impossible for the natural man to unlock all of its mysteries.  God did not want robots to worship Him.  He wanted people to worship Him out of their own decisions based upon their own desire to worship Him.  Therefore, He loves it when we talk with Him, or even when we reach the point of arguing with Him, and letting Him know that perhaps we don’t quite agree with what He has done.  God wants us to pray to Him about everything, even when we may feel that we have been cheated or wronged by God.  Here are a few references where Rick points out that men of God did exactly that:

Job 7:17-21 (NASB95)
¹⁷ “What is man that You magnify him, And that You are concerned about him, ¹⁸ That You examine him every morning And try him every moment? ¹⁹ “Will You never turn Your gaze away from me, Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle? ²⁰ “Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? ²¹ “Why then do You not pardon my transgression And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will seek me, but I will not be.”

Psalm 83:13 (NASB95)
¹³ O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like chaff before the wind.

Jeremiah 20:7 (NASB95)
⁷ O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.

Ruth 1:20 (NASB95)
²⁰ She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Psalm 142:2-3 (NASB95)
² I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. ³ When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk They have hidden a trap for me. ^[3]

The book of Psalms is covered with distress and tribulation, belly-aching and heart-ache.  God’s people were real with Him, we have placed God in a box for too long, it is time for us to let God know how that we feel.  Don’t you realize that he already knows what you think?  Come before God with your complaints and make it a sincere desire to draw near to Him.    

John 15:9-14 (NASB95)
⁹ “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ “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. ¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. ¹² “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ “You are My friends if you do what I command you. ^[4]

The next step to drawing near to God is “I must choose to obey God in faith.”  Consider this, we do not become equal with God when we become His friend.  He is able to lower Himself to our level just so that we can have a relationship with Him.  The earth and all that is in it still belongs to the Lord, we are merely micro managers of His estate.  Yet He is willing to come to us and have a personal, intimate relationship with us.  The idea is that obedience is a direct result of our close friendship with God.  Our love for God is the result of abiding in Him, we live in obedience to His commands and His leading.

Rick has two other sections that he speaks about in today’s lesson, the first one is “I must choose to value what God values” and the second “I must desire friendship with God more than anything else.”  I am going to briefly hit these points because I have jabbered too long today.  I would encourage you to get the book and read this chapter in order to get Rick’s spin on these sections.  You are cheating yourself if you are trying to follow the purpose driven life through my observations and comments.

2 Corinthians 11:2 (NASB95)
² For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

Psalm 69:9 (NASB95)
⁹ For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

Genesis 32:26 (NASB95)
²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ^[5]

Once we draw near to God our values will slowly change to match God’s values.  We will have a passion for His word and for His plan to be carried out among men.  Our desire will be to draw as many as possible into the Kingdom of God.  Jacob demonstrated this in a comical way when he wrestled with God and demanded that he be blessed.  When you consider the character of Jacob and the way that he tricked people into things, this display of determination was unique for him.  Jacob wanted to be God’s friend, even to the point of physically wrestling with God.  This is also a lesson for us, our desire to be near God must go beyond a casual desire, we must want to fight for it.  We need to make it top priority over everything else in life. 

Philippians 3:10 (NASB95)
¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Jeremiah 29:13 (NASB95)
¹³ ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ^[6]

Regardless what our decision is whether we wish to seek after a deeper relationship with God or not, He will seek that relationship for us.  He may bring into our lives hardship, pain, divorce, death, financial distress, or any other trial just to make us realize that life is not about us and we are not in control.  One of the key tools that God uses in drawing His people back to a intimate relationship with Him is pain and suffering.  We have a choice of either waiting for Him to draw us near to Him, or to make a choice to draw near to God.  Rick states “Remember, it’s your choice.  You are as close to God as you choose to be.”  He also suggested a prayer to draw near to God, “Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to get to know you intimately.”  This is a good place to close, I would challenge each of you to pray that prayer and to make a point of drawing near to God.  What can it hurt?

Father, as we draw near to You, place in each of us a desire to come into a close friendship with You.

In Him,

Joe Turner.