June 20, 2007

Reading through the Bible this year: http://www.emailbiblestudy.com/Schedule.htm

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Psalm 49:1-9 (NLT) For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah.

¹      Listen to this, all you people!

Pay attention, everyone in the world!

²      High and low,

rich and poor—listen!

³      For my words are wise,

and my thoughts are filled with insight.

⁴      I listen carefully to many proverbs

and solve riddles with inspiration from a harp.

⁵      Why should I fear when trouble comes,

when enemies surround me?

⁶      They trust in their wealth

and boast of great riches.

⁷      Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death^*

by paying a ransom to God.

⁸      Redemption does not come so easily,

for no one can ever pay enough

⁹      to live forever

and never see the grave.^[1]

This psalm is interesting because the riddle spoken of in it seems to be reference to the coming Messiah.  The Psalm speaks to everyone and speaks of the riddle of the fallen nature of man.  What can be done about it?

Verses 5-7:  When trouble comes in life, wealth cannot deliver a person from trouble.  The enemies are seen to be the ones who attack in the NLT, however, in other translations, the idea is put forth that we are surrounded by the sin of our enemies who surround us.  When you consider this, which enemies are the worst to deal with?  Those who make a frontal attack are easily recognized and more easily defeated.  The enemies that we are faced with that dwell with us and influence us with ungodly ways are the hardest to defeat because these grind away at us on a daily basis.  They are often rationalized and too often we accept their sin as the norm in daily life. 

John 8:51-52 (NLT)

⁵¹ I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”

⁵² The people said, “Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say, ‘Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!’ ^[2]

Acts 2:27 (NLT)    For you will not leave my soul among the dead^*

or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.

Acts 2:31 (NLT)
³¹ David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.

Acts 13:33 (NLT)
³³ and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus:

‘You are my Son.

Today I have become your Father.^*’

Acts 13:35-47 (NLT)
³⁵ Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’^{* 36} This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. ³⁷ No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.

^38 *“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. ³⁹ Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do. ⁴⁰ Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said,

⁴¹      ‘Look, you mockers,

be amazed and die!

For I am doing something in your own day,

something you wouldn’t believe

even if someone told you about it.’^* ”

⁴² As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week. ⁴³ Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.

Paul Turns to the Gentiles

⁴⁴ The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.

⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For the Lord gave us this command when he said,

‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles,

to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’^* ”

Verses 8-9: There is no doubt that these verses are messianic in nature looking forward to the Messiah.  Jesus fulfilled these verses by redeeming mankind by the ultimate sacrifice of His life.  He took it up again, did not decay, and lives eternally.  Jesus is our source of life, our redemption, and our strength to overcome the frontal attack or influence that surrounds us.  Think about it.

All comments are welcomed.

Father, as we consider Your word, open our eyes so that we can understand and apply it to our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

June 21, 2007

Reading through the Bible this year: http://www.emailbiblestudy.com/Schedule.htm

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Psalm 49:10-20 (NLT)

¹⁰      Those who are wise must finally die,

just like the foolish and senseless,

leaving all their wealth behind.

¹¹      The grave is their eternal home,

where they will stay forever.

They may name their estates after themselves,

¹²      but their fame will not last.

They will die, just like animals.

¹³      This is the fate of fools,

though they are remembered as being wise.^*

Interlude

¹⁴      Like sheep, they are led to the grave,^*

where death will be their shepherd.

In the morning the godly will rule over them.

Their bodies will rot in the grave,

far from their grand estates.

¹⁵      But as for me, God will redeem my life.

He will snatch me from the power of the grave.

Interlude

¹⁶      So don’t be dismayed when the wicked grow rich

and their homes become ever more splendid.

¹⁷      For when they die, they take nothing with them.

Their wealth will not follow them into the grave.

¹⁸      In this life they consider themselves fortunate

and are applauded for their success.

¹⁹      But they will die like all before them

and never again see the light of day.

²⁰      People who boast of their wealth don’t understand;

they will die, just like animals.^[1]

Verses 10-14 How often have you heard the saying "Life is short!"  That is the message of this passage with one clincher, everyone dies.  The wise along with the foolish will die and pass from this earth.  In the Temecula area where I live there are homes that belong to the poorest of people, one in particular that I know of is a dilapidated trailer parked on a vacant lot.  There are also homes that are valued in the millions with huge ranches attached to them.  If you ask the guy who lives in the wealthy side of town, he is most likely going to tell you of his financial endeavors that he has in the works.  Ask the poor man, his focus is on the next meal.  In the end, both will leave this life, everything that they attained will count for nothing.  Both can be classified as fools because their focus is on living life, not on eternal issues.  The one who will benefit from their lives is the kids they left behind, or whoever manages to grab the estate.

In the end, all will die.  You will die, I will die.  My life will continue to live on earth as a shadow that will quickly pass from memory.  My kids will remember me, their kids, might.  The point is that our time on earth is extremely limited, and none are getting out alive.  Unless of course, the pre-tribbers are correct and Jesus returns shortly.

Verse 15:  Do you think the psalmist was speaking foolishly here?  Did he think that God would allow him to live forever?  Could it be that he was considering his faith in God to be his way out?  Perhaps he knew that those who are forgiven will continue to live in the afterlife in heaven.  Perhaps also, that this verse is planted here as a part of the original riddle.  The answer of course is that the Messiah will come and make the fulfillment of this verse possible.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 (NLT)

⁵¹ But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! ⁵² It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. ⁵³ For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

⁵⁴ Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,^* this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.^*

⁵⁵      O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?^*”

⁵⁶ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. ⁵⁷ But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.^[2]

Through Jesus, the sting of death is removed and God will give us eternal life.  Life is no longer a useless drudgery where we are plodding on for the next generation to take over.  Life has purpose because our purpose is in Jesus.

Verses 16-20:  Are we dismayed, or discouraged to see the filthy rich doing so well when we struggle to make it through life?  The cliché "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" is certainly true.   Wealth passes away, and it has no true owners.  Wealth is borrowed from this world, when we pass it will return again to the world.  In that way, men are just like animals, we come into the world with no possessions, and depart the world without any as well.

I have been reading Philip Yancy's new book on prayer during my time off of school.  It sets your mind to thinking, why doesn't God give the good goodies to His kids?  Why are there so many unanswered prayers?  Perhaps, our lives are focused on the wrong issues.  For most of us, our lives are focused on what we can get out of life instead of what we can glean from life to help others.  The Christ centered life is not all about getting because things are temporary.  The Christ centered life is about service to Him.  Think about it, if life is not about attaining goods as this passage indicates, then it must be about something else.  It must be about something eternal that transcends this life.  The suggestion by the messianic passages in this chapter clearly indicates that the only thing that continues to exist after this life is rooted in God.  Please do not misunderstand me on this, the passage is focused on temporal things, goods, riches and such.  It is not focused on the spirit of man.  Men's spirits will move forward to the next life and be judged by God.  This discussion is on what earthly goods can be taken from a life that will end in death. 

Rattling on a bit today, I apologize for that.  All comments are welcomed.

Father, as we consider Your word today speak to each of our hearts and give us purpose directed at Your will.

In Him,

Joe Turner.