November 11, 2007

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

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Matthew 25:21

     21     “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ NASB95^[1]

I heard horrible news late last night.  Joe Artino and JP Walker were killed when they rear-ended the train in front of them.  This was at Bertram at about 2 pm yesterday.  The details are sketchy, the impact was at about 45 mph.  Let's keep their families in prayer, I can't imagine the pain and trauma that they are going through.  Joe was a good friend of mine, as well as a great encouragement in this ministry. It is painful to see a friend die in this way.  Joe knew Jesus and is at home with Him now.  We shared many times of fellowship in the cab of the locomotive, as we discussed the things of the Lord together.  I fought tears all last night and many prayers for the families and loved ones of Joe and JP.  It was such an unimaginable tragedy.  Added to this was the caustic attitude of the managers of the Union Pacific, the response I received when inquiring about the accident was to play it down and use it as a training tool so that we will be more aware of safety! I have a short fuse at times, I bit my tongue.  But in the same way, it also causes me to think and look at life, it is so very fragile.  Are we ready when God calls us home?  This thought can frame our thinking as we look at the Psalm today.  What position does Jesus take in our lives?  If we were to suddenly be standing before the Lord, how many of us would receive the admonition, "Well done good and faithful servant"? 

Psalm 72 A Psalm of Solomon.

     1     Give the king Your judgments, O God,

And Your righteousness to the king’s son.

     2     May he judge Your people with righteousness

And Your afflicted with justice.

     3     Let the mountains bring peace to the people,

And the hills, in righteousness.

     4     May he vindicate the afflicted of the people,

Save the children of the needy

And crush the oppressor.

     5     Let them fear You while the sun endures,

And as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

     6     May he come down like rain upon the mown grass,

Like showers that water the earth.

     7     In his days may the righteous flourish,

And abundance of peace till the moon is no more.

     8     May he also rule from sea to sea

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

     9     Let the nomads of the desert bow before him,

And his enemies lick the dust.

     10     Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents;

The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.

     11     And let all kings bow down before him,

All nations serve him.

     12     For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help,

The afflicted also, and him who has no helper.

     13     He will have compassion on the poor and needy,

And the lives of the needy he will save.

     14     He will rescue their life from oppression and violence,

And their blood will be precious in his sight;

     15     So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him;

And let them pray for him continually;

Let them bless him all day long.

     16     May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains;

Its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon;

And may those from the city flourish like vegetation of the earth.

     17     May his name endure forever;

May his name increase as long as the sun shines;

And let men bless themselves by him;

Let all nations call him blessed.

     18     Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,

Who alone works wonders.

     19     And blessed be His glorious name forever;

And may the whole earth be filled with His glory.

Amen, and Amen.

     20     The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

Due to the work load of school, I will be using several different methods in studying the Psalms we are going over.  Today, I would like to stand back, and observe the psalm from a distance.  Let's overview the intention of the psalm and then look at how it applies to our lives today. 

Solomon wrote this psalm as a guide for a king (speaking of himself) to reign righteously over his people.  King Solomon is said to have been the wisest man in the world, the incredible wisdom shows in this psalm.  There are three ways to view this passage.  First view it as a King who is centering his kingdom around God.  Second, view it as the way that Christ cares for His people, cherishing them, drawing them in, protecting, and growing them up in Him.  Third, look at the way that the scriptures apply to our lives.  After all, part of the idea of having the "mind of Christ", (1 Cor 2:16), is by transforming our thought patterns to match the thought patterns of God.  When people see us, they see Jesus:

1 Corinthians 2:16

     16     For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

     1     Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?

     2     You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

     3     being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

     4     Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.

     5     Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

     6     who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Our thought patterns are to be conformed into the thought patterns of God.  This is done through Bible study, prayer, and waiting on God for direction in our lives.  One of the fantastic ways of looking at this passage is to insert the name "Jesus" in each place where the word "he" is found.  It doesn't work in every place, but in most verses it does.  Then reflect on what Jesus does in respect to all of Christianity, and what Jesus does in respect to our personal lives.  From what I can see, this psalm could be used as a guide for Christian life, almost a compact handbook for quiet time and prayer.  Since covering all three angles of the book would generate a small book, I am going to briefly overview what I see in a section by section summary. 

Verses 1-4:  God's love drives the Christian life.  Part of the love of God is the way that God will judge or help us to evaluate our lives according to His word.  He is our strength, our security, and our lives rest on Him.  Nothing that we can do is capable of rescuing us from our sin, from the hands of the devil, and from hell.  God did it all for us through Christ death and resurrection, (1 John 2:25-29).

Verses 5-7:  Fear of God in the Old Testament does not always indicate to be frightened of God.  The idea behind this is that you respect and recognize that God is incredibly powerful.  Solomon wrote this indicating that the king's reputation will endure.  Think on it from a Christian perspective.  Jesus is the light of the world.  Just as the earth is never truly absent from the light of the sun, considering that the moon acts as a reflector of sunlight and the atmosphere also acts as a reflector for sunlight, neither is the Christian totally absent from the light of Christ in their life.  Even if a believer is walking through a dark place in their lives, God still shines His light on their lives revealing their paths either to walk in Him or in returning to Him.  His light and His watering of our lives cause us to grow in Him, flourish, and live life abundantly until He returns.

Verses 8-11:  Jesus came to reach out to the entire world for salvation.  Yet each person must decide personally if they are going to accept or reject the free gift of salvation that Christ has offered them, John 1:12-13.  Our job as Christians is to speak to people about Christ telling them what He has done in our lives.  We may not be great evangelist, but each one of us who are believers can speak of the change that Christ has made in our lives.  Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, He is the ultimate ruler over the entire earth.  We are His ambassadors reaching out to a world who is not aware of the true King that sits on the throne:

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

     18     Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

     19     namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

     20     Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

     21     He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 12:1-2

     1     Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

     2     And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

John 1:12-13

     12     But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

     13     who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Verses 12-14:  As believers, our lives are wrapped up in God.  We rely on Him for every need, knowing that He is the one who rescues us from a world of evil.  He, in that respect, owns our very lives therefore our commitment to Him should be reflected in every area of our lives.  Our bodies are offered to Him for His use and for His direction (v. 14; Ro 12:1). 

Verses 15-17: Our attitude toward God will be reflected in how we give our finances back to Him.  I hear people fuss all the time about churches begging for money, if we give back to God from our finances, then the church would never have to ask.  Here is the way it works in a nutshell, the old Law required ten percent to be returned to the Lord in the form of a tithe, this part of the law is arguably still in effect.  I have found that people will support what they believe in.  Very few of us will argue over paying exorbitant fees for cable television, golf games, sports events, vacations, computer internet access, and so on.  Yet it seems funny, when it comes to giving to God, people whine and complain, often refusing to return to God even a small portion of their income.  It's simple, the way we use our money directly reflects where our hearts are at.  (Thank God I am not in a pulpit, stones would already be flying!)

Along this same line of thinking, if we give to God, He promises that He will return our giving back to us incredibly multiplied many times over.  If you are having money problems, try giving some back to God and watch what happens.

Verses 18-19:  The life of the Christian should be an example of praise to God.  We praise Him in every area of our lives, regardless the circumstances.  God is always in control, never out of control, never asleep, and never inattentive to our needs.  Praise Him! 

Verse 20: Marks the end of Book 2 of the Psalms.

I apologize for getting carried away.  In a couple of days I am going to be sending out a re-worked plan for the Bible study.  When I send it out, I would appreciate your response back on how we can improve the study, what you like or don't like, and so forth. 

Father, as we consider another magnificent psalm, draw our understanding to center on You in every area of our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.