2008-07-18
Good Morning Children of God,
The Holy Spirit leads me to continue writing about the list of do's and don'ts found in MT 6-7, a part of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we looked at MT 6: 6-7 and 19. Today, we begin by examining MT 6: 24, remembering that if the Lord guides us to these verses for a second time, He always has a good reason. "No one can be a slave of two masters; he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon." When I wrote about this one, it was in the segment on mammon, which refers to material things. This time, the Spirit leads me to discuss it in the context of human relations.
If one reads the introduction to each of the kings in Israel's history found in 1K, 2 K, and 2 CH, he will notice that Ezra and the other writers of these historical books were led to mention whether or not a king held to the Law and if he either tried to mix paganism with Judaism or abandoned Judaism altogether. The latter two approaches were taken by all 19 kings of the northern kingdom of Israel during the time of this country's division from the southern kingdom of Judah [before the Assyrian Captivity in 722 BC of Israel and the Babylonian Captivity in 586 BC of Judah]. Needless to say, all of this mattered to God, just as our obedient faithfulness to Him matters to Him today. We know that Solomon, the last king of a united Israel, turned away from the Law and moral teaching of God toward the end of his life. 1 K 11: 1-2, "Solomon loved many foreign women [from Egypt, the Hittites, Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon]…He married them even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with these people, because they would cause the Israelites to give their loyalty to other gods." 1 K 11: 25 tells us that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, turned away from King Solomon. Around that time, God told the prophet, Ahijah from Shiloh, that God would take the kingdom away from Solomon. Shortly thereafter, God kept this promise. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but the latter escaped (40). Solomon died and was buried in the city of David [the older part of Jerusalem]. His son, Rehoboam succeeded him as king (43). Afterward, Rehoboam ignored the advice of his older advisors, a decision which led to a series of events which divided the nation of Israel into Israel in the north [it's capital at Samaria] and Judah in the south [its capital at Jerusalem]. When Jeroboam returned from Egypt, he was made the king of Israel, in the north [1 K 12: 20]. All 19 kings of Israel in the north were evil and broke God's commands. Most theologians feel that is the reason God allowed the northern kingdom to be taken into captivity by the Assyrians sooner. They were in captivity for 160 years. Some of the kings of Judah in the south were worthy and faithful to God, e.g. Asa [2 CH 14: 3-4], Jehoshaphat [2 CH 17: 3], Joash [2 K 12: 2 prior to the death of his priest, Jehoiada], Hezekiah [2 K 18: 3-4], and Josiah [2 K 22: 2, 6]. 2 CH 24: 17-18 relates the downfall of Jerusalem when Joash was convinced by his advisors after the priest, Jehoiada's, death to lead the people to abandon temple worship and replace it with pagan worship of the goddess, Asherah. Amaziah, Joash's son, became king when age 25, but was reluctantly obedient to God [2 CH 25: 2-4]. The other Judean kings not mentioned were evil. They either rejected Judaism completely or tried to combine it with pagan worship of the god, Baal, and his goddess wife, Asherah.
All this history is interesting, but it's related here to make the point that human beings are sinners and have been sinful right from the time of the original sin [GN 3: 1-6]. Why God endows some humans with the strength of spirit to reject temptation and others don't have this courage of faith is a mystery. All we are told is that as believers, we should do what we can to witness to our faith in the hope that the lost will listen and believe in Jesus Christ [MT 28: 19-20]. I would be remiss if I didn't bring up a most detestable personality trait that some people have. That is the ability to have a duel personality: one that is pleasant and enjoyable to our faces and who holds grudges and manipulates doing evil behind our backs. Psychologists call this the passive/aggressive person. We can find stories throughout history about people like this. In my life, I have had the difficult experience of encountering some and even being fooled [and yes, proven gullible] by such a person. This person appeared to be godly in the beginning. It was only later after I had been very hurt by her words and actions, that I realized the truth about her. The lesson I learned is the one Christ teaches, "No one can be a slave to two masters…" Had the Lord Jesus done this in the Garden of Gethsemane, mankind would never have had a possible escape from spiritual death! The words of LK 22: 42 show that He didn't want to suffer and physically die, but He was willing to do the Father's will. The question is: are we?
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your throne as sinners, weak and ineffectual in our efforts to remain firm in our faith without Your intervention. There are times in our lives when we are called upon to have courage in our faith-when faced with dangerous, tempting, or risky situations. We know that if we turn to You with a heart open to the Holy Spirit, that You will advise us through both prayer and Your word. 1 JN 5: 14-15, "We have courage in God's presence, because we are sure that He hears us if we ask Him for anything that is according to His will. He hears us whenever we ask Him; and since we know this is true, we know also that He gives us what we ask from Him." Sadly, Dearest Abba, there are more evil than righteous people in the world in which we find ourselves. You have told us, EX 20: 5, "Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I will bring punishment on those who hate Me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation." That is clearly the reason why the northern kingdom of Israel, and its southern neighbor, Judah had to be punished in the captivities and why people who make a lifestyle of evil will endure eternal torment. We stand in awe of You and of the good You bring to the lives of all who believe in the Lord Jesus. We want this good for ourselves and know that we must appeal to you, through study and prayer, to give us the courage to make difficult decisions, to use the wisdom You alone can give us, and have the strength and clarity of faith necessary to deal with evil people. The Psalmist, in PS 71: 20-21, understood that You allow a measured amount of evil to challenge us, so that we will grow in faith. He also knew that you would strengthen and comfort us afterward. "You have brought trouble and suffering on me, but You will restore my strength; You will keep me from the grave; You will make me greater than ever; You will comfort me again." We plead to You to give us ability to see through evil, not to be tempted by it, and to have the wisdom to our part in extricating ourselves [with Your help] from traps set for us by the evil one. You alone have the wisdom and power to equip us to be successful in this endeavor. You alone love us enough to guide us to a life of holiness and righteousness. We praise and thank You for Your loving presence in our lives. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we will look again at MT 6: 27 on Christ's list of do's and don'ts, about the effect of worrying on our lives. For now, we can take comfort in the continuing presence of our Lord in them. IS 35: 4, "Courage! Take heart! God is here." PS 16: 11, "You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." God actually speaks to us, in IS 30: 15, with words we badly need to hear when in crisis, "In quietness and in confidence I shall be your strength." Those are not the words of a God with plans to abandon His children. In fact, we can find even more comfort in the words of PS 9: 9-10, "The Lord is a Refuge for the oppressed, a Place of safety in times of trouble. Those who know You, Lord, will trust You; You do not abandon anyone who comes to You." We must remember that God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on the cross, for the sins of the world [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Then He resurrected Christ as the "First among many brothers" [RO 8: 29] to give us the hope of being one day resurrected too, if we have the courage of faith to believe and remain obediently faithful to Him. We must be constantly reminded of this glorious path to eternal life, because in our sinfulness, it's too easy to forget the great blessing our Father has given us. He has told us "be holy because I am holy" [LV 11: 44-45; LV 19: 2; 1 PET 1: 16]. Is it easy to do this? Certainly not. Is it worth it to go to whatever trouble is necessary to do this? You bet it is! That is because we have been given God's promise of an eternal life of bliss and fellowship with Him. Praise be to the one and only God, the God Who loves us!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
© Lynn Johnson 2008. All Rights Reserved.