2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
The Lord is leading me to repeat something I’ve said before about being Jewish. For a long time, I was pretty uncomfortable about being classified as one of “God’s chosen people.” That was because I have never viewed myself as somebody special and didn’t really feel I deserved such a description. I still feel I’m an ordinary person, but my study of the Scriptures put a different perspective on what is meant by being one of “God’s chosen people.” The privilege Jews were given was God’s actual presence for a part of our history and direct access to His teachings, what is termed, the Gospel. No privilege comes without a balancing responsibility. That is made clear in IS 42: 6, “I, the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to the nations.” The same responsibility is reiterated in IS 49: 6. Sadly, the Jews haven’t carried out this responsibility to spread God’s word to the nations, choosing instead to sin, leading God to leave the temple in Jerusalem during the time Ezekiel was in exile in Babylonia [see EZK 10: 4]. That was not all. Their legalism, refusal to interact with Gentiles, and continued sin certainly had a part in the rejection of Jesus Christ, although the Jews were not entirely responsible for that. God’s decision during Paul’s ministry to make the Gospel available to the Gentiles [see RO 1: 16] may have been His response to the disappointing practices of His people. This event led some people to believe in the bogus replacement theology-the idea that the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people and that He has given up on them. RO 11: 25 proves that wrong. “There is a secret truth, my brothers, which I want you to know for it will keep you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God.” The veil that God has placed before Jewish eyes as to Who their Messiah is will, indeed, be lifted. Yesterday, I spoke of the grafted olive tree metaphor in RO 11: 16-24; if you didn’t read it then, please read it today. This same responsibility, reiterated in different words in MT 28: 19-20 by the Lord Jesus, now extends to all believers, not just Jewish ones.
It is with these thoughts in mind that I begin sharing today’s passage, 1 PET 2: 11-17, “I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul. Your conduct among the heathen should be so good that when they accuse you of being evildoers, they will have to recognize your good deeds and so praise God on the Day of His coming. For the sake of the Lord submit yourselves to every human authority: to the Emperor, who is the supreme authority, and to the governors, who have been appointed by him to punish the evildoers and to praise those who do good. For God wants you to silence the ignorant talk of foolish people by the good things you do. Live as free people by the good things you do. Live as free people; do not, however, use your freedom to cover up any evil, but live as God’s slaves. Respect everyone, love your fellow believers, have reverence for God, and respect the Emperor.” Considering the oppression of the Roman government at the time this letter was written, this kind of message could have been confusing to its recipients. What clarified it for them was the more Godly perspective that comes from studying the Scriptural teachings to which they were exposed.
EPH 2: 8-9, “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift so that on one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds which he has already prepared for us to do.” The conflict between body and soul is spoken of in RO 7: 14-25, which I hope you will read. RO 13: 1 gives God’s perspective on submitting to governing authorities. “Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God’s permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God.” The theme verse for the book of Daniel gives further insight on this point. DN 4: 17, “This is the decision of the alert and watchful angels. So then, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that He can give them to anyone He chooses-even to the least important of men.” RO 13: 3-5, “For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of the man in authority? Then do what is good and he will praise you, because he is God’s servant working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of him, because his power to punish is real. He is God’s servant and carries out God’s punishment on those who do evil. For this reason you must obey the authorities-not just because of God’s punishment but also as a matter of conscience.”
The example of Daniel comes to mind when dealing with a government one deems to be evil. From our understanding of the Scriptures, we can see that the Jews of Judea were in Babylonian exile because of past idolatry and God’s need to punish it to demonstrate His righteousness [see RO 3: 26]. Daniel understood this and chose to remain faithful to God refusing to defile himself [see DN 1: 8 & 6: 10] in spite of this exile. God worked through Daniel to bring both King Nebuchadnezzar and King Darius to faith and acceptance of His supremacy [see DN 4: 34-35 & 6: 25-27].
We might ask what is meant by being free when faced with a situation where we disagree with authorities placed over us. Christ made that clear in JN 8: 31-32 & 34-35, “So Jesus said to those who believed in Him, ‘If you obey My teaching, you are really My disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free….I am telling you the truth; everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave does not belong to a family permanently, but a son belongs there forever.’ “ Daniel had a kind of freedom from his faithfulness and good deeds, and so did Joseph even though his career in Egypt began as a slave. They might not have known who Jesus is, but they surely understood God’s commandments and enjoyed His protection. Their good deeds were acts carried out, because they understood God’s supremacy and never stopped loving Him. JN 14:21, “Whoever accepts My commandments and obey them is the one who loves Me; My Father will love whoever loves Me; I too will love him and reveal Myself to him.” We are privileged to be believers in Christ, who carry with us the responsibility of spreading the Gospel through obedience to it and doing good deeds as we were created to do.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your word is infallible and consistent in its entirety. We are privileged to have been given access to it. When some part of it is hard to understand, You have gifted us with the Holy Spirit Who leads us to another part of it which lends clarification. These are the acts of a loving Abba Who wants nothing more that what is best for all those who will seek Him out and believe in His Son. In the Scriptures, You have given us a model for human conduct that allows us to have a worthwhile direction in a chaotic and sinful world. You give us perspective we can’t attain on our own, which allows us to live as successful “tent-dwellers” in the world while we go through the process of sanctification. RO 8: 17 assures us that we will be joint-heirs with Christ to Your Kingdom, because we are willing to share in His suffering. We humbly ask for Your continuing guidance in putting our treasures in heaven rather than on earth in preparation for that Day when the Lord will come for us in that great meeting in the air. We dedicate ourselves to continuing to reach toward Your perspective on our lives which You give us by the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures and in prayer. We offer You our thanks, adoration, worship, loyalty, trust, obedience, honor, and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will begin looking at the example of Christ’s suffering discussed in 1 PET 2: 18-21. There are so many examples in the Scriptures where believers are asked to do what doesn’t come easily for them. The examples above certainly show that. However, God knows that we must suffer to keep faithful to the Gospel and loves us enough to protect us and eventually reward us richly for it. We should keep that in mind when our challenges feel overwhelming to us. God loves you and so do Peter and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn