EPIPHANY • 6

Is the foundation of your life built on solid rock or on sand?

SET PRAYER

Oh Lord You’re beautiful
Your Face is all I seek
For when Your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me

I want to take Your Word and shine it all around
But first help me just to live it Lord
And if I’m doing well help me to never seek a crown
For my reward is giving glory to You.

–Keith Green

SONGS FOR PRAYER

reading for: Tuesday Night, 31 JANUARY

Matthew 5:13-20

Righteousness that God is looking for begins with working out God’s Word in reverent fear and trembling

  • READ

    Today’s reading a part of the famous sermon on the mount (Matt 5-7) that follows last week’s examination of the beatitudes (Matt 5:1-12).

    Today’s reading exhorts us as both salt of the earth (v13) and light of the world (v14). It also highlights being salty and shinning forth as what is natural and right (v13-15). It goes on to say that it is through us being salt and light that others will see and glorify our Heavenly Father (v16).

    But how are we to be salty and bright in a purposeful way?

    Jesus exhorts us to follow Him in fulfilling the laws and commands of the Lord (v17-19); not just in words or teaching but also in practice (c.f. Matt 7:24-27). He would, in the later part of this sermon on the mount, take a closer look at specific examples and practices. However, v17-20 emphasizes the importance of the Lord’s commands and laws (v18) as something that should be revered (v19), meditated upon, understood, practiced, and taught to others in their entirety (in both spirit and truth – John 4). It should not be hypocritical (words without life) or only in form (directed at man or devoid of a posture of worship towards God) (v20). Rather it ought to be held, refined, lived out in all integrity onto God our Lord and Heavenly Father (Matt 5-7).

  • REFLECT

    Jesus fulfilled the Word of the Lord in its fullness. He was the Word that was with God in the beginning that became Flesh (John 1:1-18). Our attitude towards the Word of God is our attitude towards Jesus Himself and by direct relation our attitude towards God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

    Jesus lovingly warns us not to take His Word lightly or pick and choose what we can accept from His Word. No matter how hard and costly it is, Jesus showed us that He first overcame the world (John 16:33) and that His grace is sufficient for us even in the fullness of our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). No matter how impossible and costly it may seem to us, He reminds us that as His redeemed children, that is who we are meant to be – perfect just as He is perfect (Matt 5:48) and that while it is impossible with us, it is possible with God (Phil 4:13).

    Examine your attitude towards His Word. How you have or have not been treating it and living His Word out in fear and trembling? Shun not and despise not the poverty in spirit that His Holy Spirit shows you - for yours is the Kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3)! Shun not the Godly sorrow and mourning for you will be comforted (5:4). Shun not the meek state of your broken and contrite spirit for it is unto such that the Earth will be rendered (5:5). Rejoice upon seeing the hunger and thirst for righteousness rise up within you - you will be filled (5:6).     

    Ask for His help afresh this day and commit to meditating on His Word and working it out in your life with your Life Group and church this year! He is worthy and promises over your life is sure! Let’s seek Him as a precious treasure and give our all for Him.

reading for: Wednesday Night, 1 FEBRUARY

Isaiah 58:1-12

True righteousness is a matter of substance not form

  • READ

    Isaiah 58:1-3 begins with a pronouncement of judgement of rebellion and sin. What was their rebellion and sin? It was for having a form of holiness, religiosity, and righteousness that was without substance. On the outside they seemed to seek Him and to know His ways (v2), they appeared to be a people who would do what is right and follow His commands (v2), outwardly asked God for just judgements, and seemed to want God to come near.

    However, they only did so to appear godly, to receive blessings and favourable responses according to what they wanted (v3) – much like the ‘shopping spirit’ amongst even Christians today who go from place looking for what their itching ears long to hear (2 Tim 4:3) and things purely of their own desires and benefit (the flesh) rather than seeking the heart of God and serving Him.

    This was evidenced by their fruits (motivated not by prayer and holiness towards God but out of pride and other wicked intentions towards one another) that was not in keeping with the Spirit and the will of God (v4-5). Instead, God counsels through His prophet that true fasting ought to turn us away from the ways of our flesh towards His Spirit. It ought to deprive us from feeding our flesh so that we may instead be spent on the things that matter to God (v6-7). On the note of rebellion and sin, while it is easy to categorize and identify rebellion and sins in the things we ought not to do (i.e. v4-5, 9b), it is helpful to categorize these (v6-7, 10) as sins of omission – i.e. God was calling them to do these because it is what they ought to do as His chosen people who have been given His laws, statues, and commands. God was telling His people that by failing to do these things, they had also sinned and rebelled against Him.

    Verses 8-12 generally carry God’s promises and blessings for His people if they truly drew near to Him and worshipped Him in the entirety of their lives. Of note are the strong themes that are reminiscent of the theme in the sermon on the mount that we have been studying. Firstly, their light shining forth (v8a, 10b) connects directly to our call to be the light of the world (Matt 5:13-14). Next, we have righteousness and God’s glory coming forth in our good works (v8b c.f. Matt 5:16).  Then, God promise of responsiveness (v9, c.f. Matt 7:7-12). Followed by God’s assurance of firm foundations in and out of season (v11, c.f. Matt 7:24-27). Finally, verse 12 highlights that such people will go on to do great things for the Kingdom of God in the areas of building, repairing, and restoring. With respect to the opening context of Isaiah 58, God is also cautioning that these blessings will not be attained through a superficial walk with God.

  • REFLECT

    In keeping with our reading of Matthew yesterday, Isaiah 58 emphasizes the importance of putting our faith into practice without cherry picking what commands of the Lord we will follow (Matt 5:18-19). Today’s reading also cautions us from having a superficial walk with God. Worst still is the danger of deceiving ourselves and others that we are having a close walk with God when our faith is actually hollow and stumbling to others (i.e. like whitewashed tombs that people step on and fall into causing great harm in Matthew 23:27).

    With the fall of many ‘great men of god’ in recent times, they reinforce God’s rebuke in today’s passage about having a walk of substance and integrity. Let us commit this 2023 to ever strengthening and deepening our walk with God by following Jesus in the way that He lived out the Word of God in His life. God is preparing a chosen people that would be set apart for the building, raising, repairing, and restoration of His Kingdom (v12). But He will not be mocked or deceived. Only good branches that truly abide in Him can bear fruits that will last. He is preparing a people that would be His salt and light in the world we live in. I pray that we will all respond to that call this day in humble repentance that we may perhaps serve His purposes in our generation. And perhaps one day hear that age old affirmation, “Well done my good and faithful servant!”.

    How might you serve Him with ‘substance’ this week? What is one small practical thing you can do this week to fill your prayer with an attitude or act that delights God?

reading for: Thursday Night, 2 february

1 Corinthians 2:1-16

How much does the Gospel of Christ order our lives?

  • READ

    The way that 1 Corinthians is organized is very apt for understanding today’s scripture reading. Upon receiving news that the Corinthian church was facing problems; Paul wrote this letter to them to define and address the issue they faced, in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to think about and work out all areas of life through the lens of the Gospel (v15). This sound judgement that comes from believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the very wisdom of God that Paul alludes in 2 Corinthians 2:6-16.   

    Our reading today sits within Paul’s response (1 Cor 1-4) to the problem of division in the Corinthian church (see 1 Corinthians 1: 11-12 or last week’s lectionary). What was the Gospel-informed insight that Paul brings up? In 1 Corinthians 2:1-4, Paul calls attention to himself as an example, but only unto Christ and Him crucified which is what Paul’s entire ministry was founded on. He reminded the Corinthians of how he came to them as he preached the Gospel to them – not with human wisdom or eloquence but with weakness, fear, and trembling (v1, 3), and by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power so that their faith would rest not on human wisdom but on God’s power (v4). Paul chose to “only know Christ and Him crucified (v2)” so that the essence of the Gospel and His source of reliance and power would not be obscured.

    To a church that was glorying in worldly wisdom, Paul wanted to show them that if they were followers of Jesus Christ, then the Gospel of Christ demanded a certain kind of ministry – a cross-shaped ministry. When Paul said that he came to them in weakness, fear, and trembling, he was likely drawing their attention to what a cross-shaped ministry looked like. If Christ and the Christ crucified is the message, then ministering with integrity would mean following in Christ’s footsteps to the extent of being despised and looking weak in the eyes of the world relying only in the power of God to breakthrough in their listeners.

    In this manner and others described between chapter 1-4, Paul demonstrated to the Corinthian church how the Gospel of Christ is foundation by which they ought to minister and build upon (1 Cor 3:10-15).

    It is against such a backdrop that Paul goes on to highlight that on the topic of wisdom, there is a Godly wisdom that is visible to the matured in faith through the Spirit of God (v6-16). Paul exhorts them to have the same mind as him because we have the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Godly wisdom is what Paul spoke among the matured (v6) because these are the ones who are ordering their lives in accordance to the Gospel of Christ, who understand it, and who benefit from it. Conversely, people who give in to their flesh and the ways of the world will not see or understand this wisdom and would ultimately amount to nothing (v6, 8-9, 14).    

    In fact, it is in Paul’s heart that we, being informed by the Spirit of God about the mind of Christ, should reign out of this marvellous light that has been placed within us (1 Cor 4:8; Isa 60:1-2; 2 Cor 4:6-18; Romans 8:15-16) rather than continuing to stumble in darkness like those who are still lost.

  • REFLECT

    As followers of Christ, we ought to ask the difficult question of whether we are really following Christ. Today’s reading challenges us to look specifically at the area of wisdom in our lives. How much of our lives is informed by the Gospel of Christ rather than worldly wisdom? Paul exhorts that we ought to intentionally make the Gospel of Christ the lens by which we navigate into every aspect of our lives. With the precious Holy Spirit that resides in us, we have everything needed to live a full life despite the challenges that will come before Christ comes again.

    As I remember my personal application of the daily rhythms of life that we adopted last year as a church, I remember that one of the hardest parts of it thinking ahead into the new day and looking to God for wisdom and help. It is truly not an easy discipline given how we are so used to living our lives our own way and leaning on our own understanding.

    Therefore, pray and ask God for grace and conviction this day even as you embark on a life that is informed by His Holy Spirit. Consider and commit to finding brothers and sisters in Christ that you can journey with in following Christ. Make the primary agenda of your meetings about intentionally following Christ in every aspect of your life in 2023 and hold one another accountable to it. Remember that He is our exceedingly great reward and worthy of it all!

reading for: Friday Night, 3 february

PSALM 112

Blessed are those who fear the Lord

  • READ

    Psalm 112 is a Hebrew alphabet acrostic written with each line corresponding to each of its twenty-two letters like ‘ABC’ in the English language. This is much like its twin Psalm 111 which is written in exact the same acrostic style with corresponding theme or phrases in some of the same verses; Psalm 111 celebrating the God’s great deeds on behalf of His people and Psalm 112 offers wisdom towards the people’s response to God.

    Psalm 112 begins with ‘Hallelujah!’ or ‘Praise the Lord!’ both from the Psalmist as an individual and also extoling others to do the same. This note sets the posture for the Psalm ensuring that the Psalm gives God all the glory and honour for His grace that is manifested in His people. 

    While some scholars are convinced that these two Psalms were composed together, most agree that they were intentionally set side by side in the collection for a purpose and should be view wholistically as such. In fact, they are joined together almost seamlessly with Psalm 111:10 ending with the idea of ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ and Psalm 112 explaining the ‘Blessed’ness of people who fear the Lord.

    The Hebrew word ‘yara’ translated to ‘fear’ in our English language is an excellent one capturing elements of awe, reverent respect, and honour. Further study into its synonyms correspond to ‘love’ (Deut 10:12), ‘cling to’ (Deut 10:20), and ‘serve’ (Deut 6:13; Joshua 24:14 – in the famous ‘as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord’). At its base, the word denotes obedience to God’s divine will for us.

    This is coupled with the Hebrew word ‘ashre’ which is translated to ‘Blessed’ or ‘Happy’ or ‘Content’ is the man who fear the Lord. The word ‘ashre’ however does not mean ‘happy’ or ‘contented’ or ‘blessed’ in the form of shallow short-term pleasure but has a basic meaning of walking a prescribed path and not wavering away from it. It means a deep sense of knowing God’s favour rests upon you because He approves of the way that you live.

    This is brought to an amazing depth when we think about its usage in this Psalm and Jesus’ use of it in the beatitudes. So it is reverent respect and love (yara) that meets with the deep well of God’s favour and approval (ashre) coming together to paint a wonderful picture at the heart of this Psalm. Jesus’ use of ‘Blessed’ in the beatitudes was intentional in holding this picture as well which makes a lot of sense when you see Him turning our attention away from the world’s approval and pointing us to our ‘Father who sees what is done is secret’. 

    Like with the sermon on the mount, this Psalm does not paint a lofty pious religious contentment in the absence of the real struggles and trouble of our time, but rather affirms it even in the midst of darkness (v4a), bad news (v7), normally fearful situations (v8), and adversity (v8). This is further elaborated in other wisdom literature like the book of Job and Jesus’ sermon on the mount and His crucifixion amongst other things in His life.    

    Besides the blessedness which surrounds the people who fear the Lord, the Psalm also gives some insights of how the lives of such a people look like. They ‘delight in His commands’ (v1), ‘are gracious, are ‘upright’ (v2), compassionate, and righteous’ (v4), ‘are generous and lend freely’ (v5), ‘conduct their affairs with justice’ (v5), they trust in the Lord (v7), and ‘freely scatter their gifts to the poor’ (v9).

    Wholistically, the Psalm presents the posture and works of the people of God who are ‘Blessed’ and who will leave a lasting impact forever (v3, 9) comparative to the others who ‘will come to nothing’ (v10).  

  • REFLECT

    While this week’s readings exhort us to painfully examine our lives in light of God’s word, it does so within the loving posture of our Heavenly Father. He reminds us of who we are as His children and the blessings He longs to bestow on us if we would trust Him and follow His ways unwaveringly for He has only good intended for us.

    Let us then not harden our hearts even as the Holy Spirit speaks to us today, for our Heavenly Father is disciplining us as He would His children. Let us begin simply afresh in the poverty and meekness of a vulnerable child recognizing that we have gone astray. He will come quickly as in the prodigal son to show us His deep yet lavish love for us. He is also able to restore in ways beyond our wildest imagination. My prayer is simply that wherever we are, that we would come to Him afresh and that He may open the eyes of our hearts to see and receive the light, love, and grace of the One who calls us and have saved us.

    Oh, blessed are those who fear the Lord!     

Season of EpiphanyCNL