Today 24 August 2008

And blessed Sunday has come at last. I need this. No matter what we do in our daily practice of prayer, devotions, study, and whatever else we have found to be needful, the gathering together in prayer, praise, study, and the proclamation of God's Word is something we need. I certainly do.

Saturday was a quiet day to rest up from the week, hoping to get a bit of an extra charge for a heavy week that's coming at me. It rained most of the day, causing the cats to spend most of their time snoozing around. Of course, that generally means that their batteries are all charged up around the time we head for bed, and they want us to wake up at 01:00 in the morning and romp with them. I have, so far, resisted the enormous temptation to give them ''flying lessons'' but that day may be approaching.

Dear Wife, the love of my life, has to be at work at 05:00 on Sundays (those of you who think nothing of stopping at a restaurant for your on-the-way-to-church breakfast might give some thought to the fact that your practice means that other people, those who personally would prefer to be in the pew in front of you, have to work. Believe me, we know.). And, as a result, I will be off the church alone, teaching a lesson about living confidently as believers, missing the woman I love.

This morning's reading is Psalms 120, 121, 122, and 123.

Psalm 120

1 In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

Psalm 121

1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

this goes with Psalm 121 nicely

Psalm 122

1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.
5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.

Psalm 123

1 Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
3 Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

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This evening's reading is chapter 6 of the 1st letter to the Corinthians. There is a lot here and I won't touch on all of it. But the points in the first few verses deserve some attention. I am perhaps over-sensitive on this one, but there is a church not very far, perhaps 2 miles, from where I now sit, that ended up in a worldly court battle over money and assets and other matters. Played out in public, in the newspapers, in the courts. Giving a terrible testimony of the Body of Christ. We are expected to do better than that. The local case is only one of several, many of us know of others. Has no one read these passages, or paid them the least attention?

While yesterday's reading made some strong points about church discipline and the behavior and daily habits of Christians and slapped down those who then, and now, want to live a wicked lifestyle while claiming freedom under Grace to live as they wish. While Paul continues some of that here, today, we see some of the 'on the other hand' of that in this section. I have seen some churches where every wrong thing you did (or your father or grandfather or uncle) even back to elementary school, will be held against you forever. And positions of leadership are reserved for those who feel themselves to have on their own merits achieved sanctity. Or who hope that others don't know what they once were like. We once had a pastor in east Tennessee, who would preach on this passage, particularly the first clause in verse 11, and few do. For some reason. It is wise to reflect on what He has done for us. By the way, I note that some of the behavior he is talking about is not only tolerated in all too many churches, but actually celebrated in a few, and such offenders are placed in positions of honor. Not good.

I Corinthians 6

1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.