Year 2 Day 169
Pray (ACts) Read - John 1v43-51 Message - Scott Woodburn You may have noticed that John talks about an Apostle called Nathanael while the other Gospels talk about Bartholomew. What do we do with this? Who should we trust? The issue disappears when we give the Apostle his full title - Nathanael Bar Tolmai. Nathanael is the son of Tolmai and so regardless of whether we talk about Nathanael or Bartholomew, we are talking about the same person. Aside from a discussion around his name, we don’t have too much else to say about Nathanael. We know that he was from Cana in Galilee (John 21v2) but after the first chapter of John little else is said. Yet what we do learn is that Nathanael was without guile. We may know little about him but we can say for sure he wasn’t cunning or deceitful. Philip had come to Nathanael and said “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (v45) with Nathanael’s response being “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (v46). Nathanael didn’t dress up his words nor did he hide his feelings. Nazareth was an insignificant place - could the Messiah really have come from there? Philip invited Nathanael to see for himself and as he approached Jesus the Lord declared “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (v47). Jacob had used guile to deceive his father and win Esau’s birthright, but Nathanael wasn’t such an individual. Christ acknowledges him as a straightforward and honest man. Nathanael was amazed by Christ’s knowledge of him and declared in response “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (v48-49) Jesus then promised that Nathanael would “see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (v51) If Nathanael lacked the guile of Jacob he would also see the reality of Jacob’s vision. Jacob saw a ladder from heaven to earth with the angels of God going up and down (Genesis 28v12), Nathanael would come to realise that Christ is the ladder of Jacob’s dream. He is the one sent from heaven to earth and He is the only way for sinful humanity to reach glory. Nathanael’s life would never be the same again. He would continue to preach the truth of Christ and would lose his life because he would not and could not deny Jesus. It has been said that in an age of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. I believe we find ourselves in such an age. Good is called evil and evil is called good. Truth is what the spirit of the age declares it to be and woe betide anyone who speaks against it. In such an age may our lips be found without deceit and speaking the truth in love may we share the Gospel with the lost. Christ is Jacob’s ladder, a Saviour without guile or cunning, the Word of God come in the flesh. As the Apostle would write “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1v1-2) Listen to Him! Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q54 What is required in the third commandment? The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works.
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Year 2 Day 168
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 1:19-20 Message - Alan Burke How good are you at remembering, those special dates like anniversaries, birthdays, important milestones in the life of those whom you know and love? If it wasn’t for my calendar I would be useless at remembering. When we say that ‘we’ve just remembered’, it usually means that either we have forgotten, it’s slipped our minds, or that we have recalled to mind something. Here as we are told that the ‘Lord remembered her’, it’s not that the Lord had forgotten, it had slipped his mind or that he had recalled to mind Hannah. Rather when we are told in scripture that the Lord remembered, it means that the Lord is acting according to his covenant promises. Here Elkanah knew Hannah and the Lord remembered his covenant promises and acted accordingly. For the Lord had covenanted himself to his people, as we are told he ‘remembered’ Hannah it was ultimately that he was acting according to his covenant that he had made and was going to use Hannah as part of his plans and purposes in redemptive history. At a time when ‘every man did what was right in his own eyes’ (Jdg 21:25) the Lord God was at work and he was about to use this faithful couple who came to Shiloh to worship year after year (1:3) for his purposes. The part that Hannah and Elkanah would play in redemptive history was small but it was another step closer to the coming of the Messiah as the Lord remembered. The Lord gave Hannah the son that she had so longed for, Samuel. In Samuel God was giving to Israel a man would lead them in the midst of a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes to bring about his chosen king. The Lord in this was keeping his covenant promises to his people, for the Lord had promised never to forget or forsake his people, that all the earth would be blessed though them, (Lev. 26:45; Ps. 105:8, Gen. 12:1–3). The Lord Remembering Hannah, giving Samuel to her, he was also preserving his people, for in Samuel God would have a leader, who would help institute the monarchy that would ultimately give us Jesus, the true Saviour and Preserver of Israel (Acts 13:23). God at work, for God had not forgotten his people nor his promises, it may have seemed to Elkanah, Hannah and all the godly remnant that God had abandoned them but God was there at work, even when he seemed to be absent it was at work for our good and his glory. And today if we know the Lord Jesus, if we have trusted in him for salvation the Lord will never fail to remember us. When we stand before him when the day of judgement comes, although we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God we know that we are justified by his grace as a gift though the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:23-24) Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q 53 Which is the third commandment? The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (Exod. 20:7) Year 2 Day 166
Pray (ACts) Read - John 12v20-26 Message - Scott Woodburn Have you ever heard of Joe Hanna? If you have made Ballynahinch your home then I’m sure the name will ring a bell. To my shame it took me years before I knew where Joe Hanna’s shop was. I’d heard the name and I’d heard people refer to “Joe Hanna’s” but I honestly had no clue as to what or where they were talking about. Then one day as I was sitting in traffic my eyes rested upon a sign above a shop that said in big white writing “JOE HANNA’S” Finally the penny dropped! None of us want to be considered foolish or a bit slow on the uptake, but honestly we’ll all have moments were we are as thick as champ. The Apostle Philip was one of the Lord’s first disciples. He was from the town of Bethsaida along with Andrew and Peter (John 1v44) and introduced Nathanael Bartholomew to Jesus (John 1v45). We shouldn’t confuse him with Philip the Deacon who we meet in the book of Acts. Philip lives and works and walks and talks with Jesus and yet at times he is slow to see what is before his eyes. It is Philip who calculates the extraordinary cost of feeding five thousand people without remembering the extraordinary power of Christ (John 6v7). It is Philip who doesn’t take the Greeks straight to Jesus but instead checks with Andrew first (John 12v22). It is Philip who wants to see the Father without realising that in Christ, he already has (John 14v8-9). Poor Philip! We would never make such mistakes! Well, actually, yes we would and yes we do. Consider your Christian life. You’ve heard thousands of sermons and sat in hours of bible studies but still you don’t really grasp the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Why do we baptise our children? If God is sovereign why do we pray? Did Christ die for everyone? Will there be animals in heaven? If I die today do I sleep in the grave? So many questions and truth be told we don’t always have the answers. This devotion isn’t to humiliate you but instead to encourage. The Lord does not call us to omniscience - God alone knows all things and you never will. Nor is God’s call dependent upon our Scriptural knowledge with only the real experts getting to heaven. God calls men and women at all ages and stages. The most educated individuals on planet earth have received Christ and they are joined by others who struggle to write their own names. Yes we are to attend to the Scriptures and to delight in truth, but if you ever believe that you have mastered the Bible and know everything then you are a fool. The Spirit leads us into all truth and yet at the same time we are human and fail to see what is at the end of our nose. Philip has been described as timid, retiring and cautious yet his life was taken from him because he preached Christ. He may not have always seen what was in front of him, but today he dwells in glory and sees Jesus. Brothers and sisters, may we search the Scriptures daily like the eager Bereans in Acts 17. May we listen well to sermons and examine God’s Word to ensure truth has been preached. Equally may we not grow despondent when we struggle to understand what we have heard or forget what we once knew. There will be days that we will know all too well the limits of our humanity and so on such days may we be like the Greeks who once came to Philip and said “we wish to see Jesus.” Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q52 What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment? The reasons annexed to the second commandment are, God’s sovereignty over us, his propriety in us, and the zeal he hath to his own worship. Year 2 Day 165
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 1:9-17, Hebrews 10:11 Message - Alan Burke Every man did what was right in his own eyes, remember that’s the context of what is happening here. It was the time of the judges, the spiritual rot impacted every area of society and and impacted those who were to lead God’s people in the worship of him. When Hannah came to pray we are told some things that should strike us. Firstly as we are told after eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up to pray, while Eli was sitting. Hannah standing, Eli sitting, it doesn’t seem like a big deal but Eli was the priest, he was meant to be overseeing the Tabernacle, but instead we have him as an old man sitting in the corner so he could watch what was going on and Hannah standing to pray. The contrast between the two, one sitting the other standing is to make point, Eli is not doing what he should be, he’s all the trappings of spiritual leadership but he’s not doing what he should. Rather as the high priest he should be repeating the sacrifices, ministering day after day, the author of Hebrews (10:11) makes the point that the priest can never sit because their job is never done. Yet Eli is sitting, whereas Hannah, is coming before the Lord Almighty in prayer. Secondly look at Eli’s observation of Hannah as she prayed in her heart and her lips were moving but her voice was not hear (13), there Eli though she was drunk. Now when was the last time you seen a drunk person? If this happened today most people in the land we live in would have some idea that Hannah wasn’t drunk and she was in fact praying, but Eli didn’t. The sight before him is so unfamiliar to him as he watches on he sees a drunk person because prayer in the temple is so strange and foreign to him he didn’t know what he was looking at. It’s like a minister not knowing what prayer was like, Eli was more familiar to drunkenness than prayer. We may look around and see the spiritual rot of the country we live in take hold, it seems that every person does what is right in their own eyes but in reality we have nothing on the people of God and Shiloh in the days of the Judges. It was supposed to be the centre of religious life, a place of pilgrimage for the people of God but it was a shell of its former glory. Shiloh had become a spiritual desert like the rest of Israel. What’s the point in this, well it’s not only that Hannah was physically barren but the greater reality was the story of the spiritual barrenness of the people of God. In chapter three we learn that because of their apostasy, how they had turned from the Lord that the Word of the Lord was rare and there were few visions in those days (1 Sam 3:1).But in the midst of it all, God was at work just as he is today. As we close we can see the spiritual barrenness in Israel at the time in their High Priest Eli, he should have been the spiritual leader of the people of God. No matter how dire Eli was, no matter how rubbish, he was the priest, he was the anointed mediator between God and his people, a role that has been filled by the coming of the Lord Jesus, our great high priest, who unlike Eli can sit, and is seated for he has offered a once and all sacrifice for sin. His work is done, and what is more he can sympathise with our weakness, we can come before him and pour our our griefs and sorrows to him, he can handle our tears, and he is at work in the midst of it all even though nothing may seem further from the truth. The place we are to come is to our God through Christ our Saviour. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q 51 What is forbidden in the second commandment? The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images, (Deut. 4:15–19, Exod. 32:5,8) or any other way not appointed in his Word. (Deut. 12:31–32) Year 2 Day 164
Pray (ACts) Read - John 21v20-25 Message - Scott Woodburn John and his brother James would receive the nickname “Boanerges” from Jesus, which means “sons of thunder”. In their lives they would show a thunderous side with behaviour that could be described as hasty or reckless. But Jesus did not give them this title because of their negative attributes. Instead he knew their hearts and how these two impulsive young brothers would go on to be thunderous in their defence of the Gospel. John isn’t just remembered as one of the sons of thunder. He is the author of five New Testament books, he was the youngest disciple and it is believed he lived the longest. Indeed it appears that John was the only Apostle who wasn’t murdered for his faith. With that said, tradition suggests that John knew great hardship in his life, including being thrown into boiling oil which likely scarred him horrendously. John is remembered too for being called “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Throughout the Gospel of John, John is given this title multiple times. If we are in any doubt as to who the beloved disciple is, the final verses of John tell us. We read that Peter is with Jesus and sees the beloved disciple following them. This beloved disciple is the one who had been beside Jesus at the supper (John 13v23) and enquired about his betrayal (v20). This beloved disciple is the same one who wrote the Gospel of John (v24). So John is the disciple whom Jesus loved, but doesn’t that mean that the Lord played favourites? Did he love John but not the other disciples? And if this is the case does he love me more than you? Brothers and sisters, these questions are not worth our time. There is no doubt that the friendship between Christ and John was deeper than His friendship with the other eleven. John sat next to Jesus at the last supper and he was entrusted with the care of Mary after the Lord’s death (John 19v26-27). But equally we must declare that the Lord Jesus loves every member of His church. He intercedes for every member of His bride. He died for every sin of everyone of His elect children. John’s phrase isn’t from a place of arrogance. He doesn’t say “I’m the one who loved Jesus the best. Look at me!” Nor does he shout “I knew Him better than everyone else!” Instead as we read John’s description of himself, he focuses our attention on the extraordinary fact that he was loved by Christ. He doesn’t write boastfully, instead as we read this self-description we realise it comes from a place of awe. It should be the attitude of every sinner who understands the extraordinary grace of God. As you read this I’m certain that you are well aware of your failures. Your Christian life hasn’t been a glorious adventure. Your children anger you. Your spouse doesn’t understand you. You don’t pray the way you once did. You get bored quickly in church. You don’t evangelise. You don’t love your neighbour. You get excited by gossip. You say things in WhatsApp groups that you really shouldn’t. What a wretch you are! Me too! Who will rescue us from this body of death? Jesus Christ is the one, the friend and Saviour of sinners. Brothers and sisters, let us turn in repentance to the Lord today. May He warm our cold hearts and forgive us our wretchedness. He is the one who while we were still sinners died for the ungodly. Regardless of what others call you and what you call yourself, by faith in Jesus, you are loved. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2v4-5) Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q50 What is required in the second commandment? The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his Word. Year 2 Day 163
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 1:4-11 Message - Alan Burke ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me’. We’ve heard it, said it but it’s nonsense, for words can hurt us deeply. We were introduced the the certain man, Elkanah (1) who year after year went up to worship and sacrifice to the Lord, taking his children and his two wives. We had already been told Hannah had no children but now we learn the reason for that, “the Lord had closed her womb” (5). It was likely that Hannah was Elkanah’s sweetheart and took a second wife when she was unable to have children. Even so it is clear that he loved her, he gave the double portion the most favoured part to her but things were far from idillic for Hannah. She was tortured, not physically but emotionally by Elkanah’s other wife because the Lord had closed her womb. Hannah had words thrown at her and knew the reality of how harsh they could be, the constant the baiting, the winding, the slagging went on year after year whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord. It was so bad that she was left weeping and would not eat. Then we are told after eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up, while Eli was sitting, she wept her wee heart out and praying to the Lord. The heartbreak of Hannah in this is clear, she’s weeping in prayer, she makes a vow. As many women and men have done since her time, Hannah took her grief to the house of the Lord, “in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore” (10). This is a prayer of desperation. She, who ached for a child even to the point of not eating, was willing to give up this child to the service of the Lord just for the privilege of bearing the child. We may read this and find it surprising how Hannah who longs so much for a child would be to do this. But in her waiting, with all her praying, God was bringing her to the place where she was willing to give up the child as the “faithful priest” that God raises up (2:35). In one of Israel’s most desperate moments, it was the selflessness and righteousness of Hannah that saved the day. This wasn’t Hannah making a deal with God, she wasn’t trying to twist his arm so she would get what she wanted. Rather she was forfeiting the joys of parenting she longed for giving this child to God. The Lord was at work, I’m sure Hannah at the time did not see it but he was using what she faced for his glory. In her suffering, God was at work, as she was tormented, baited, tortured by Peninnah God was at work. In what we face, we may never fully understand why we go through it, we may wonder to ourselves ‘Why me?’, but God is at work in all that we face, our suffering is never wasted. I want to take you to the New Testament, John 9:1-4, where we read "As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”. The disciples assumed that the cause of this man’s blindness was his sin or his parents. But Jesus makes it clear it was for another reason, that the works of God might be displayed. When we suffer although we may not understand it, we ask ‘Why me?’, God is ultimately using it for his glory like this man. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q 49 Which is the second commandment? The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thy self to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exod. 20:4–6) |
Alan
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