Daily Devotion - Page 22

Boanerges · 06-05-2008, 02:03 PM

June 5

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Phi_2:12-13)
We have been considering from various perspectives the great truth that God wants us to grow in obedience to His will. The lordship of Jesus makes disobedience unacceptable. "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? " (Luk_6:46). Also, our Lord taught His early disciples to be instructing all future disciples concerning obedience: "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Mat_28:20). Our present passage offers profound insight on this matter by describing God working in us unto obedience. "It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
This subject is introduced by a call to "work out your own salvation." Notice, we are not called to work for our salvation. Salvation is a gift of God's grace, freely received by faith. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph_2:8-9). Still, this gift of salvation that God has placed within us by His grace is to be worked out (developed outwardly) unto an obedient life, a life that fulfills "His good pleasure."
This calling is to be approached in "fear and trembling." Initially, our temptation may be to approach this request with unabashed self-confidence. Eventually, we begin to understand that we must respond in "fear" [a reverential awe] and "trembling" (a profound sense of inadequacy). The next phrase explains why we are to engage this responsibility with such unusual attitudes: "for it is God who works in you." If the salvation that God has placed in our inner man is to ever become a visible walk that pleases Him, it will always be a result of us allowing Him to do an ongoing work deep within us. "I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts . . . you are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart" (Jer_31:33 and 2Co_3:3). This is the wonder of true Christian living. It is based upon God working within our hearts.

Dear Lord, I praise You for the precious gift of salvation You have poured into my heart. I earnestly desire that this gift be worked outwardly unto a life that is pleasing to You. Lord, please touch and shape the depths of my heart that I may obey You in all things, in Jesus name, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-06-2008, 02:04 PM

June 6

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Phi_2:12-13)
Again, our meditation is from Phi_2:12-13. Yesterday, we saw that God must be allowed to work within our hearts, if we are to walk in obedience. "It is God who works in you . . . for His good pleasure." Today, we will consider the extent to which He desires to work: "both to will and to do." In order to fully obey the Lord, we need His work within us for both the willing and the doing.
First, the Lord wants to affect our willingness to obey Him (to fulfill "His good pleasure"). So, He invites us into His word to learn of His will. "Oh, that My people would listen to Me . . . [and] walk in My ways!" (Psa_81:13). Then, His word goes to work within our hearts, convicting us of our need to obey it. "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (Jam_1:22). All the while, He is nurturing in us a love for His word. "Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold!" (Psa_119:127). Increasingly, we become willing to (we desire to) obey His word. "I delight to do Your will, O my God" (Psa_40:8).
After working in our hearts a willingness to obey Him, the Lord also wants to work in us until we are doing His will. Yes, willing and doing are two different matters. We easily forget this distinction. We wrongly assume that once the willingness is present, the doing will inevitably follow. Jesus revealed the fallacy of this thinking in a well-known warning to His disciples. "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mat_26:41). Even when our hearts are willing to obey, our flesh is inadequate to bring the willingness on to obedience. Thus, we are to be alert to our need for prayer that we might obey and not yield to temptation. The word even teaches us how to cry out to God for the internal inclination from Him that we need to actually obey His will. "Make me walk in the path of Your commandments . . . Incline my heart to Your testimonies" (Psa_119:35-36).

Dear gracious Lord, how wonderful You are to want to work in me unto obedience. What a gift of Your grace that You desire comprehensive involvement in this vital process — from the willing to the doing. Lord, draw me day by day to Your word. Work in me a growing willingness to obey You. Also, strengthen me to actually do Your will, in Jesus name, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-07-2008, 03:16 PM

June 7

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will. (Heb_13:20-21)
These powerful verses continue our inquiry concerning a life of obedience. They conclude with what results when God is allowed to do His work in our lives. We become "complete in every good work to do His will." This hope is made available to us by "the God of peace."
We all started out in life at war with God. Although we may not have been aware of this fact, we were enemies of God: "You . . . were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works" (Col_1:21). We were disobedient by our very nature: "the sons of disobedience . . . by nature children of wrath" (Eph_2:2-3). Yet, through His Son, God reached out to offer us peace. "For He Himself is our peace, who . . . abolished in His flesh the enmity . . . making peace . . . through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity" (Eph_2:14-16). This sacrifice on the cross was effective, because the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead with victory over sin and death: "the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead."
At the cross of Christ, the blood was shed that brings eternal blessings to all who believe in Him: "through the blood of the everlasting covenant." The Lord promised these eternal benefits to His people through the prophets of old. "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me . . . Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them" (Jer_32:40 and Eze_37:26).
The blood of the new covenant of grace secures these benefits: "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" (Luk_22:20). This shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is able to cleanse and forgive forever all who humbly trust in Him. Also, that shed blood of the new covenant (God's new arrangement for living) supplies the adequacy we need from God for the obedient life He has called us to live: "Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant" (2Co_3:5-6).

Dear God of peace, I praise You for the shed blood of Jesus, changing me from Your enemy to Your friend. I thank You for also making obedience available through this new covenant of grace. I humbly ask that You teach me to live in dependence upon Your sufficiency, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-08-2008, 10:34 PM

June 8

Now may the God of peace . . . make you complete in every good work to do His will. (Heb_13:20-21)
Again, our devotional study is from Hebrews 13:20-21. In our previous meditation, we saw that the God of peace makes obedience available through the shed blood of the crucified, risen Christ. That shed blood forgives our sins, making friends out of formerly disobedient enemies. Furthermore, that shed blood establishes the new covenant of grace, which supplies God's sufficiency for all our needs, including, the developing of an obedient life.
Now, we will reflect upon God being the one who uses His heavenly resources to equip us to do His will. What a hope and joy this is! God Himself is willing to undertake the task of shaping us into His obedient servants: "Now may the God of peace . . . make you complete in every good work to do His will."
This term, "complete," is exceedingly insightful. It speaks of equipping people for their intended task, getting them ready to do what they are called to do. To equip means to furnish whatever qualities are necessary to perform the task at hand. To equip means to supply whatever is needed for an assigned purpose. Our calling and purpose in the will of God is that we engage in a great variety of good works. God is willing to equip us "in every good work to do His will."
Long ago, David was inspired of the Holy Spirit to speak boldly in similar terms. "The LORD will perfect that which concerns me" (Psa_138:8). In light of David's calling to obedience (and our own calling to the same), many things concern us. We are called to serve, to sacrifice, to pray, to worship, to love, to evangelize, to edify — and the list continues. How are we to expect progress in such a broad range of obedience? Our confidence is that "The LORD will perfect that which concerns [us]."
As we have asked previously, is this work of God to equip us unto obedience an automatic issue? Not at all! Remember, we can resist (Act_7:51), quench (1Th_5:19), and grieve (Eph_4:30) the work of the Spirit of grace in our lives. So what is to be our response? Since the Lord is the one who must be equipping us to do His will, we are to be seeking Him. We are to be humbly dependent upon Him. We must not look to ourselves, to formulas, or to any other hope.

O God of peace, please do what only You can do. Equip me to obey You in every type of good work that is in Your will. I do not have what it takes to fulfill Your will for me. I often put my hope in vain places. Lord, I now look to You alone, in Jesus name, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-09-2008, 03:11 PM

June 9

Now may the God of peace . . . make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb_13:20-21)
Once again, our attention is focused upon Hebrews 13:20-21. In the two previous devotionals, we saw that the God of peace makes obedience available to us through the blood of Christ and then equips us to do His will. Now we will see that this involves God working in us what pleases Him.
Obedience is about pleasing God, doing "what is well pleasing in His sight." This is why Christ died for us. "He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2Co_5:15). Living to please self is the ultimate disobedience to God. As God's children, we want to live for His approval. "Walk as children of light . . . proving what is acceptable to the Lord" (Eph_5:8-10).
The means ordained for us to actually live pleasing in His sight is God at work in us: "the God of peace . . . working in you what is well pleasing in His sight." We cannot properly live obedient, pleasing lives for God, unless we look to the Lord to be working within us. If we are to be faithful representatives of the Lord here on earth, we need Him working through us. "Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2Co_5:20). This is how the early church effectively pleased the Lord in their service. "For He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles" (Gal_2:8).
Ultimately, pleasing God by doing His will is an internal matter of the heart. "That He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints" (1Th_3:13). When our Lord returns, He wants to find obedient children. He wants His followers to be "blameless in holiness before our God and Father." This is only possible as we allow our God to do a spiritually stabilizing work deep within us: "That He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness."
Not surprisingly, all of this working of God within us is done "through Jesus Christ." It is all based upon who Jesus is, all that He has done for us, and all that He alone can accomplish as He lives in us!

Lord God of peace, I long to live pleasing in Your sight, holy and true. Please do Your effective work deep within my heart, through Jesus Christ, my Lord, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-10-2008, 02:42 PM

June 10

God Glorified by Working Obedience in Us
Now may the God of peace . . . make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb_13:20-21)
Let's make one more visit to these tremendous words in Hebrews 13:20-21. When the Lord works in us unto obedience ("what is well pleasing in His sight"), He Himself is the one who appropriately receives the glory ("to whom be glory forever and ever").
Throughout eternity, God is to be glorified and magnified by all. "I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!' And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! " (Rev_5:11-13).
Here in the midst of time and space, God is also to be glorified in and through our lives. "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1Co_10:31). That which the Lord wants us to do for His glory is clearly revealed in His commands. In the New Testament, our Lord commands His new covenant servants in many areas. He calls us to genuine love, godly service, earnest prayer, and habitual hospitality: "Let love be without hypocrisy . . . serving the Lord . . . continuing steadfastly in prayer . . . given to hospitality" (Rom_12:9, Rom_12:11-13). He instructs us to be truthful, hard-working, kind, and forgiving, "each one speak truth with his neighbor . . . let him labor, working with his hands what is good . . . be kind to one another . . . forgiving one another" (Eph_4:25, Eph_4:28, Eph_4:32).
These commands are the things that are "well pleasing in His sight." These are also the things that He wants to bring forth by His work in us: "working in you what is well pleasing in His sight." When we seek the Lord to do such work in and through us, He is certainly the one who should get all the glory and honor.

Glorious God of peace, may You be glorified in my life by making me complete in every good work to do Your will, working in me what is well pleasing in Your sight through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-11-2008, 02:00 PM

June 11

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace . . . that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom_6:14 and Rom_8:4)
Before we leave this vital subject of obedience, let's reflect upon how it is related to God's grace. Various key passages that we have examined previously can help us accomplish this goal.
Rom_6:14 is such a passage. Herein, we are told how to get out from under the domination of sin. "For sin shall not have dominion over you." Anyone who is ruled by sin is living in disobedience. Sin and disobedience are virtually synonymous. Grace is the path of deliverance from disobedience. "For you are not under law but under grace." Sin is transgression of the law of God. The law can call us to the holy standards of God, but the law cannot help us to obey those perfect standards. "For the law made nothing perfect" (Heb_7:19). Grace is God's resource for us to find forgiveness of sin (thus rescuing us from the dominating penalty of sin): "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph_1:7). Grace is also God's strength for living daily in victory over sin (thereby rescuing us from dominating influence of sin): "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2Ti_2:1).
Romans 8:4 is another passage that indicates the connection between obedience and grace. The opening words address a primary reason why Christ died on the cross: "that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us." It is God's desire that the holy demands of the law be increasingly lived out in our lives. This would amount to a life of obedience. The law itself could never produce this. "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom_8:3). What God's law could not do (because of man's inability to live up to it), God did through His Son. Now, by means of all that Christ has provided for us, obedience is available to us. Who is it that experiences this available obedience? Those who "do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Christians who face each day by the flesh only access the carnal resources of natural man. On the other hand, those who address the daily issues of life in dependence upon the Spirit draw upon the grace resources of a supernatural God.

Holy and gracious Father, I praise Your name that grace is the path to obedience. In light of my inadequacy, no other approach could ever be sufficient. Once again, I renounce my flesh and look to the work of Your Spirit, fulfilling Your righteous requirements in my life, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-12-2008, 01:50 PM

June 12

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? . . . Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. (Gal_3:3 and 2Co_3:5)
Once again, let's reflect on previously studied passages that show how obedience to God is related to His grace. Galatians 3:3 fits in this helpful category.
Our beginning with God was brought about by the work of His Spirit. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Tit_3:5). We humbly admitted our sins, casting ourselves upon the mercy of God. The Holy Spirit brought us new birth, new life. This work of the Spirit is linked to the grace of God later in this same sentence: "that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Tit_3:7). Thus, starting out with God is related to His Spirit applying His grace to our need.
Now, having experienced spiritual birth by the Spirit (by grace), would we be so foolish as to think that we could be spiritually developed by the flesh (by mere human activity)? "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? " The only way that spiritual growth can follow spiritual birth is by the work of the Holy Spirit (that is, by the grace of God continuing to impact our lives). These same terms are the only explanation for the development of obedience in the life of a child of God. It must come from the Spirit applying grace to our hearts. "It is good that the heart be established by grace" (Heb_13:9).
2Co_3:5 is another passage that carries this same message about obedience. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God." We are hereby reminded that Christians are not the source of any godliness that is to develop in their lives. This would include obedience. We do not have within our own resources what it takes to produce an obedient life. Yet, we do have available to us daily all that we need to grow in pleasing God and doing His will. God is to be our source always for all things spiritual. How do we draw upon His comprehensive sufficiency? Humbly depend upon Him. God pours grace into the humble heart (Jam_4:6), and faith accesses grace (Rom_5:2).

Heavenly Father, would You develop obedience in me the same way You brought new life to me — by Your Spirit, by Your grace. I again confess my need for Your sufficient resources for growing in obedience, and I rely on You, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-13-2008, 02:05 PM

June 13

The Better Aspects of the New Covenant of Grace
He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." (Heb_8:6-8)
These verses contrast the old covenant of law ("that first covenant") with the new covenant of grace ("a second"). The old covenant of law is good, but the new covenant of grace is far better. The law is ordained of God, but it can never bring to people what God desires for them to experience.
The law is good, but only if it used properly. "We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners" (1Ti_1:8-9). The lawful use of God's law pertains to the unrighteous, the rebellious. The law is not designed to give people a righteous standing in God's sight (justification). "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ" (Gal_2:16). Nor is the law intended for developing a godly walk (sanctification) in those who are justified through faith in Christ. "For the law made nothing perfect" (Heb_7:19). The proper use of the law is to lead people to the grace of God found in Jesus Christ. "The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ" (Gal_3:24).
Grace is far better than law. If the law was without lack, then God would never have sent His Son to die for the establishing of a new covenant. "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second." Since the law was lacking (regarding justification and sanctification), God's plan included the new covenant of grace. "Because finding fault with them, He says: 'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant'." The new covenant of grace has Jesus, the giver of life, as the Mediator. "He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant." This new covenant also has greater promises than the law: "a better covenant, which was established on better promises." In the days ahead, we will examine the better aspects of the grace of God.

Dear Father, I agree with You that Your law is good. It tutored me to Your magnificent grace. Lord, teach me the better aspects of Your grace, that I might fully embrace all that You want to accomplish in and through my life, in Jesus name, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

Boanerges · 06-14-2008, 04:39 PM

June 14

"You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" . . . by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant . . . Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them. (Heb_7:21-22, Heb_7:25)
One of the better aspects of the new covenant of grace is Jesus, our High Priest. The priests under the law were men who served for a limited time and then died. Under grace, our High Priest serves forever. Jesus received His priesthood "not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life" (Heb_7:16).
The priests under the law were sons of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. Each served as a brief reminder of the perfect priest who would someday bring a better covenant than the law. "Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? " (Heb_7:11). This was a temporary priesthood, requiring numerous priests. "And there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing" (Heb_7:23). The priesthood of Jesus would never have to be transferred to another because he was the eternal Son of God. "But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood" (Heb_7:24).
Jesus, our eternal High Priest, was a priest after the order of Melchizedek. "For this Melchizedek . . . without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually" (Heb_7:1-3). Melchizedek was the one who brought bread and wine to Abraham, when he returned victorious from battle (see Genesis 14). There was no genealogy for Melchizedek, no record of the beginning or ending of his days of service. In this, he was like the Son of God: eternal. Thus, he pictured Jesus' priesthood: eternal. This makes Jesus (the provider of grace) a better High Priest than those who served under the law. "By so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant."
Now, the one who died for us (to forgive our sins) is ever praying for us (that we might be thoroughly rescued from all else that threatens us). "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them."

Lord Jesus, my great High Priest, I bow to You as the eternal one, whose priesthood never ends. I rest in Your interceding prayers for me today, that I might be delivered from all that would come against me, Amen.

Bob Hoekstra

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