September 21 – How To Obey

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” -  Romans 12:1 (ESV)

While the Bible places a strong emphasis on obedience, it's critical to remember that believers are not justified by obedience. Salvation is a free gift of God, and we can do nothing to merit it. True Christian obedience however, flows from a heart of gratitude for the grace and mercy we have received from the Lord and our response is the worship of obedience. The Greek word for “I appeal” or “I urge” springs from a root which means “to call alongside to help.” In Acts 24:4 it is “beg”; in Act s 27:34 “encourage.”  Jesus used a related word, “comforter” or “helper” in reference to the Holy Spirit. Here Paul was writing as a counselor with full weight of apostleship to his readers. In light of all the spiritual riches we believers enjoy solely as the fruit of God’s grace and mercies, it follows that we owe God our highest form of service which is our act of worshiping God; an act of our spiritual service offered genuinely from our hearts. For those in Christ, our only acceptable worship is to offer ourselves completely in worship to the Lord our God.

 

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December 14 – Praising, Thanking, Sharing

 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” - Hebrews 13:15-16 (NASB)

 

During the days of observing Christ’s birth which we call Christmas we hear about the angels who sang praises to God when Jesus was born. It was a multitude of angels (we don’t know exactly how many but Revelation 5:11 suggests that the number of the angelic host may be too large for the human mind to fathom.). We know that angels do sing praises to God in heaven and the Bible urges us to sing His praises too. That is the message of our verse today. The reason the angels keep singing praises to God is because they know how great and wonderful He is. The more we know about our Lord, the more we will want to praise Him. Let's be watchful during these days of activity before Christmas that we do not let the lights and the beauty of decorations and the crush of commercialism distract us and cause us to forget God's greatness and His love for us. As we sing carols let's be sure to remember to really pour out praise to our God with all our hearts. Let’s make it a time of truly praising and thanking God.

 

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July 22 – Listen First, Then Obey

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” – 1 Samuel 15:22 (ESV)

It is in this history lesson about Israel and their King that we find our promise. Given in today’s verse the promise is timeless in its application. King Saul, the first king of Israel in the time of Samuel the prophet/judge, also became the first king rejected by God for his disobedience to God’s command. The King heard and knew what God wanted of him – “Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.”(1 Samuel 15:18). But Saul saw and wanted some of the banned spoils from the battle. He helped himself and Samuel had to confront him. Trying, as we often do to rationalize our actions, Saul claimed with some excuse of how his disobedience was purposed to offer sacrifices to God. The lesson is clear and a promise from God of what he desires above all else – our obedience. God wants and even commands that we not just hear but listen and obey Him in all things. It is not easy and we need God’s help in order to do it. First we listen, then we do what is obedience. God is our sovereign and He blesses faithful obedience.

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February 26 – Picking the Important Things

“And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. … She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.”   Mark 14:5b-6, 8 (ESV)

Context is important. Jesus is near the end of his ministry on earth. He knows the ultimate purpose of His coming to earth is to be a sacrifice for all people. He will be betrayed by his own, turned over to be executed by Roman crucifixion. He visits friends in Bethany. Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus. Martha is being the perfect host. Mary is overcome with sadness and by her love for Jesus. Perhaps she understands better than others what Jesus is facing. Mary takes very expensive perfumed ointment and anoints Jesus by pouring it on His head. Some, led by Judas were indignant, put-out by Mary’s action. They thought it was wasteful of Mary to do this. “They scolded her.”  But Jesus, knowing why she was doing this defended her actions. He saw it as an expression of love and devotion to Him in light of His approaching death as well as a messianic acclamation. Showing comfort or aid to some out of love for our Lord Jesus brings Him honor and glory. We can trust that God knows our motivations⸺selfish and unselfish⸺He is pleased with our loving sacrifices when they are for His name’s sake. 

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January 22 – Once, Only Once

“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:26-27 (ESV)

What happens to us when we die? Does anyone know? This is a question that concerns many people. We know there is a destination for all. We know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life that will get us to God. With the truth we have in these verses, the realities of what is to come in our after-life, come into focus. We humans are sinful creatures. We were born in that state and we all are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. That is a promise we need to take very seriously. Have we believed in the only way to God? If not our destination is eternal death. If yes, we trust in the fact that Christ was sacrificed once to take away our sins and the sins of all who believe. We can notice the word “once” and what it tells us. It emphasizes the finality and the singleness of Christ’s sacrificial work.  The law that Christ came to fulfill stood in contrast as the Levite Priests repeated their sacrifices over and over. We also note the promise that, the “once”-sacrifice of Christ compares with the “once”-death of each person. 

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December 14 – Praising and Thanking

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”  Hebrews 13:15 (NASB)

Each one of us who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior have a sacrifice we can offer up to God. During the days before Christmas we hear about the angels who sang praises to God when Jesus was born. We know that angels do sing praises to God in heaven and the Bible urges us to sing His praises too. That is the message of our verse today. The reason the angels keep singing praises to God is because they know how great and wonderful He is. The more we know about our Lord, the more we will want to praise Him. Let's be careful during these days of activity before Christmas that we do not let the lights and the beauty of decorations distract us and cause us to forget God's greatness and His love for us. As we sing carols of praise and thanksgiving, let's be sure to remember to really praise our God with all our hearts. It is a wonderful time of the years to continually offer our sacrifices. Let’s make our time of truly praising and thanking God for His wonderful gift of Jesus and eternal life.

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November 19 – Precious In His Sight

“Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones. … To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the Lord.”  Psalm 116:15 & 17  (NASB)

The psalmist recalls how he faced certain death and God acted to save him. God extended his life of service. He vowed to acknowledge the Lord and to pay his vows in the temple. Psalm 116 is a personal song of thanksgiving for deliverance from impending death. While physical death is imminent in respect to the span of all time, we do not dwell on the thought so much. Until we become aware that it is looming. If we have not yet been in that situation we all likely know someone who has or is. The psalmist wrote this song because when he experienced the nearness of death, he cried for help, God pulled him out of danger of death. So, he promises to let all people know how thankful he is. His words of praise to God and the giving of a proper thanksgiving sacrifice are done publicly. Like he stood on the steps leading into the Temple and affirmed his thanks to God to all. We know God cares about each of us, even when physical death comes our way. Our promise is that our life, the life of every believer, is precious to God

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February 22 - Whole and Holy Sacrifice

“I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  - Romans 12:1 (NASB)

The Apostle Paul is urgently telling all who believe in Jesus that God desires us to be a whole sacrifice.  Not just part of ourselves. But our whole being, holding nothing back.  This presentation is to be a living sacrifice.  It is to be a holy sacrifice.  It is to be acceptable to God.  And it will be all that because God is merciful to us.  We really have nothing God needs to accomplish his will.  His desire as revealed in our verse is for us to know that His abundant mercies are for us, and are only available through our service to God.  As the One who has given us new life He requires us to do this. Before our salvation we were dead and could not offer our bodies as living or holy and nothing we did would be acceptable to God.  As regenerated and made new creatures spiritually, we belong to him.  This is our spiritual service and it is a spiritual worship when we obediently present ourselves in this way.  It brings glory to God for it is He who has shown us mercy and given us the life we have in Christ Jesus. 

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January 26 – Perfected For All Time

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, … For by a [that] single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”  - Hebrews 10:12, 14 (ESV)

We might well find in this verse much encouragement for imperfect sinners like us, and our motivation for holiness. Each of us who are in Christ still face the trials of temptations that can lead us off the road and into the ditch full of muck and mire.  The promise of this verse is that we have assurance today that we stand perfected and complete in the eyes of our heavenly Father. This is not because we are perfect now, but exactly because we are “being made holy,” “being sanctified” — that, by faith in God’s promises, we are moving away from our persistent imperfection toward more and more holiness. That’s the kind of faith we can have in the midst of failure and can look to Christ and say, “You have already perfected me in your sight O Lord.” This is not boasting. It is the mourning of the weak who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy and their desperate need of a Savior.  Today, let us all be weak enough to trust this promise and put our faith in Christ in this way. 

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This devotional is from John Piper’s sermon “Perfected for All Time by a Single Offering” 2/16/1997

December 8 – Fulfilling a Promise

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  - John 15:13  (ESV)

Continuing to remember the aftermath of Pearl Harbor – which we reflected on yesterday – we wish to honor the many who gave their lives that day and for many days hence as the they fought the evil threatening the world.  There is no higher expression of love then to give up your very life – to be willing to leave family and friends behind, knowing death is likely and even immanent. To the many brave heroes who have gone before, thank you for your sacrifice of love. Our verse today reminds us of the One who laid down His life for us whom He considered and called friends.  Yes, there is no greater love than what Jesus Christ demonstrated in the ultimate victory over death when he provided a way for us to escape the consequences of rejecting God.  It required his death as he sacrificed His life for the whole world.  That act was the fulfillment of a promise God made as far back as the Garden of Eden.  He considered our need for salvation even then and knew what it required.  A promise fulfilled.  

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August 28 – Not Condemning But Praying

“Who is the one who condemns?  Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Romans 8:34 – (NASB)

Can we imagine that the One who has the right to condemn us for our sin is the One who willingly gave His life and died in our place?  He took on the condemnation we deserved because of our sinful rebellion and rejection of God.  All the fault and consequence of our sin was placed on Him.  And He remains the one who has the right to condemn us but does not because we have believed and accepted by faith, His sacrifice that was for us.  Because He died for us and was raised up to a new life, and then He returned to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father as Jesus, the Son of God, He is the one who intercedes for us on our behalf. The intercession is on-going because Jesus is involved in our lives every day.  He knows the challenges we do and will encounter, and the difficulties and disappointments we face. He is intimately familiar with our failures and on our behalf, He prays for us to God our Father.  We are redeemed by His grace and mercy we are protected by His mighty hand.

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April 17 – With Thankfulness Always

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”  Hebrews 13:15 (NASB)

The book of Hebrews was written for an audience of Jewish believers who had in their midst many that were familiar with the Jewish practices of worship that included sacrifices and offerings according to the Law of Moses. When an animal sacrifice was made it meant giving up something of value.  Our verse today encourages us as Christians to offer to God a sacrifice of praise and this should be something of real value.  Our praise to God must be more then mere recitation of words from a book of prayers.  It must be truly meaningful with real significance for us personally.  It should come from the depths of our hearts and with an attitude of earnestness in spirit.  Yes, our Lord is truly worthy of all the praise which we can honestly give Him.  Let's be sure to be always praising Him in Jesus' name as our verse says.  True thankfulness from the heart is pleasing to our Lord.

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January 11 – A Permanent Place

“For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.  Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” Hebrews 13:14-15 (NIV)

We have a promise that one day, in the future, all that we have now will pass away including where we are living.  What we have is not enduring and it will be replaced with a place yet to come, a new heaven and a new earth and a new city made by God for us that will last forever.  It is a promise that generates in us true believers the desire to offer a sacrifice of praise to our God through our Savior Jesus Christ.  Jesus died on the cross so that all who believe and receive can look forward to living in the new city that is coming.  Jesus made it possible for us to become permanent members of God's family.  It has been promised to us.  Praise comes from our heart and is expressed by our words using our lips to profess to others the name of Jesus our Lord.  When we do we are offering to God a sacrifice of praise.  We are letting others know that we believe in God, the only true God.  

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November 19 – Appeased and Reconciled

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  1 John 4:10 (NASB)

Our verse has a word – propitiation –  that is not commonly used today but it explains a very important reason for us to be thanking God.  Is there anything more basic as a reason for thanking God than the fact that He loved us in sending His Son to die for us on the cross?  Without that we would forever be outside of God's family unable to experience His love in any way.  We would be and remain only under his judgment because of our sin of rebellion and rejection of Him.  So as we go through Thanksgiving week lets be reminded of God's love in providing for us the sacrifice that was required in order for us to be at peace with God.  This is what propitiation is.  Some use the words 'atoning sacrifice' which is also correct.  But the deeper meaning of 'propitiation' is rich as it is an action that appeases God and also reconciles us to Him so that we can be forgiven, adopted and never separated from Him. 

Question: "What is propitiation?"

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July 16 – Praising and Thanking Sacrifice

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”  Hebrews 13:15 (NASB)

This verse come from the letter written to the Hebrews and is in the New Testament.  We don't know for certain who authored this letter but we know it was written to Christians who were of the Jewish race.  In their background were all the ceremonies and sacrifices in the Temple. They were used to bringing their offerings of animals which were killed and who's bodies were burned on the alter.  But now Jesus had died on the cross and these Hebrews had believed in Him as their sacrifice.  They did not need to burn animals on the alter any more.  So our verse today reminds us what God expects of us as we approach Him to worship.  Today when we offer sacrifices, we come to God with our praises and our thanksgivings.  Wherever we worship Him, at church or in our homes, we can speak forth His praise and He accepts that as our true sacrifice to Him.  Today, let's give our Lord a sacrifice by praising and thanking Him for all He has promised us.

April 27 – Imitators of Love

“ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV)

Is it not true that children often imitate their parents? This is a good thing and why it is important that parents set a good example their children can follow. Those who believe in Jesus as their Savior have God as their Father who sets the example for us follow.  As children of God, we should be imitating our Father in heaven. Maybe some would wonder if it is really possible to imitate God.  He is so great, immensely greater than any of us. Can we truly follow His example? Our verse tells us how we can – by living a life of love.  God does love us, His children. He loves people who don't respond to His love. He love everybody and He wants us to do the same. He also enables us to love. We can love others with the ability God gives us.

March 30 – Good Friday – Finished for Us

“Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” John  19:30 (NASB)

All the words which Jesus spoke while he was suffering and dying on the cross are important, but the last words He spoke mean very much to all of us who have believed in Him.  Earlier than these words recorded in the Gospel of John, we learn that Jesus knew that it was done. He said, “knowing that everything had now been finished.” Jesus knew that His death was accomplishing His Father's purpose in sending Him to this earth.  He came to pay the price for bringing us into God's family.  He paid the penalty for our sins when He died for us. So after hanging on the cross for about six hours, enduring the separation from His Father which our sins had caused, He knew that God's purpose was accomplished and so He declared it accomplished.  The way was open for you and for me to come to God to have our sins forgiven. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he was declaring a promise for us. Through His sacrifice and death, we are forgiven.

February 14

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”… “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”  1 John 4:10, 16a (NIV)

Valentine's Day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a celebration observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not a public holiday in most of them. Today, we are going to use Valentine’s Day to remind us of the love of God, our heavenly Father. We do know that God loves us. He demonstrated that in sending His Son to become our Savior. So having accepted Jesus and God’s offer of love, how do we live from then on? Our verse reminds us that we can know and rely on God’s love. We know it is true that when we face serious need in our Christian life, we can look to God for help and we can depend on His constant love? He loves you today my friend. Remember our verses.

November 9

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” Psalm 50:14-15 (NIV)

In Old Testament days God’s people could show their gratitude to Him by bringing thank offerings. These offerings were not burned on the altar but eaten by the offeror and his family. This meal was to honor God for His goodness, and they experienced His closeness. This is what the palmist had in mind as he wrote this promise into the psalm we are looking at today. We honor God when we thank Him for delivering us from trouble.  The promise is clear. When we call upon the Lord to bring us through a dark hour He will be there to help. He will bring us through. So He does deserve to be honored, doesn’t He? Always honor Him by thanking Him.