ResponsiveReiding

For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE

If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.

What do you think of when you hear the word – integrity. If you are like me, you think of the first definition given in most dictionaries: A person of integrity is someone with sound, incorruptible principles. Those who keep to a well defined code of moral values.

Webster’s has two more definitions worth considering. Something has integrity if is sound, or complete. Whole.

When you take all three together, you get a pretty good handle on the theme of the book of James. I’m Reid Ferguson, and integrity is our theme today on Through the Word in 2020 as we consider Luke 20:9–26; Psalm 119:153–160; Hebrews 13:20–James 1:1 and Proverbs 29.

James has always been a controversial book, especially since the Reformation. Martin Luther is reported to have called it an “epistle of straw.” He couldn’t quite wrap his head around its call to right actions when contrasted with the Gospel of grace. I’ll just have to forgive him on that one. In truth, there is no dichotomy between the 2 at all. Not if we think in terms of integrity: That what a person professes to believe and be, ought to be borne out by their actions and lifestyle. That a Christian must have more than his or her theology correct. They need to live it.

Why?

Because there is nothing more demonstrative of Christ Himself, than to be a person of no contradictions. Whole. Entire. Complete.

James has in mind as his audience, Jewish believers who have suffered greatly by being chased out of their native land due to persecution. His remarks are not about mere trials of inconvenience or not getting their preferences. This is about when life as a Christian finds you suffering – really suffering. And, that some of that suffering at the very least – is directly connected to your being a Christian in the first place. It is to such people – not enduring trifles of difficulty, but in some cases bankrupted, robbed of home and possessions, driven from family and all that is familiar, prejudice, denial of employment and for some even physical harm. Truly persecuted, not merely inconvenienced. Those who have been stripped of their rights; with no hope of seeing things set right in their lifetime.

When that is the case, will we live according to our profession – in integrity? Or will we talk the talk, but fail to walk the walk? Is our profession of faith fully integrated into every part of how we think, feel and live?

This is what we see in Jesus don’t we? It is exemplified for us in John 13:1 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

Beloved, our entire salvation rests in the perfect integrity of Jesus Christ. For Him to say, think and do nothing other than who and what he was – the Son of God. His sinlessness. To live with no hint of self-contradiction. Living in absolute harmony inwardly and outwardly.

And that dear one is the very image He is in the process of bringing us to by the work of His Holy Spirit. To be like the one Peter tells us: When he was reviled, did not revile in return; and when he suffered, did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

May we show our – His integrity to the World in our generation.

Think about it the next time you plan to respond to a Facebook post, a tweet, a news commentator’s remarks or some politician’s or pundit’s unfiltered utterances. Show your heart really does entrust your wellbeing to the one who “judges justly.”

Befuddle the World – the way Jesus did.

Integrity stymies the world.

God willing, we’ll be back tomorrow.

For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE

If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.

Acting under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel writers arranged their accounts to emphasize different aspects of Jesus and His ministry.

I want to explore that a bit today on Through the Word in 2020, where our schedule finds us in Hebrews 13:20–21; Isaiah 36–38; Proverbs 28 and Luke 19:45-20:8.

Matthew is bound and determined to prove who Jesus is in the light of the Old Testament. He has been conquered by the love of the King. Once a tax-collector, Matthew wants us to know what a forgiving, gracious, merciful Savior Jesus is to the worst of humanity. No one is too wicked for Jesus Christ to save. Sin has abounded, but in Christ, grace has abounded infinitely more. No less than 12 times he will tell us that Jesus directly fulfilled Scripture prophecies. Jesus’ lineage establishes Him as a rightful heir to David’s throne. His fulfillment of Scripture establishes Him as the promised Messiah. His resurrection, is to His enthronement. And Matthew exposes us to Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom more than any other Gospel. The charge against Him will finally be “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

Mark’s gospel is urgent. His predilection for the word “immediately” jumps off of every page. Jesus is a man, yes, but so much more – he’s the Son of God. He’s not to be taken lightly. He’s not just another religious leader or teacher. He cannot be marginalized. He cannot be ignored. Mankind’s need is urgent. Jesus’ mission is urgent. Jesus’ message is urgent. He acts swiftly, decisively. He has but 3 short years to accomplish all. Eternal matters are at a place of crisis. He calls us to repent and believe with urgency – now!- for “The kingdom of God is at hand” (1:15). The kingdoms of this world are about to meet their end. No one can remain indifferent. He is coming back. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (16:16). The time – is now!

Luke emphasizes Jesus’ most common way of Jesus referring to Himself: The Son of Man. By it, He is constantly reminding us that He did not take on the nature of angels, but of mankind. He comes in the likeness of sinful flesh though He is sinless. He does not appear like the Adam before the Fall – whatever that glory might have looked like. He comes sharing our weaknesses, our griefs, sorrows, aches and pains. He suffers weariness, hunger, abandonment, misunderstanding, thirst, loneliness and whatever else belongs to the human condition. He is a Priest who can have compassion on us knowing the feeling of our infirmities. He did not insulate Himself from us. What a Savior!

John reminds us that in the beginning, the Word, already “was.” This Word, THE Word, was with God – without need for attachment to the created order about to come. This Word, THE Word – was in fact – both with, and was Himself – God. He is the ultimate and complete revelation and communication of – God. He took to Himself a human nature that He might be among us, without destroying us. His body, was the “veil” the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Incarnationally, He tabernacled with us. And since Pentecost He tabernacles in us by His Spirit. But when He returns, He will dwell in the New Temple. He will raise us from the dead and we will become the New Jerusalem. His people in glory. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, even with this much information we have not even begun to imagine what He has prepared for those who love Him. Oh what a Christ we serve!

I’m Reid Ferguson.

God willing, I’ll be back tomorrow.

For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE

If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.

Do you ever worry about what people might be saying about you? The great preacher C.H. Spurgeon once told his pastoral students: “I have one blind eye and one deaf ear and they are the best ear and eye that I have.” That counsel was based on Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 “Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.”

All those in any way in the public eye get all manner of things said about them. Some positive and some negative. And even as private people we may or may not be privy to something said about us – even as others may or may not be privy to what we may have said about them at any given time. Things we might hope would never be repeated in their hearing as having come from us.

And in this day of social media – an incautious and hasty word about someone might get launched into cyber-space, never to be recovered.

Now we cannot spend all of our time worrying about what other people might say about us. That’s obvious. Nor should we. Learning to use our deaf ear and our blind eye might be the very best way to maintain relationships. Everyone slips once and a while. Best to let it go.

And yet one text before us today out of Isaiah 32–35; Luke 19:41–44; Psalm 119:145–152 and Proverbs 27 asks us to think about it at least in one regard. That is found in Hebrews 13:1–19.

I’m Reid Ferguson, and we’ll talk about that today on Through the Word in 2020.

So the question arises, should we ever be concerned about what others might think or say about me? After all, isn’t it only God’s opinion that counts?

Yes, and no.

Any number of passages throughout the Word speak to doing or refraining from things that are shameful both before God, and the community of Believers. When Paul calls out sexual immorality in Corinth he says he does so “to your shame.” And in Ephesians 5 we are told some things are shameful just to talk about. This, in the context of life with other Christians.

Then on the other hand, we ultimately stand only before God to give an answer for our sins. So in that Day, what anyone else thinks is irrelevant.

Then we read something like –Hebrews 13:17 ESV

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

And it raises a fascinating question for each of us to ponder: When your pastors or leaders in the Church pray about you, speak to God about you – do they do it with joy, or grief? And are we aware that such reports – if they are negative are of no “advantage” to us? In other words, there are actual consequences to us when our leaders groan about us before God. What those are, the text does not say. It should be enough that it says it. What they think about us and report back to the Father counts.

To be honest, for most of my Christian life, I haven’t given this reality too much thought. I fear to my own loss. Those who have shepherded my soul in years past have no doubt shed some tears and expressed anxiety over my growth, lack thereof, sins, attitudes and decisions.

I would simply ask you today to consider this reality for your own life in Christ. How do those who keep watch over your soul give an account to the Great Shepherd?

And, it makes me wonder how the Great Shepherd Himself gives an account to the Father regarding me?

It’s really worth considering.

God willing, we’ll be back Monday.

For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE

If you’d like to join us in our journey reading all the way through the Bible this year, drop me a line at reid.ferguson@gmail.com, and I’ll be glad to email back a copy of the reading plan we are using.

The old saying is that an optimist sees the same glass half full, that the pessimist sees half empty. Both in essence are correct. And both are wrong: In that each imagines their particular viewpoint to be the entire story.

So it is the Word of God is forever giving us the whole picture of reality, and not just one side. If we only see a broken, sin-cursed world, but fail to see it the way the seraphim do – in the light of the presence of God, then we cannot comprehend that this very same world is also full of His glory.

Our readings today in Hebrews 7, Luke 17:11-37, Proverbs 20 and especially Isaiah 6-8 are each filled with means to get the fuller picture of reality as God knows it. Not just as we might perceive it from our angle. What Francis Schaeffer used to call “real reality.”

I’m Reid Ferguson, and we’ll talk just a bit about that today on Through the Word in 2020.

Isaiah 6 records one of the most exalted visions of God to be found in the Scripture. A vision which Jesus Himself in John 12:41 says was a vision of His personal glory. And which John, in Revelation 4:8 uses to depict Christ.

It is stunning.

Both Isaiah and John are equally undone by it. It overwhelms them. And it brings much needed perspective to both.

John is in exile in his old age on the island of Patmos. He is the last of the Apostles when it looks like Rome could almost crush Christianity. Isaiah is prophesying to sinful and rebellious Jerusalem as the looming specter of God’s impending judgment grows ever darker and larger. They will fall to Babylon.

Those were real situations. Dire realities. But they weren’t the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Not until God is seen in His place, ruling and reigning over all in holiness, faithfulness and glory can they face the very real disasters they are in the midst of with courage, joy and patience. The light of His glory must shine in our darkness – or we will be overwhelmed.

Now it is in this context that Isaiah receives a most timely word for us in our present context.

In 8:12 we read: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.” And don’t we live in a time when conspiracy theories literally fill the air waves. Even Christian broadcasters and writers are absolutely preoccupied with them. From the New World Order to 911 to the BLM organization, Covid-19 and everything else in between.

Now it isn’t that conspiracies don’t exist. They do. There were genuine conspiracies of power allied to overthrow Jerusalem in Isaiah’s day. And it isn’t that there might not be conspiracies afoot today to challenge our nation, political system, economy and especially the Church. There no doubt are some.

But in light of the vision at the beginning of Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 – those of us who can see these all in the light of Christ – high and lifted up and whose train fills the very temple – do not fear these conspiracies or what else those around us do.

Vs. 13 brings the rest of the picture into view: “But the Lord of hosts, HIM you shall honor as holy. Let HIM be your fear and your dread.”

All of this focus on human, global, political and economic conspiracies miss the great conspiracy – that of the Enemy of our souls. For all of them are doing one thing – making men fear conspiracies, more than or other than – God.

As Jesus told us in Matt. 10 – DON’T fear those – Fear Him!

And if we rightly fear Him, we need fear nothing else.

Think on that today Christian.

God willing, we’ll be back tomorrow.