Category: A Moment with the Master

God’s mercy is unfathomable. God is more merciful than we can comprehend and certainly more merciful than we deserve. But God’s mercy does not negate His righteous judgment. And God’s mercy in no way excuses sinful rebellion. Nahum 1:3 says, “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.” Lest we think God overlooks sin because He is longsuffering, Nahum underscores God’s judgment on unrepentant sinners. Nahum doesn’t just say the guilty will be held accountable; he exclaims “by no means” will the guilty be cleared.

God’s mercy is a tremendous gift, but it is not a gift we should presume upon. It also is not an unconditional gift. God’s mercy extends to those who trust Him, repent of their sin, and faithfully follow Him. For those who persist in their rebellion (like the Ninevites Nahum addressed), their guilt will by no means be cleared, and they will face God’s wrathful judgment.

Ephesus was a city steeped in paganism and superstition. Many of the citizens participated in forms of magic. But when the gospel came, they learned the error of their dark practices, and they made the choice to change their ways. And their change was not half-hearted. In Acts 19:19 the Bible tells us that, “…a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.”

This action shows the repentance and devotion of the Ephesians. First, their repentance was absolute. They didn’t just stop looking at their books or hide them away—they burned them! They removed the evil influence from their lives. And this was no light thing—the possessions they parted with were valuable, but not as valuable as their souls. We can all learn lessons of repentance from the Ephesian Christians.

Christians are supposed to live holy lives. When we obey the gospel, it is as if we have put the old man of sin to death and we are made into a new creature by God’s power—a creature that pursues holiness and righteousness. And yet, anyone who has been a Christian for very long knows that we still are not perfect. There are still times we make mistakes. There are still times that we commit sin. How can this be?

Becoming a Christian does not mean we are perfect. But it does mean a change of allegiance to Christ and a constant effort to avoid sin. Romans 6:12 says, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.”[1] The Christian does not let sin reign—that is, we don’t persist and abide in sin. Instead, Christ reigns. Thus, when we do sin, we repent and return to obeying King Jesus who reigns over our life.

[1] CSB

Acts 18 introduces us to one of the great preachers of the first-century church. Apollos was eloquent and competent when it came to using Scriptures. Not only was he talented, he was committed. He is described as a man “fervent in spirit” and willing to teach others. But there was one problem—he didn’t know everything he needed to know. Somehow, he only knew about John’s baptism, so his preaching did not include the essential message of baptism in the name of Jesus. When two Christians, Aquila and Priscilla, heard Apollos, they were kind enough to speak to him and they “explained the way of God to him more accurately.”

Even if we are talented, knowledgeable, and committed, it could be that we need to learn God’s Word more accurately. If we are truly committed to following God, then we will always be willing to learn and even change if it turns out our understanding is incomplete.

Priorities are important. Too often, we focus on worldly things that seem so demanding and important, but neglect the things that truly matter. When we focus on selfish, earthly things, we anger God. And further, such focus is fruitless and hopeless. The only true fulfillment we can find is when we serve the Lord whole-heartedly. Haggai 1:9 says, “You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.”

The Jews were rebuked because they focused on building their homes instead of the temple. But are we any different? We do the same when we focus on our career and leave the Lord’s work undone, or whenever we put our desires before the Lord’s will. Don’t let the Lord’s House lie in ruins because you are focused on your own concerns.

What is really important? We get caught up with various things that we often think are important, argue about this and that, and take stands about our passions or traditions. But sometimes, if we would stop and reflect on these things, we might realize they aren’t that important after all. In 1 Corinthians 7:19 the Bible says, “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.” Another version puts it this way: “Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters.”[1]

There may be many ways in which our preferences and backgrounds might differ. But we must remember the only thing that really matters is obeying God. If it’s God’s command to do something, we must do it. If God commands us to not do something, we mustn’t do it. And on such things we must agree. Don’t be distracted by things that in the end, don’t really matter.

[1] CSB

In Revelation 19, John records that at one point in his vision, he fell down at the feet of an angel in worship. The angel quickly responded, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” We should consider two simple admonitions in the angel’s words.

First, there are things we must not do. Worshipping anything other than God is a terrible mistake. If even the angels should not be worshipped, why would we worship other people, possessions, or money? We must not do that.

But then there is the positive command—Worship God. In some ways, this verse sums up the whole of Revelation. Who deserves our worship? God. What is the greatest thing we can do? Worship God. When adversity strikes, how do we respond? We worship God.

The commands are simple yet so important. Worship God and nothing else.

I love the story of Jesus healing the paralytic man who was lowered through a roof to see Jesus. The whole tale is filled with excitement and beauty. But today, I want to consider Jesus’ initial statement to the paralytic. In Matthew 9:2, Jesus says to the man, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”[1]

What cheers you up? What types of things or circumstances can shift you from gloomy to glad? Often, we are cheered by physical things. Good health, financial security, pleasure, and so on. Surely, the paralytic cheered up when his paralysis was healed. But he had reason to rejoice before that happened. Jesus told him to cheer up because he had been forgiven. Even if Jesus hadn’t healed the paralysis, the man would have had great reason to rejoice that day. Maybe your life doesn’t seem all that cheery. But if you are a child of God, you have every reason to cheer up, for your sins are forgiven!

[1] WEB

Throughout Scripture, putting God to the test is typically bad because it displays a lack of trust in God. There are, however, times when challenging God is encouraged.

In Malachi 3, God charged Israel with robbing Him. They had not brought the tithes and contributions the Law required. In verse ten, God says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” God welcomed Israel to challenge Him—not out of distrust but out of faithful, trusting obedience.

When we faithfully and trustingly serve God, we will find that He will always meet the challenge and prove faithful. The question is, are we ready to meet His challenge? Are we prepared to put our complete trust in Him and obey His Word?

Most people enjoy receiving gifts. There’s something exciting about receiving a present. Something is thrilling about being gifted something we need or want. But what if all you were gifted was a boast? What if someone promised to give you some great gift but never did? Well, that wouldn’t be nearly as thrilling, would it?

Proverbs 25:14 says, “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.” A cloudy, windy, rainy day may be dreary, but at least the rain is good and valuable. Without the rain, it’s just a dreary day. Well, a boast of a gift that isn’t delivered is the same—dreary and disappointing. Surely, we understand how rude it would be to boast of a gift and not deliver. But do we do that to God? How many gifts do we promise God? How often do we promise to be faithful? How often do we give what we promise? Or are our promises to God nothing more than dreary, empty boasts?