Re: Verse reading – Romans 10:8-15; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (day three)
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It’s not uncommon for some to claim that Christianity is exclusivist, whereas other religions or systems of thought possess much more generosity of spirit and remain open to anyone. The hallmark of God’s revelation in Christ, though, is not exclusivity, but radical inclusivity: “Come, all that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” While the world measures every man by this or that standard to determine his worth, Jesus Christ says that whosoever will may come. Invitations don’t get more inclusive than that.
Author: Bryan Richardson
Bryan Richardson is the Associate Pastor for Counseling and Pastoral Ministries at FBCSA.
Dust
Re: Verse reading–Psalm 103, Luke 17:11-19 (day three)
“He remembers that we are dust.” A person who does not express gratitude, who understands no need for thanksgiving, is a person who forgets that he is dependent. He is dependent on the mercy of others in order to live his daily life. And finally, he is dependent on God, who has made him. We chafe against this dependence. We consider it beneath us. But this life will end because we are indeed dust. How will we not be taken by surprise at this inevitable fate? By practicing thanksgiving. Gratitude will form us into people who will meet the end of these days with joy for the days that await us beyond. Thankfulness, therefore, is not just polite. It is life-giving.
Resources
Re: Verse reading–Deuteronomy 8:1-20; Matthew 25:1-46 (Day Three)
“I will put you in charge of many things.” It’s easy to read this portion of scripture as if it says, “You can now take it easy, because you’ve arrived.” But we don’t steward resources in order to get rewarded with a life in which we can waste resources. We steward resources because are made in God’s image. God is the maker of all things, and he stewards the things he has made. When we steward what we have been given by honoring God and doing good to others, we live true to that image in which we are made. We then rise to the high calling of living like God lives.
Actual
Re: Verse reading–Mark 10:35-45; John 13:12-17; James 2:14-17 (day three)
“You also should wash one another’s feet.” Question: Why did Jesus wash his disciples’ feet? Answer: Because their feet needed washing. Jesus did not take this action in order to teach his disciples a lesson, though it did teach them. He did not do what he did as a demonstration of servanthood, although it demonstrated plenty. His action was rooted in actual service, not servanthood theater. The example Jesus set for them was not one of sentiment (“How sweet that the Son of God is doing a menial task”), but love (“I will do good to you”). When we move from a motivation that says “I am supposed to serve” to one that says “I will do good to people in need”, we begin to serve like Jesus taught us.
Waking
Re: Verse reading – Psalm 24:1-6; Ephesians 5:1-16 (day three)
“Wake up, sleeper.” As a sleeping person knows life only in a dream instead of as it actually is, so a person untaught by Jesus Christ knows only fleeting images of good and love and beauty, and not those things as they actually are. Consider the words of C.S. Lewis: “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Pray
Re: Verse reading – Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-8 (Day Three)
“Lord, teach us to pray.” It’s not uncommon for evangelicals to think that the best kind of prayer consists of spontaneous, off-the-cuff, stream-of-consciousness language. While speaking to God in a moment of unstructured outpouring is often a good and necessary practice for a Christian, this passage helps us to see that a studied, carefully planned approach to prayer can also help. A person would do well to contemplate and to pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, the composed prayers of devout disciples of Jesus Christ through the centuries of Christianity. As for the concern about reciting “rote prayers”, two observations: First, rote learning is actually a good way to become accustomed to ways of speaking (including prayer); and second, any prayer—spontaneous or not—will be as sincere or as distracted as the person praying it.
Talk
Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 15:1-35 (day three)
“‘Enough!’ Samuel said to Saul.” The Bible says that the Lord let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. He used words to shed light on the world as it actually is. Saul, on the other hand, used words to attempt to conceal the world as it actually is. How about you?
Origin
Re: Verse reading– Proverbs 17:17; 1 John 4:7–21 (Day Three)
“Love comes from God.” Life in God’s presence begins with love from him. There is no other starting place. Confidence does not lead to love, it comes from love. Peace does not lead to love, it comes from love. Joy does not lead to love, it comes from it. There are no paths to any longing of the human heart that do not lead through love. If we will know anything at all, we must first learn love from God.
Together
Re: Verse reading–Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:3-13 (Day Three)
“Honor one another above yourselves.” Part of what it means to be human is to live with others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew well the necessity of fellowship, and he warned, “Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.” The most dreaded punishment devised by the human mind is solitary confinement, for it is in isolation that we find no one to help us carry the burdens of the weight of our fallenness. It is never easy to live with others, but that’s not because fellowship is an optional component of our existence. Rather, it is because we are sinful. But it is when we live with others—working out conflict, revealing our motives, forgiving one another, learning from one another, confessing sin to each other—that we grow as Christ directs us to grow. There is no substitute.
Voice
Re: Verse reading–2 Chronicles 20:1-4, 13-15; Matthew 6:16-18; Acts 13:1-3 (day three)
“Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.” The indulging of bodily appetites become habits—but these habits are at their core spiritual habits, born as they are out of a longing for certainty, safety, love, joy, intimacy, dominion, community. These habits are attempts to fulfill these longings, and they will prevent us from placing our bodies before the Lord and listening to him. We cannot, by direct effort alone, hear God; our habitual practice has not trained to hear him but to hear our bodies instead. When we deny our bodies in a fast, the demands of our bodies grow louder at first, then weaken to the level at which we can isolate the Lord’s voice and listen to him.