Psalm 119 Ampli…
Psalm 119
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Psalm 119
1 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the undefiled (the upright, truly sincere, and blameless) in the way [of the revealed will of God], who walk (order their conduct and conversation) in the law of the Lord (the whole of God’s revealed will).
2 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart.
3 Yes, they do no unrighteousness [no willful wandering from His precepts]; they walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us to keep Your precepts, that we should observe them diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were directed and established to observe Your statutes [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]!
6 Then shall I not be put to shame [by failing to inherit Your promises] when I have respect to all Your commandments.
I was blessed to be able to teach the Beatitudes this morning. If ever there was a roadmap to holiness, the Beatitudes is it. Jesus tells His followers that what He is telling them is something they have not heard before. Is it ever!
Yet, here David says that those who are upright, sincere and blameless and who walk in the revealed will of God are blessed. Likewise, those who seek God with their whole hearts are to be envied.
While Jesus elevated the lowly to a level where it was they and not the elite who would receive blessings, David shows us once again why God considered him a man after God’s own heart. David understood that if we love God then we will follow God. If we continue to seek after him with our whole heart then we will receive the blessings of God.
And less we misunderstand, we do not achieve holiness because we follow a certain set of rules, rather a holy conduct is the result of what the Holy Spirit does within our hearts and lives.
PRAYER: Father, we love you and it is our prayer that we would be able to follow you in spirit and in truth. Amen.
Taking What Christ Gives
Phil 3:7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
I read a story about a man who had worked hard in this life and had amassed treasures upon this earth that he felt he could not live without. Now this man had accepted Christ as His savior as a child, and he had done his part to help his church grow—he attended services faithfully and he paid his tithe. He was a faithful Christian, but he never really understood holiness. However, because Christ paid his sin debt when the man died he went straight to heaven, treasures in tow.
When the man approached the gate, just outside was a mountain of things that were precious become comparison. The man could not understand why all of these wonderful things were piled outside the gates of heaven. Who would leave their treasures there?
Just then St. Peter appeared and the man asked about the pile just outside the gates. St. Peter replied that those were the treasures that people thought they could not live without. “Then why are they piled up here like junk?”
St. Peter opened the gates of heaven and the man finally understood. Just a glimpse and he knew his treasures on earth were junk in heaven. He added his treasures to the pile and entered heaven.
Paul got it. He was a Roman citizen and had been one of the chief persecutors of the Christian church. He was there when Stephen was stoned to death. He had material treasures and he had position and authority. Yet, here he tells us he counts all of those things as loss for the sake of Jesus Christ. Paul had gone from trying to buy righteousness through his works to understanding that righteousness is a faith thing and can only be received through grace.
And here is the most amazing part. Paul says he has not yet attained the knowledge of Christ in His resurrection power, but he is committed to pressing onward to take what Jesus gave him. Did you get that? We have to take what Jesus offers. And then Paul says he forgets what has gone before—the treasures, awards, accolades, and yes, even the suffering he caused, to take hold of the heavenly prize.
Paul is describing here the process of seeking holiness. We forget what has gone before, keeping our eyes on Jesus and the prize before us. Holiness cannot be attained unless we seek it, long for it, live it.
PRAYER: Father God, help us to not look back to the way things were, whether good or bad, but help us to keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, walking the pathway of holiness until we reach our journey’s end. Amen
So great a cloud of witnesses
Hebrews 12:1-2
New International Version (NIV)
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We have a wall at our church that has photographs of every senior pastor who has led our church. Each time I walk through that hallway, I am reminded of this scripture,“Therefore, we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.” It gives me comfort to know that these men who went before me had difficulties and hardships, yet they endured. In fact, the above scripture tells us that these men and other Christians before them marked out the path for us to run.
Living the Christian life is not always easy. Jesus said we must take up our cross if we are to follow Him. But notice in the above scripture that we are to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” We can hardly run the Christian race if we are encumbered with distractions and sin.
How do we focus on Jesus so that we can finish the race? We must remember that the key to being a disciple is discipline. John Wesley taught that the spiritual disciplines of reading the scripture, prayer, and class meetings (called works of piety) along with works of mercy (caring for those who cannot care for themselves) were all part of being a disciple. If we want to grow in relationship with God and with man, we must follow the disciplines of daily Bible reading, prayer, and meeting with other Christians in praise and worship.
Will God love us more if we follow these practices? No, but we will love God more.
PRAYER: Father, as we seek to grow in discipleship, help us to remember those who have gone before us. Help us, Father, to develop the discipline to make time for you each day so that our joy will be made complete and we will focus upon you for the duration of our race. Amen
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Psalm 119: 57 You are my portion, Lord;
I have promised to obey your words.
58 I have sought your face with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 I have considered my ways
and have turned my steps to your statutes.
60 I will hasten and not delay
to obey your commands.
David says in this psalm that God is his portion. In Hebrew, the word used for portion is chalaq, which means property, allotment, or even inheritance. David knew that God was all he needed because he sought God’s face with his whole heart. When you seek God’s face with your whole heart, not half-heartedly and not because it is expected of you, then you begin to assess your life. Anything in your life that distracts you from the living God becomes worthless and is easily cast aside.
I love the chorus “Turn your eyes upon Jesus,” because in its simplicity it gives us all we need to seek holiness. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Have you turned your eyes upon Jesus today? Have you promised to obey God’s words? It is never too late to begin a new relationship with Jesus, where He becomes your portion, and you receive grace that goes beyond justification for your sins. The grace that comes from obedience and loving God with your whole heart is the grace that is sufficient for all our needs (2 Cor 12:9).
Does this mean we have to earn grace? Absolutely not. The free grace of God brought us to salvation, and it is that same grace that enables us to live as disciples. But we must appropriate grace. As regards salvation, we had to agree with God that Jesus is His son, that he died for our sins and as a result the unmerited favor of God justified us from our sins.
So how to we appropriate God’s grace for daily living? 1 Peter 5:5 (NKJV) Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Humility makes way for God’s grace to become active in our lives.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus and you will see that His grace is, indeed, sufficient for all of your needs.
PRAYER: Father, we come before you today, humbled by your presence and grateful for all you do in our lives. May we always look full in your wonderful face so that regardless of the circumstances in our lives, your grace will indeed be sufficient. Amen
Happy are those…
Matthew 5:1-14
New International Version (NIV)
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
As a child I remember learning the Ten Commandments. My first impression was that there were a lot of “thou shall nots” in the Bible. Also, as a child I could not see how some of these “thou shall nots” were relevant to me. Murder someone? Not me. Adultery? I am fairly certain I did not know what that was at the time.
Some have said what the Ten Commandments were to the Old Testament the Beatitudes are to the New Testament. While the Ten Commandments were given to us to point out our need for a Savior, the Beatitudes were given by our Savior. To me, The Ten Commandments were the skeleton for Christian living and the Beatitudes fleshes out how disciples are supposed to live.
When we read the Beatitudes, several things stand out:
- Each Beatitude forms a step that leads us upward to the pathway of holiness—when we recognize how bankrupt we are in spirit without God, we will mourn, and when we mourn we will become meek…
- Beatitudes are blessings dependent not on our circumstances, but on having the joy of God within our hearts
- Beatitudes teach us that salvation is not the end game, but it is the starting point in our journey
- Beatitudes, like the Ten Commandments, begin with our relationship with God and move into our relationship with others
Salvation, that wonderful free gift of God’s grace, brings us first back into a right relationship with our God, and then builds new relationships with others. Because that is what salvation is all about—that is what grace is all about. We are transformed into new creatures in Christ and that transformation brings about new relationships. Our ultimate reward surely is in heaven, but our present reward is in the way we live for God and for our fellow man here and now.
PRAYER: Father, each morning I awake with the knowledge of who you are and what you have done to redeem me and to enable me to seek after holiness. Each morning, I pray that I will do no harm, do good, and love you with my whole heart. Some days I am successful, other days I fall short of the mark. May today be the day that I live the Beatitudes, that my happiness depends not on my circumstances but on the joy you have planted deep within my heart. Amen
Seeking Holiness 