In Dreams

Hey Everyone,

I have decided to study out the book of Matthew, as it is the only gospel that I have not studied out before.  I noticed this as I began the study, interesting things happen to Joseph in Matthew.  An angel appears to him in a dream on four different occasions and instructs Joseph to do something.  He always does what the angel says to to do.  This is commendable.

Let's take a look at what he is asked to do.  In Matthew 1:18-24, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him that he should go ahead and marry his pregnant fiance Mary, who has been impregnated by God's Holy Spirit.  To be honest, taken at face value, that is a pretty crazy dream.  Dreams can be crazy sometimes, but we simply recognize that they are dreams and quickly forget about them.  I mean last night, I had a dream in which President Obama asked me to be his running mate in the upcoming election.  I recognized when I awoke that it was simply a dream.  I didn't call the White House to see if the offer was genuine.  As for Joseph, it would be a lot easier to believe that Mary had been unfaithful than it would be to believe that the Spirit of God had indeed fathered a child with his betrothed.  But Joseph listened to the angel and did as the angel told him.

Later, in Matthew 2:13, an angel appears to him again and tells him to move to Egypt.  Joseph obeys. Even later, in Matthew 2:19, an angel appears to Joseph and tells him to move again, this time out of Egypt and back to Israel.  But when Joseph realizes that the new king, Archelaus, was really no better than his father, Herod, Joseph was afraid to move to Judea, so an angel appeared to Joseph a fourth time and told him to move to Galilee.  so Joseph moved to the town of Nazareth in Galilee.

So the angel appears to Joseph and Joseph obeys, once on whom to marry and twice on where to live.  To his credit, Joseph seems to always be open to the will of God on these very important matters in his life.  Today, I don't know that God sends angels to us in our dreams, but He still has a will for us, things that He wants us to do.  The first question would be, "OK, how do we know what God's will for us is?"  I don't know that there is an easy way to answer that, but I do know that Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." If we are spiritual in our thinking rather than worldly, we can know what God's will for us is.  The second question would then be, "When we know God's will, do we do it?"  Joseph obeyed the will of God and became an important part of the greatest story ever told.               

The Faithful Few

Hey everyone. 

Hope you are having a great New Year.  It's the 9th and I haven't broken my resolutions yet.  It is a good start.  Anyway, I have recently been studying out the book of Malachi.  It has been a very interesting and rewarding study.  Malachi prophesied at a time in Israel when the majority of the people were religious but not very righteous, offering God blemished and lame sacrifices.  Several times in Malachi the Lord will make a statement which the people question, so God then explains the reality of the situation to them.  Here are examples:

1. The Lord says, "I have loved you," but the people respond "How have you loved us?"  Questioning God's love.  He uses Jacob and Esau to explain that He has indeed loved Israel. (Mal. 1:2-5)
2. The Lord tells them that they have shown contempt for his name.  They respond "How have we shown contempt for your name?"  God explains that He is deserving of their best and the blind and lame sacrifices they are bringing insult his name.  At one point God says to close the temple doors and stop lighting useless fires on the altar.  (Mal. 1:6-14)
3. The Lord says that they have been unfaithful and they question why God no longer looked on their offerings with favor.  In reality they had divorced their wives and married women who worshiped other gods.  They had been unfaithful to their wives and to God, yet still questioned God. ((Mal. 2:10-16)
4. The Lord tells them that their many words wearied Him. They questioned this as well.  Here were men who did whatever they wanted (including adultery) but expected God to still bless them.  They were complaining to God for justice. Justice was not what they really wanted.  (Mal. 2:17-3:5)
5. The Lord accuses them of robbing him.  They question how they were robbing God.  They were not bringing in the whole tithe.  God challenges them to repent and see what happens. He promises untold blessings.  (Mal. 3:6-12)
6. The Lord tells them that they have spoken arrogantly against Him.  They question this, saying, "What have we said against you?"  God tells them that they had said things like, "It is futile to serve the Lord."  They complained that they gained nothing by serving the Lord. (Mal. 3:12-15)

So Malachi prophesied at a time when most of Israel had this sense of entitlement in which they were supposed to gain tremendous blessing from God while putting little or no effort into serving Him or honoring Him, while pretty much doing whatever they wanted.

A rather discouraging situation. But, in Mal. 3:16-18, it speaks of a different group within Israel, a remnant, a faithful few.  It says: 

    Then those who feared the Lord talked to each other and the Lord listened and heard.  A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
    "On the day when I act," says the Lord Almighty, "they will be my treasured possession.  I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.  And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."

Thankfully there was a handful of people among all of this self-indulgence that truly feared the Lord.  They got together and encouraged each other and God heard them.  He considered them his treasured possession.  His view for the faithful few was totally different than it was for the rest of the nation.  But their reward would not be immediate.  They would have to wait until the day in which God acted, but one day they would enjoy the rewards of their whole-hearted service, their unblemished sacrifices, their faithfulness to their wives, their sacrificial giving and genuine prayers of praise and gratitude. God also says that one day He would make a very clear distinction  between those who serve him and those who do not.  I don't know about you, but I certainly want to be on the correct side of that dividing line.  This passage encourages me because it reminds me to fear the Lord, serve Him and then wait on His blessings, because on the day He acts it will have been worth it.
Tom 
    

The Mature Part 2

Hey everyone.

In my last post I started talking about what the Bible says to those who are mature.  We looked at a few scriptures.  In this post I will look at a few more.  We will start in Phil. 3:15.  It says, "All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things."  Now, to understand what Paul is talking about here we need to examine the context to see what view the mature should have.

Going back then to Phil. 3:1-14 should give a general idea of a mature point of view.  Here is what I get from it:

• Put no confidence in the flesh - In 3:3-6 Paul uses those words specifically and then points out that if anyone has a reason to put confidence in the flesh it would be him.  Paul had all the best credentials, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and in terms of righteousness under the law, he was faultless. However, he now recognized that all of his legalistic righteousness did not bring him any closer to God.  If anyone could have been saved through their own legalistic righteousness, it would have been Paul.  But he understood that his salvation and relationship with God was through Jesus Christ and not himself, so he boasted in Christ (v.3) and not himself.
• Jesus is better than anything he had to give up - In v. 8 Paul starts talking about "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus."  He says that for the sake of Christ he has lost all things.  In fact, he says that anything he may have given up is "garbage," in comparison.  This is certainly a viewpoint of the mature.  The mature recognize that the world has nothing to offer and would never look back at it longingly.  Because Jesus is better.  A whole lot better.
• A point under this is that the mature are not afraid of loss or suffering.  Paul goes on to say in v. 10-11, "I want to know Christ- yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his suffering, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." The mature will endure loss and suffering for the sake of Christ, knowing that what awaits us is is far better than living this life without suffering.  This is challenging.  I don't want to suffer.  Who does?  It challenges me to accept whatever difficult things come my way without feeling sorry for myself.
• The mature keep moving forward - In v. 12 Paul says, " 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."  Paul had not arrived.  Nor have we.  Those of us who have been around for a long time get tempted to settle into our lives and stop moving forward.  This is not a mature action.  We, the mature, owe it the next generation to keep moving forward and set examples for the young.

Another mention of the mature comes from Hebrew 5:11-6:3.  According to these verses, solid food is for the mature, who have trained themselves with constant use of the word.  In other words, the immature still struggle with teachings about basic righteousness, but the mature are beyond elementary teachings.  How did they get that way? (5:13) through constant use of God's word.  Sadly is is possible for a person to be around the church for many years and still be a spiritual toddler, because they have not trained themselves through the constant use of solid spiritual food.  The mature can handle God's word.

Finally, according to James 1:3-4, maturity comes through perseverance.  Making it to maturity in Christ is not going to come easy.  Perseverance comes through the testing of our faith.  So we understand that God allows our faith to be tested, so that ultimately we grow into mature disciples.

Any way, these are some scriptures with a message for those of us who are mature.
Tom   

The Mature

Hey everyone.

It has been a while since I have written anything, but I am hopeful that I can be a bit more consistent in the future.  Any way, I recently did a lesson for the teen disciples in New Jersey where we looked specifically at scriptures that talked to the young, so that we could talk about what God called the young to be like. We had a great discussion, and it was certainly appropriate to where they were at in their walk with God.  However, it started me thinking about my own walk with God.  I am not young in age, nor am I young in the faith, having been a disciple for 28 years.  So what then does God say to the mature?

I realized that we talk a lot about how God called many of his people when they were very young. Samuel, David, Mary and the apostles were all likely quite young when called. However, Abraham was 75 when God called him and Moses wasn't really ready at 40, so God called him at 80.  Clearly God has a plan for us to serve and accomplish his mission no matter what our age.  So, then, what does God say to the mature?  I pulled out my concordance and looked up the word "mature," and this is what I learned:

Luke 8:14 - In the Parable of the Sower the seed that falls among the thorns stands for those who are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures.  Jesus says here that "they do not mature."  So the seed in the thorny soil may represent those who are mature in terms of age, but who have not matured spiritually. So what then are the mature called to do here? 

• The mature need to learn to let go of life's worries.  I Peter 5:7 - "Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you."  Being mature becomes a faith issue.  How much do you trust god to take care of you issues?
• The mature are not caught up in riches or pleasure.  We who are mature in age are more likely to have money and have a greater understanding of what that money can do.  So we are more likely to be choked by it that the young who don't have any. Better that we mature should set an example for the young on how to be spiritual with our money rather than worried about it.

I Corinthians 2:6-7 - "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began."  So the mature are supposed to be wise.  But our wisdom is spiritual, rather than worldly, in nature.  So where do we get this wisdom?  God shows it to us. Look later on at verse 13: "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words."  We, the mature, should be able to correctly handle God's word to answer questions and guide the young.  The mature are called to know their Bible.

Ephesians 4:11-13 tells us that God has appointed some to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip God's people for works of service.  Those in these roles have several tasks given them by God.  One of these tasks is to help God's people become mature.  It follows then that if I want to be mature, I would give ear to those God has appointed to help me be mature.  In other words, the mature listen.

There are more scriptures for the mature.  I will get to them another day.   
Tom 

The Journey

Hey Everyone.

This summer I have been reading a book called Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.
About halfway through the book, Mulholland makes a reference to Abraham and his journey, saying "O God, I feel like Abraham must have felt when he started his journey of obedience to you, not knowing where he was going."  This comment struck me because I have often felt like that.  So I started looking at Abraham and his journey to see what I could learn for my own journey.

In Gen. 12:1 God says to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."  Verse 4 says, "so Abram left, as the Lord had told him."  Good for Abraham.  He is obedient to God.  He is commended for his faith in Hebrews 11:8 for doing this.  It says, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."  This would challenging for me.  I would really want to know the plan. I lack patience. I read spoilers.  I would have had a million questions. "Can I have a map?" "How will I know when I get there?"  Questions like that.  Nevertheless, it appears that without a clear plan, Abraham took God's promise and loaded up the family and moved to some place that God would reveal to him.  So Abraham arrives in the "Promised Land."  Notice what happens shortly after they arrive in this new land.  In Gen. 12:10 it says that there is a famine in the land and they they have to move on the Egypt.  I think that I would have had a hard time with this.  "Go to Egypt?  I just got here." "God, this land you brought me to is really awful.  How can this be the plan?"  I would have really questioned God because things were not going the way I thought they were supposed.  I mean imagine arriving at the place God has told you to go to, only to need to go somewhere else shortly after you got there.

Then in chapter 13, shortly after coming back to this Promised Land from Egypt, Abraham starts having family problems and has to part ways with his nephew Lot.  Again, something happens that was not supposed to happen.  Abraham undaunted continues to do God's will.  And God continues to bless him.  How often do we struggle in our faith when things don't seem to go the way they should, or we are having problems with a family member?  I couldn't tell you how times I have said things like "God, I don't understand what you are doing."  (Now, to be fair to us, Abraham was not perfect. I skipped part of the story in Gen. 12 where Abraham really blew it in Egypt. You can read that on your own if you wish.)

So what can I learn from Abraham?  First, he was obedient to God, no matter what.  God told him to go, he went. Later, God would tell him to sacrifice his son and he set off to do even that.  Abraham's obedience to the will of God set him apart as a man of great faith. Secondly, Abraham worshipped God every where he went. Notice this:

Gen. 12:7 "So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him."
Gen. 12:8 "So he built an alter to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord."
Gen. 13:18 "so Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord."

Obedience no matter what and worship no matter where.  These are things that Abraham took on his journey. I should take them on mine.

Tom

The Anatomy of God: God's Arm

Hello everyone.
Big things in the Hughes family this week.  Both of our boys are graduating from something and moving on to something else.  Our youngest, Aaron graduated from middle school and going to Passaic County Tech to study graphic arts, and is also entering the Teen Ministry.  Our oldest, Caleb is graduating from high school and is entering the campus ministry.  He will be going to William Paterson University.  The time goes by quickly.  

Any way, I wanted to continue to share some of the things I have learned while looking at God's anatomy.  This time looking at God's arm.  We would naturally associate God's arm with his power, and truly God's arm is powerful, but it is not the only attribute that we can see from it.  We are going to look at Moses as he led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery for a little bit.  A story where God flexes his muscles considerably. 

In Exodus 6:1-8, there is a conversation between God and Moses that I would like to look at.  By this point, Moses has returned to Egypt and appeared before Pharaoh.  Pharaoh has added to the burden of the Israelites by no longer giving them straw to make bricks.  The people have complained to Moses, so Moses is now complaining to the Lord, saying in Ex. 5:23, "You have not rescued your people at all."  Doesn't it seem like that some times?  That God is not working at all on our behalf.  We can be assured however, that God knows something that we don't know, and that He is at work whether it seems that way or not.   

God responds in Ex. 6:1-5 by telling Moses a few interesting things.  First, that because of God's mighty hand, Pharaoh would let them go.  Second, God says that he would reveal himself to Moses in a new way.  He says that He had revealed himself to Moses' ancestors as El-Shaddai, or God Almighty, but He would make himself known to Moses by his name, as Yahweh (I AM) or Lord.  Pretty cool for Moses.  Third, God said that He had heard the groaning of the Israelites, showing us that God has ears as well.  

It is verse 6 - 7 that I want to focus.  God says "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.  I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God."  God says that he is going to stretch out his arm and do two things, redeem and judge.  God is going to reach down into their situation and make it better. In fact, He is going to make their situation awesome.  How fortunate we are when He does that for us. So God is going to stretch out his arm and liberate the Israelites and make them his people and judge the Egyptians.  God can use his arm to liberate or to judge.  Of the two, I prefer liberation.  That freedom comes with being one of God's people.  I see also that God is using his outstretched arm to make himself known to the Israelites. So the pattern I see is that God's outstretched arm is really good for those how are his people (freedom and knowledge of God) and not so good for those who are not his people (judgment.) 

Soon Moses and the Israelites would get to see God's outstretched arm in action.  They will see plagues and miracles. The Egyptians would be judged and they would be be free.  A story that begins with discouragement, ends with great victory because of God's outstretched arm.

Tom       

The Anatomy of God: God's Hand

Happy Memorial Day everyone.

I have been looking at the Bible's references to God's hand for some time now.  There are many, many references to God's hand in the Bible.  God does many things, in terms of blessing and punishment, using his hand.  Of the two, I prefer the blessing.

Today I want to look in Ezra 7.  Judah had been taken into captivity by Babylon and now were under the power of Persia.  The Persian kings had allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem.  Ezra is going to lead a second group of captives back to Jerusalem.  Here in Ezra 7:6 it says that because the hand of the Lord was on Ezra, the king granted him everything he asked for.  This is a good deal.  Who wouldn't want the hand of God to be upon them in such a fashion, where you get everything you ask for?  Take a look at the letter that Artaxerxes, King of Persia, wrote for him in Ezra 7:12-26.  Here is a list of some of the things in that letter:

• Any Israelite that wants to go with Ezra, may go. (v13)
• They were given silver and gold given by the king and his advisers. (v. 15)
• They were to take more silver and gold that they carried with them from Babylon. (v. 16)
• After buying animals and grains for sacrifice they had freedom to use the money as they thought best.  Artaxerxes trusted Ezra's judgment. (v. 18)
• The treasurers of Trans-Euphrates were to provide Ezra with whatever he asked (within certain limits) of wheat, wine, olive oil and salt (unlimited). (v. 22)
• Ezra and anyone involved in the temple worship didn't have to pay taxes.  (v. 24)  
• Ezra was to teach anyone who didn't know the God of Israel, about Him.  (v.25)  (This was unusual, since the Persians were typically not followers of the God of Israel, but rather practiced Zoroastrianism and followed a god called Ahura Mazda.)

So God's hand was on Ezra in a great way and He caused Artaxerxes to give Ezra much.  So what had Ezra done to gain such blessing.  Fortunately, the Bible tells us.  Ezra 7: 8-10 says, " He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him.  For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel."

Here in verse 9 we see that God's hand, his gracious hand, is on Ezra.  But why?  Verse 10 gives three reasons.  First, Ezra devoted himself to the study of God's word.  Second, he devoted himself to the observance of God's word.  In other words, Ezra obeyed God's word.  Third, he devoted himself to teaching God's word.  Summing up, God blessed Ezra because he studied, obeyed and taught God's word.  We can all do this.

Ezra concludes this chapter in verse 28 that because God's hand was upon him, he took courage and gathered leaders to go with him.  So because God's hand was upon him, Ezra was courageous and called others to follow him.

May the hand of God be on us.
Tom