Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless — not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Written By Dan
It has been my observation that all of us who trust in God can always have confidence in the one true living God. In Psalms 97 we find a God of power and dignity. A God that delivers his people from troubles. We find the author of our salvation. For me, I see a God who reached into my dismal shell of a life and renewed his grace within me. Let us take a look at the details.
Psalm 97:1-7 says — The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all people see his glory. All who worship images are put to shame (NIV).
When I had nearly given up hope of ever being ‘in service of the King’ again, he reached out to me, a person whose life was the definition of a rebel. He called me back. There was no place for me to look for salvation except in the grace of Jesus, nothing else has any value. I tried. There was nothing. I looked in philosophy, I looked in history, I looked in science, I looked in Math, nothing. There is nothing else but Jesus. There is no other name on the face of the earth that can bring us hope. None.
For the Hebrew nation and for me Psalms 97 speaks about Jesus, the author of our salvation. Our salvation is assured by God’s power, it is treasured and delivered in God’s grace, it is guaranteed to be secure, permanent, authoritative. We are saved by his strong tower, we are enabled to run the race, we are permitted to take shelter in the tower, we are safe. If I look beyond this deliverance, from my life as a rebel to the deeper things of the Spirit, I quickly notice the messianic salvation, my everlasting ransom, the repair of my soul, my rescue from death. and the restoration of my walk in Jesus.
This I know for sure — there is a world without end; and it will be well or ill with us according to our willingness to embrace the Grace of God. Plato had a feeling for this ‘world that does not end,’ but he did not find an answer to the question – is it real? Plato died when Alexander the Great was a child, Alexander the Great conquered Israel on his way south to conquer Egypt and build the city of Alexandria, soon the libraries he established became the global home of most knowledge known to man.
There are many historians that think the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) was retained in the Alexandrian library. Why does this matter? Because this library was a repository of known knowledge. This library would have provided an answer to Plato’s question, he was curious, but he died before the library was completed. Do not wait – God’s word is readily available. Read. Now. Not tomorrow. Now.
All of us, including me, know of the confusion we felt when we first became aware of our sin and the impact of that sin (before we knew Jesus). We felt trapped, unable to escape the effect, unable to bring ourselves to accept Jesus. We ran to and frow, looking for anyone with answers that could override Grace. We tried to build community in our sin and tell ourselves it was not sin; we became forward thinking people abandoning the age-old truths. We puffed up our little heads and glared at the one true living God. Defiant, we refused to submit. We joined hands with other rebels and resisted the gospel. We kept one another’s countenance as bright as possible and wandered in confusion together. Then it happened. The light of truth outran the darkness in our heart. In the light we saw we had no clothes on. We were standing in sin. No protection. The light exposed everything. Darkness can only be overcome by one thing – the way, the truth, and the light. Selah. We yield. I thank God he chose to pursue me.
I choose Jesus.
The world with its beauty and charms
Comes to me with wide open arms;
Its pleasures allure to embrace
But will end in pain and disgrace.
There is better beauty beyond
That I will enjoy before long;
The most beautiful and the best
Is the One who gives peace and rest.
—Perry Boardman
Have you ever met someone who thinks they are better than everyone else? They like to brag about themselves. They think they are better looking than other people. They think they are smarter than other people. They think they are faster or stronger or more popular than other people.
There were people like that when Jesus was preaching. Sometimes they even thought that God should treat them better just because they were so good.
Jesus did not like it when people thought they were better than everyone else. He said that people who thought like that had too much pride. Jesus said that people should not be proud. Instead, people should be humble.
Being humble means that you do not brag about yourself. If you are humble, you do not expect everyone to always give you special treatment.
Jesus wanted the proud people to understand about being humble, so he told them a parable. Do you remember what a parable is? A parable is a simple story that helps us to understand something very important.
Here is the parable that Jesus told to the people who had too much pride:
Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and one was a tax collector.
Pharisees were teachers of the Scriptures, and they knew a lot about God’s word. But when this Pharisee prayed, he only thought about how good he was. He stood up and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not bad like all the other people. I am glad I am not bad like robbers and cheaters. I am glad I am not bad like that tax collector over there.”
Then the Pharisee continued praying, “Lord, I am so good. I give lots of money and I pray a lot. I am really good.”
What do you think God thought about the Pharisee’s prayer? The Pharisee was not humble when he prayed. He had too much pride in himself. Jesus said the Pharisee was not right with God.
Then the tax collector prayed. Sometimes tax collectors cheated people. It was good that this tax collector wanted to pray to God. He did not stand up in front of everyone. He stood off at a distance and he prayed, “God, you are so good. I am sorry that I have done wrong. Please help me to be better.”
What do you think God thought about the tax collector’s prayer? The tax collector was humble when he prayed. He did not think about how good he was. He thought about how good God was. Jesus said that the tax collector could be happy because he was right with God.
After Jesus said the parable, he told everyone to be humble before God and that God would make them great.
Scripture Reference: Luke 18:9-14
Shalom Talk