2
Chronicles 29
Hezekiah is one of the two greatest kings after David,
rivaled only by Josiah. There are many parallels between Hezekiah and Josiah.
Both served after their fathers almost destroyed Judah. Both launched
incredible revivals. Both held Passovers that were so genuine that they are
commented on as going back to the early days of Israel. Both kings faced the
destruction of Judah and the people of God. Of the two, Josiah faces the
greatest darkness, but Hezekiah sees the greatest visible deliverance.
Vs. 1-2 Note that Hezekiah's devotion is compared to
David's. It is also interesting that although he reigned 29 years, he still
died young. Also, his mother seems to have been related to Zechariah the son of
Jehoiada. The use of the word “son” or “daughter” often meant a descendant, not
the literal son or daughter. I think what Ezra is showing here is why Hezekiah
was so much different than his father.
Vs. 3-11 Hezekiah opened the house of the Lord immediately.
What a great “pep talk” by this 25-year-old king. Along with the motivation was
the command to the Levites to consecrate themselves for the work in the temple
and for leading the people in worship. This entire chapter displays Hezekiah’s
godliness and faith by showing how he refocused the nation on worshipping God.
V. 10 Notice that Hezekiah wanted to make a covenant with
the Lord. Only he and Josiah did this. As we have seen, many people of both
kingdoms had been captured and led out of Israel. Hezekiah understood he was
living in a very dangerous and important time in Israel. By this time, the
northern kingdom had already fallen to Assyria and most of the people had been
lost to deportation and exile. Most of these people would have been lost to
Israel forever, being absorbed into other peoples with no sense of their
genealogy or heritage. Deportation usually meant the "extermination"
of an ethnic group by mixing them with other peoples.
Vs. 12-19 At Hezekiah’s command, the priests first
consecrated themselves, and then they consecrated the temple. This was all under
the direction of the king.
Vs. 20-24 Once the temple was cleansed, Hezekiah led the
priests, Levites and people of Jerusalem and made sin offerings for everyone
and everything, cleansing the sin of the land and the people. This was all done
according to the books of Moses. Notice too (looking back at v. 2 and looking
ahead to the next three verses), that David was also mentioned as being the
model to follow.
Vs. 25-31 This time of worship was to complete the
consecration of the temple. It was like a celebration. Although the priests and
Levites did what only the priests and Levites were allowed to do, these kings,
like David and Hezekiah, personally worshiped and led the people in worshipping
God.
Vs. 32-36 Now they were ready to worship. This is an interesting
note that the Levites were more dedicated to the temple worship than the
priests, who were also Levites, but in the family line of Aaron. When God saw
that the hearts of the king and the Levites were set to worship Him, He allowed
them to make exception and to allow the Levites to participate where there were
too few consecrated priests. Isaiah the prophet was present during all of this
and I’m sure he was consulted frequently.
V. 36 They perceived that this had come from the Lord. And
there's more to come!
As disciples, the lesson is to help people come close to the
Lord. Working in the harvest and making disciples can never become separated
from loving our Lord and being in His Word daily. To work without loving Him
and seeking Him in the Word creates a work that cannot last. It is a
contradiction that Satan knows he can easily exploit.
Romans
14
So, why would this be a huge issue? In a mixed church it is
very likely that the Jews were the "weaker" brothers. There was more
for them to stumble over, coming from the man-made, restrictive codes of
Judaism. As anyone can tell you, "culture" creates incredible
disunity in a church and it can keep a church from being able to reach lost
people. A church with unresolved internal “cultural” conflicts does not work
well in the harvest. It doesn’t make healthy disciples, and it usually becomes
a bad testimony in its area.
There appear to be two issues here. One is that the
conservative people in the congregation were judging the less conservative
people. Then the less conservative, more “open,” people were publicly engaging
in their "eating and drinking" without care, not for the strong
judgmental conservatives, but for the weak believers who would violate their
own consciences if they were to indulge.
Now, without reading too much of my own experience with this
into these notes, I have a few observations.
Vs. 1-4 While "despising" and "passing
judgment" seem like the same thing, I don't think they are. Notice that
immediately in this chapter they are being linked to the attitudes of two
different groups. The despising comes from those who were open to everything.
Passing judgment comes from the conservative side of things. In most churches
the greatest problem comes from the conservative side judging that the others
are wrong. Usually the "open" people really don't care that the
conservative people don't, for example, drink wine. They might just “despise”
them by making fun of their silly scruples and hang-ups. But the conservative
people really do care that the others drink wine and see it as a violation of
Scripture and judgment follows.
Vs. 5-9 Regarding matters of conscience, we need to be
firmly convinced in our own hearts and live to please the Lord, not others.
This is a command. There shouldn't be any judgment toward one another for what
the other prefers.
Vs. 10-12 At this point Paul is saying that all of us must
give a personal account of ourselves to Christ. This is what Paul mentioned
about the gold-silver-precious stone-wood-hay-stubble.
Vs. 13-19 Based on our own personal accountability before
the Lord, we are not to judge one another regarding our preferences, but what
about the weak? The strong are to refrain from their freedom publicly if it
would cause the weak to fall into a trial of conscience.
V. 13 With this challenge in focus, each person was to focus
on strengthening others for the harvest rather than contending about matters of
conscience. To really understand the issues here, read 1 Corinthians 8, which
is a very clear description of a part of the problem faced by believers in that
pagan world. The fact that there were also Jews coming into Christianity was a
problem too. They had many cultural traditions that could be held on to, but
were not necessary in following Christ. Some Jews could shed these traditions
in a moment and dive into the ribs and bacon; but others, while understanding
the freedom, were still bound in conscience. Look at 1 Corinthians 6 and 10,
and notice how Paul affirms freedom but condemns unbridled freedom, especially
where it was destroying other believers.
Vs. 14-16 While Paul and the Spirit are declaring all things
being clean, they are also saying that living as servants of Christ means
living to please God and facilitating growth and unity. This is a very
important portion of Scripture, and I think we’ll see in chapter 15 that the
point of this unity is to proclaim Christ. It is not to simply live peaceably
in church. It is to facilitate proclaiming God with one voice.
V. 17 The focus for each disciple is not to express their
personal liberty or their personal conservativism, but rather to live in a way
before the Lord that reflects the “rightness” of following the Lord and
experiencing the peace and joy that come from the Spirit.
V. 18 This kind of service is also expressed in 1 Corinthians
9:19, and it is done for the sake of the gospel.
V. 19 This sounds like 1 Corinthians 14:26. The goal of our
interactions is to strengthen and encourage one another.
Vs. 20-23 God is commanding here that a person keeps his
freedom to himself. I think that Paul and the Spirit are talking about a proud
public display of freedom. Again, if you look at 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, you
can see that the real violation occurred publicly, for if anyone sees you who have knowledge, eating in an idol's temple,
and if one of the unbelievers invites you
to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without
raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you… Inherent
in the abuse of freedom is that the person doing this has lost connection with
his Lord and his Lord’s mission on this earth.
Paul isn't done here. This "command" continues
into chapter 15, where it ends at the unified testimony in the harvest. Keep in
mind that living each day following God's redemptive purpose requires us to
keep respecting the mercy we have been shown. This gives us love and humility
as we follow Christ in the harvest and helps us overcome our
"cultural" preferences. But today we still have churches fighting over
"insider" cultural issues. The strongly conservative hold the church
hostage to maintain strict and outdated cultural preferences citing these
verses. Although they say the harvest is important, they deny what God desires
- the lost being reached and disciples being made. On the other hand, you have
people making everything so “contemporary,” that there is hardly any substance
to their message. In both cases the lost find it hard to find Jesus and
disciples are not made who can make disciples.
The following verses are for everyone. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 For though I am free from all, I have made
myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20To
the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I
became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I
might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one
outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ)
that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, that I might win
the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might
save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in
its blessings.
Psalm
24
When you read this, you can see why David's devotion and
love for God became the measure of all things. Many of the songs we sing today
in worship use words and ideas from the psalms he wrote. Also, since these are
Scripture and given by the Spirit, David was one of those people who the Spirit
used to inspire the worship of Israel back then, and he still inspires the
worship of the church today.
Vs. 1-2 David establishes that God is God and His power and
preference is what we bow to.
V. 3 So then, according to the Lord, who does He allow to
approach Him?
V. 4 This is the answer, but this only makes sense as God
defines these things in His Word. This person lives for God according to God’s
will, not his own desires.
Vs. 5-6 The blessing of the Lord is for all those who seek
Him and call upon Him.
Vs. 7-10 These verses intensify and add to vs. 1 & 2.
Why should the earth bow? Because He is
the King of glory. What does that
mean? It means He is our Savior and Protector.
Proverbs
20:12
I read this morning where Jesus said to His disciples,
"Do you not yet perceive or understand?" We need to spend more time
than we do straining ourselves to understand the Word, and to perceive what the
Spirit is doing around us. And just like He gave us eyes and ears, He is
willing to give to those who ask, show to those who seek and open to those who
knock. This should be the pastime of disciples in the harvest.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
No comments:
Post a Comment