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JULY
31
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.
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are 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, that is, 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 and important discipleship manual we have and it is the 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, or whom we are to be following. 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, as disciples, 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,
making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die Revidierte
Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the ESV Bible.
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. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both historical
and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background, theological
training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a
supplement, a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we
will keep following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making
disciples, who make disciples. Being in
the Word every day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the
essential essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C.
Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
