Lord's Day 22

Thoughts on Devotions – Lord's Day 22

Q. 57 How does the “the resurrection of the body” comfort you? Q. 58 How does the article concerning “life everlasting” comfort you?

Monday: What happens when a believer dies? Their soul goes immediately to be with the Lord; their soul will be united with their resurrected body at the “last day”.

Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Arenʼt you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Donʼt you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Philippians 1:20-23 My confident hope is that I will in no way be ashamed but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I donʼt know which I prefer: I feel torn between the two, because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,

Tuesday: It is wonderful that believers' souls are with the Lord when we die – but our souls and bodies are meant to be together (the Bible speaks of being “unclothed” for a soul to be without a body). At the resurrection our souls will be reunited with a our “glorified” - i.e., perfected bodies to be with God forever.

Philippians 3:20:21 But our citizenship is in heaven - and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

1 John 3:20-21 that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things. Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God,

Wednesday: What about bodies that are destroyed (e.g., burned or blown up)? What about people who have not died when Christ returns? All believers who have died will be resurrected; all, living and dead will receive glorified bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:50-54 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Thursday: Currently we live in a decaying, sin-damaged world. Bad things happen, people die, people suffer and experience horrifying things. We are forgiven if we trust Christ, but we continue to struggle in our circumstances and against our sinful nature. One day we will be made perfect and the creation will be restored.

Romans 8:18-23 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility - not willingly but because of God who subjected it - in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of Godʼs children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Friday: God has prepared a place for us for when we die and we cannot even imagine what it will be like. The Bible says that the place God has prepared is far beyond anything anyone has even imagined.

John 14:1-3 Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Fatherʼs house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10a But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Saturday: Our purpose in the resurrected life will be the same as it is now – to praise God eternally. We will be evidence of God's grace, but will also, in perfected and immortal bodies – without sin, will be able to praise God much more and better than we can now.

Revelations 5:9-14 They were singing a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels in a circle around the throne, as well as the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand - thousands times thousands - all of whom were singing in a loud voice:

“Worthy is the lamb who was killed to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature - in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in them - singing: “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power forever and ever!” And the four living creatures were saying “Amen,” and the elders threw themselves to the ground and worshiped.

(from Comforting Hearts Teaching Minds, Starr Meade)

Notes on Reading between the lines...

Monday: Reading Between the Lines 205 - Give Us Today, Our Daily Bread

Is God bothered by our small prayer requests? Jesus thinks that prayer should be addressed to our Father in heaven. God can handle the largest of the world's problems and, as our Father, wants us to come to him with even our small and intimate needs – our daily bread. Daily bread reminds us of manna and how God cared for Israel in the wilderness. We are also a wilderness people. Today's bread, not tomorrow's. Pray for anything? The smallness is not the issue; selfishness, however, may be. We are to pray for necessity. Jesus said that he is the bread of life – first and foremost we need to seek Jesus, the bread of life. Above all pray to know Jesus and to be “in Christ” during our wilderness journey.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:48-51 I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Tuesday: Reading Between the Lines 206 - Forgive us our Sins

Many statements use money language to speak of our relationships. When we are wronged we may feel owed or seek payback. “Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.” Our sins are a debt we owe to God – which he cancels at great cost to himself. We need to acknowledge our spiritual debt, but it is not what Jesus puts first in the Lord's prayer. We are his children, but sinful children – we ask for daily bread and daily pardon. Redemption is the paying of a debt. Just as our debts are canceled we are to cancel the debts of others (i.e., to forgive them). Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 18 of a servant who is forgiven much, but he does not forgive someone who owes him a debt. We have been forgiven much – if we are not able to forgive others it indicates that we do not really know about forgiveness and may not really have received God's forgiveness.

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful.

Wednesday: Reading Between the Lines 207 - Lead us Not into Temptation

Gen. Montgomery in WWII: do not forget who your enemy is. A deliberate shape to the prayer – 1) who are we praying to: our Father; 2) where we've come: to heaven; 3) to hallow God's name: to praise and take into account his majesty; 4) for cosmic realities: for his kingdom come and will be done on earth; 5) then 3 petitions – our daily provision, daily pardon, daily protection. The defining reality is that we have a Father in heaven, but we also have a enemy here on earth (prowling like a lion). What kind of salvation takes you through a desert where your enemy lies in wait? This has always been the way – the Israelites in the wilderness, Jesus' temptation – and if we are in Him we tread his path, through temptation and suffering, through extreme vulnerability and only then to the promised land. This should make us pray, asking the Father for the benefits of Christ's work – daily provision, daily pardon and daily protection. Have we forgotten that we are at war and that the enemy of our soul is out there? We have a Father in heaven who is higher than all and will have the victory, but we also have an enemy who is bigger than us. Pray – lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.

Thursday: Reading Between the Lines 208 - The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory

A doxology (word of praise) – David's words from 1 Chronicles. A glad affirmation of the Lord's sufficiency. The prayer begins Our Father and ends with a sense of power. Jesus does not ask us to approach a glorious power, but brings us as children to our Father. After acknowledging our situation we can acknowledge that our Father in heaven is in control. C.S. Lewis makes an analogy with a Christmas tree: lines in the prayer are like the branches and we add our own prayers as decorations.

1 Chronicles 29:10-11 “O Lord God of our father Israel, you deserve praise forevermore! O Lord, you are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious, and sovereign over all the sky and earth! You have dominion and exalt yourself as the ruler of all.

Friday: Reading Between the Lines 209 - Where Your Treasure Is

Matters of the heart and matters of finance – we think of them as separate, but Jesus, in the sermon on the mount, puts them together. Jesus isn't talking specifically about cash, but what do we put our value, trust and hope in. The earthly treasure “stock” is on a downward trend; heavenly treasure is on the upswing. Where ever our wealth goes, so goes our hearts. When you invest money you also invest your heart. Your heart will follow your money. If we are feeling spiritually sluggish, maybe we need to invest our treasure in the church/kingdom more. As you pray, also support causes with your money.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Saturday: Reading Between the Lines 210 - Mammon

We are all worshipers, but we only have one heart. The only choice we have is between worshiping the true God and an idol. We will turn our desire, hope and trust to something outside of ourselves – either God or something else. Jesus names this as Mammon. Newer translations refer to this as money, but older translations refer to riches or wealth – what we put our trust in. What we invest in to give us security. Either we look to God or we look to the things of the world – money functions as a substitute god. It promises to provide, to be the source of our needs and wants. It promises to protect and cushion when we face difficulty. In return it makes us follow it, to server and worship it – a slave master. Jesus doesn't say don't serve both God and money – he says it cannot be done. We must serve one or the other. Money looks like our servant, but it really become our master. God is not committed to our financial security. He wants to free us from our money. In Jesus we have a new hope and gives us new life. Mammon takes and enslaves; God gives and liberates. If God is your master, Mammon cannot be.

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Sunday: Reading Between the Lines 211 - Take No Thought 

What gives peace of mind – Jesus! He is constantly speaking about worry and his advice is: don't! Ever, about anything. Take no thought about your life, about food, body, tomorrow, defending yourself. We spend our lives worrying about these things. The context for this discussion is Jesus' discussion about trusting in money. You cannot serve God and money – therefore I tell you, do not worry! If we put build our lives on the rock of Christ we will not worry. Money does not give us peace of mind; it robs us of peace. It is a distraction of our heart's true love.

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isnʼt there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Arenʼt you more valuable than they are? And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, wonʼt he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? So then, donʼt worry saying, ʻWhat will we eat?ʼ or ʻWhat will we drink?ʼ or ʻWhat will we wear?ʼ For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

Proverbs 23:4-5 Do not wear yourself out to become rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. When you gaze upon riches, they are gone, for they surely make wings for themselves, and fly off into the sky like an eagle!

Luke 12:22-32 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For there is more to life than food, and more to the body than clothing. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add an hour to his life? So if you cannot do such a very little thing as this, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the flowers grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you people of little faith! So do not be overly concerned about what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not worry about such things. For all the nations of the world pursue these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, pursue his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.