Water from the Temple (W.o.W. Rewind)

 I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple...The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar...He said to me, “This water flows toward the...Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 

Ezekiel 47:1, 8-9

Did you know that the Dead Sea is nearly ten times saltier than the ocean? It's so salty that only microscopic bacteria and microbial fungi can live in it. No fish or aquatic plants live in the Dead Sea at all. This, of course, is how it got its name. It is a dead sea, a harsh environment in which nothing can live.

I don't know about you but there were times in my life when my soul felt just this dead and inhospitable. Scripture assures us that this is true of all who are apart from Christ. Until Christ enters our lives we are completely and utterly dead in our trespasses and sins. But just like the Dead Sea, we are not beyond God's reviving touch.

In Ezekiel 47 we read in the prophet's vision that one day a river will flow from God's temple into the old Dead Sea and bring a revival of new life! This sea that is so famously inhospitable to life will one day teem with fish. The shores will bustle with activity as fisherman stand along the shores. And fruit trees will grow there on its shores year round without fail (v. 9-12). What a beautiful image of God's ability to breathe fresh life into dead people and things!

Whether this passage is metaphorical or whether we should look for a literal fulfillment in the future, I don't know. Either way the prophet's point has been made. We serve a God who can breathe new life and spiritual vitality into the most dead of places and human hearts. 

But how can we gain access to this living water? Only through Jesus! Notice that this river originates from the temple. This temple was where heaven and earth overlapped. It was where God dwelt on earth. But when Jesus took on flesh that changed. Now it's in Jesus that we find heaven and earth intersecting, and it is only through His atoning blood that we access this reviving, living water. Consider Jesus' words in John 7:37-38: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

No matter how dead, parched, or soul-thirsty you may feel today, God can revive you. Look to Jesus! Even believers can begin to feel a bit thirsty for God, especially during periods in which we are neglecting our relationship with the Savior. Jesus is the spiritual rejuvenation you need! So spend time with Him today. Read His Word, pray to Him. Seek hard after Him and be revived!

Putting the Word to Work

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

I Thessalonians 2:13

This verse tells us why reading God's word is important. It tells us why Christians have been willing to live and die for this book. It even tells us why we shouldn't be too concerned at the statistics that say most people can't tell me what my sermon was about two hours after they leave church.

It does all that and more when it says that the word of God is at work in those who believe. When you read God's word or when you hear a good sermon explaining the word, it doesn't just increase your knowledge. If you believe, then the word goes to work on you and begins to change you.

It may sound a little odd for me to say that I don't care (too much) if my congregation can't remember what I preached last Sunday, but I really don't. Sure, I want my sermons to make an impact, and I would love for them to remember what I say, but I know that my people can't remember every sermon I preach. So, I strive to preach biblical sermons full of God's word because if I succeed at that I know that even if they don't remember the sermon, they will be changed by it! If I am faithful to preach the word, then God is faithful to make the word work on those who believe. 

This is why so many have been willing to live and die for God's word, because it was far more than just a book for them. It was the source of their spiritual life change. It can be the same for you. I want to challenge you to read your Bible every day...even when you don't feel like it... even when it seems like it isn't accomplishing anything. Read the Bible. Listen to the Bible. Sing the Bible. And believe the Bible. As you do these things, you can trust that God's powerful word, the same word that spoke creation into being, is at work in you transforming your heart and mind by its truth. Let God's word work on you today. 

When a Common Girl Marries the King

Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father’s house. Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.

Psalm 45:10-11

Have you ever known anyone who got married but then kept living with mommy and daddy? It normally doesn't work out well, because that isn't how marriage was designed to work. "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). This is God's design for marriage. The passage above reminds us that it is also His design for Christians (the bride of Christ) as we commit ourselves to Him.

Psalm 45 presents the Davidic King as a magnificent, just, and prosperous man (Psalm 45:2-9). He is the ideal man, really. From a New Testament perspective we look back and know that Jesus fits this bill better than anyone else. In fact, even though this psalm was almost certainly written for one of David's descendants around the time of his wedding, it appears to point intentionally forward to Jesus when it says, "God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy" (Psalm 45:7).

Since this is true, then Psalm 45:10-11 gives us insight into our spiritual life as well. Many times in the Bible the church is called the bride of Christ. Christ has committed Himself to and given Himself for the church. Thus, when believers accept Christ they are not merely receiving a gift from Him, but are confessing Him as Lord, committing themselves to Him as a bride to her husband. We must "forget our people and our father’s house." Grabbing hold of Christ requires a forsaking of all else. 

Let's return to the metaphor in Psalm 45. When a common girl marries the King, she must move off the farm and into the palace. It simply will not do to have her slopping the pigs in the morning and dining with the King in the evening. She must live in the palace, be dressed in fine clothing, undergo beauty treatments, and learn how to dine with the King. So it is with us. We are common people, sinners, who have been redeemed by a great King and married to Him. It will not do for us to continue wallowing in the mud of our sin day after day and then show up to church on Sunday to dine with the King partaking in the Lord's Supper. To do so is shameful and it belittles our King. 

Committing oneself to Christ requires that we move out of our old trappings, our old way of living life, and yes, even some of our old relationships. We must forsake the relationships and patterns of living that drew us into sin and begin to live with the King, daily dining on His Word and learning how to walk in His steps. You can still be a witness to these people, but the way you relate to them must change. Jesus comes first now, everyone and everything else comes under Him. 

So what do you need to forsake for Jesus? Who do you need to leave behind? 

For further reading...

• Psalm 45- Read the entire psalm.
• Luke 14:26-27- Jesus said to be his disciple you must hate your father and mother.
• Matthew 10:34-36- Jesus said "I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother..."

Lessons from Philemon: The Gospel Changes Everything

I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. 

Philemon 10-16a

There are certain moments in life that simply change everything... moments that are so significant that after they occur nothing is ever the same again. Like the moment you hear the preacher say, "I now pronounce you man and wife." Or that first moment you lay eyes on your child. These moments change us. They affects us deeply both because of their innate power and because they are a forerunner of a host of other changes bursting into our lives. In Paul's little letter to Philemon we learn that the most significant of these life changing moments is the moment of salvation.

Onesimus had been a slave in Philemon's household until, severely unhappy in his bonds, Onesimus seized an opportunity to escape. It was dangerous to be a runaway slave in first century Roman society, if caught one could be killed. So Onesimus did what many other runaway slaves did. He did his best to disappear into the crowds of Rome, the largest city in the empire. As providence would have it, Onesimus found himself in the company of the Apostle Paul imprisoned in Rome for the sake of the gospel. Perhaps it was seeing a man so willingly submit to chains for the gospel that caught Onesimus' attention. Either way, Onesimus heard the truth about Jesus from Paul. He was moved by the Spirit, and responded in faith. Onesimus was never the same again.

In verse eleven Paul uses a play on words to describe the significant change that took place in this fugitive's life. The name Onesimus was commonly given to slaves in the first century because it meant "useful." Yet, Paul says that our Onesimus was decidedly useless as a slave. Yet, once he had received the gospel, he was changed. Perhaps for the first time in his life Onesimus found himself wanting to serve others. He began selflessly ministering to Paul's needs and helping in the advance of the gospel. Onesimus was a changed man. Though these details are not recorded in Scripture and therefore are not beyond scrutiny, church tradition tells us that this very same Onesimus later became the bishop of Ephesus and was eventually martyred for his faith in Rome.

What we learn from Onesimus' life is that the gospel changes everything. It changes who we are. It changes our character. The Apostle Paul certainly knew this. The gospel changed him from a murdering enemy of Jesus to an apostle and great missionary of the faith. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!" Simply put, if the gospel hasn't changed you, you aren't a Christian. So I must ask. Has the gospel changed you? 

Jesus Himself said, "Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" (Matthew 7:22-23) So don't consider what you have accomplished, but what the gospel has accomplished in you. Has the gospel changed you? If not, then allow me to share with you the same powerful truth that the Apostle Paul shared with Onesimus in hopes that the Spirit will use this opportunity to reach down and change your heart today. 

All of us have sinned against God, rejected His authority, and gone about living lives our own way. In this way we have made ourselves enemies of God, rightly deserving His wrath and punishment. But God is loving and gracious. So in Jesus He took on the nature of humanity and paid the penalty for our sin. He took our punishment on the cross. He died in our place and then he beat the power of sin and death by his resurrection on the third day. So that "if you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

For further reading...

• Philemon- Check out the full letter to Philemon. It's only 25 verses.