Scripture tells us, in the second chapter of Genesis, that “on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Gen. 2:2-3). He who has no need to rest, rested from his work in creation. He who created every day of the week purposefully blessed the seventh thereby making it holy, set apart, from the other days, establishing the precedent of the sabbath and the principle of one full day of rest in seven.
Tag Archives: Faith
A Time for Every Matter
Reminding us that Luke’s orderly account to Theophilus was originally written as one, long narrative, our passage begins today with the words, “After this,” tying the passage to the previous. Before, Jesus was teaching, and the crowds grew larger and larger. Jesus witnessed the heroic efforts of a paralyzed man’s friends. Jesus witnessed faith and forgave sins. Jesus confronted the unbelief of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus healed the paralyzed man, commanding him, “rise, pick up your bed and go home,” and “amazement seized [the crowd] and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today’” (Luke 5:17-26). All of this was before, but after this, Jesus went and found a tax collector named Levi and said, “Follow me.” And he did.
He Will: Be Clean
Such is the case in our passage today, where a man “full of leprosy” approached Jesus. And this was a problem.
All for Jesus
Upon this seashore, Luke tells us, “the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.” But it’s not the place or the people I want to draw your attention to. It’s this little phrase: “to hear the word of God.”
The Authority of the Word
Just as Jesus defeated the devil’s temptations in the desert with the Word of God, so we endure the devil’s rage and stand against his schemes, which don’t typically come at us in the form of demons in the middle of a Jewish synagogue but through the ways of the world, the lies of our sinful flesh, and the devil’s distortion of truth.
Beloved, Contend for the Faith
Jude begins his short epistle identifying himself as the “brother of James,” which means he was also the half-brother of Jesus. In humility he simply says he is a “servant of Jesus Christ,” as are we to whom he writes. In love for Christ’s church, he writes to the called with concern, with confidence yet caution….
The Holy Spirit Speaks
If anyone tells you that apart from faith in Jesus Christ there is no concern or consequence, he is a liar. Apart from Christ, you are spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins, walking in the way of this world and living like a disciple of her prince in complete disobedience to God (Eph. 2:1-2). If anyone tells you that apart from faith in Jesus Christ that you are truly free, he is a liar. Apart from Christ, you are a slave to the passions of your flesh, carrying out the sinful desires of your body and mind, and deserving the wrath of almighty God (Eph. 2:3).
The Humbling Wisdom of Life’s Limits
Enjoy the good things that God gives, knowing that this world obsessed with busyness, with its always-on, sleep-deprived, 24/7 compulsion to be God, will do what it can, when it can, to rob you of his joy. And when it tries, remember this: we trust in the only one who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Ps. 121:4). We trust in the one who created this world and upholds it by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3). We trust in the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13).
A Heritage of Faith
And so, we look back to all the saints before and after the cross, saved sinners every one of them, encouraged to see the consistent faithfulness of God’s saving and sustaining grace, to our heritage of faith. But we do not let our eyes rest too long upon the recipients of God’s saving favor but to their Savior and ours, who having secured redemption for God’s elect is now seated in the place of heavenly honor “at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2): “to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 25).
How God Strengthens His Church
God also strengthens his church through the obedience of faith, an expression Paul used to begin this letter and now to conclude to it. It is the obedience to believe the gospel as well as to live it. Or, as one commentator describes it, “obedience always involves faith, and faith always involves obedience.”[3] He who enabled and empowered us to believe so also enables and empowers us to live obedient lives. We shall not be defined by sin and the decay of death but life through the faith God gives: “May we be rich in faith, be strong in faith, live by faith, walk by faith, experience the joy of faith, do the work of faith, hope through faith.”[4] And so, God strengthens his church through the obedience of faith.
Planter, Pastor, Preacher 