READING FOR JUNE 20, 2024: EXODUS 7, EPHEISIANS 4. PSALM 56:1-7 EXODUS 7 God confirms that He has placed Moses in a position of great authority (even as God) over the most powerful king on earth: Pharoah. What a reversal for someone who spent the last 40 years as a shepherd. It is God who raises up those He chooses for purposes beyond our understanding. Knowing the future, God informs Moses that Pharoah will not listen to Moses. Why? Because God will harden Pharoah’s heart. Again, why does God send Moses out to convince Pharaoh and then harden his heart? Because God has a greater purpose in mind. This gives God the opportunity to multiply His signs so that the Egyptians would understand that the God of Israel is the true God. Thus, when Israel finally left, some Egyptian believers went with them: “A mixed multitude also went up with them” (Ex. 12:38). When God does what we consider to be counterintuitive or even wrong, maybe God is achieving a bigger goal that we can imagine.
When Moses first encountered Pharoah, he told Aaron to do his serpent trick with his staff. Pharoah then commanded his magicians to do the same, and they did. This shows that Satan can perform supernatural feats also. The fact that Aaron’s staff ate the magician's staffs, though, showed that God’s power is always greater than Satan’s. Pharoah’s magicians also duplicated the first great plague of turning all the country’s water into blood. This contributed to Pharoah’s heart hardening but also showed that Pharoah really didn’t care about the greater hardship all this blood posed for his people. He is a clearly a Godless leader who cares only for maintaining His own power. Does this describe any leaders today or in history? Power often has this effect, whether it be the leadership of a country or a church sub-committee.
EPHESIANS 4 This chapter now begins to explore how the Body of Christ should live together after being redeemed from sin and death which, not only separated us from God, but also separated us from each other. Christian virtues such as humility, patience, and gentleness should characterize our interactions instead of pride, agitation, and roughness. We should bear with each other in love instead of seeking our own agenda in discord—working to maintain the unity of the Spirit, who is the indwelling third person of the Triune God. And why should we work to maintain this unity of the Spirit? Because there is one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God the Father—all truths Paul presented in Ephesians 1-3.
Recently our church and many others disaffiliated from the larger United Methodist denomination of churches. A legitimate question to ask might be, how does this separation correspond to Paul’s call for unity of the Spirit? Perhaps there were a variety of motives that
READING FOR JUNE 20, 2024 CONTINUED: EPHEISIANS 4. PSALM 56:1-7 caused churches and individuals to leave. One that was expressed was that the organization as a whole no longer displayed the above-mentioned Christian virtues of humility, patience, gentleness in its dealings with individual churches. For many, the concern was that John Wesley’s articulation of that one faith as presented in the Bible (the Sword of the Spirit—Eph. 6:17) was not the faith currently being practiced by the denominational leadership. Thus, there was no longer a unity of the Spirit left to maintain, only a kind of spiritless structure.
For those unfamiliar with Wesley’s initial vision of Methodism, read his view of Scripture: This is that word of God which remaineth for ever: of which, though heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle shall not pass away. The Scripture therefore of the Old and New Testament, is a most solid and precious system of Divine truth. Every part thereof is worthy of God; and all together are one entire body, wherein is no defect, no excess. It is the fountain of heavenly wisdom, which they who are able to taste, prefer to all writings of men, however wise, or learned, or holy.
When Jesus ascended to heaven after the resurrection, He did not leave us without resources but gave us spiritual gifts. There are several lists of spiritual gifts in the Bible. The gifts mentioned here appear to be specific roles in the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Paul says we need folks functioning in these roles in order to be equipped for ministry, built up as a body of Christ, unified in faith, and knowledgeable about the Bible. Since Paul says we need this, can we identify the folks in these roles in our church? If we can’t, we might be in danger of having a childish faith, uncertain of correct doctrine, and vulnerable to deceitful schemes. Paul says our modus operandi must always be SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE. And what is truth? Repeating Wesley: “The Scripture therefore of the Old and New Testament, is a most solid and precious system of Divine truth.”
PSALM 56:1-7 This passage describes David’s thoughts when the Philistines captured him in Gath. David was aware that they had heard of his military prowess, so he pretended to be insane by scribbling graffiti on the gateway doors and drooling on his beard. Read this interesting story in 1 Sam. 21:10-15. When David says there were many who were fighting against him, he was on target. He was captured by the always dangerous Philistines while fleeing for his life from King Saul and his forces. And we think we have problems!
David famously prayed, “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” These words were used by the group Selah in their song “You Are My Hiding Place.” It is a winning concept: putting trust in God while being afraid. One complaint of David that was true of Satan in the Garden of Eden and is true of Satan on social media is his tactic of distorting the words of God and of God’s people. This is especially evil, and, as David suggests, God will hold those who do this to account for this distortion.
