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What’s more impactful: living a good life or doing good deeds? Let’s talk about that on this episode of The Podcast.
I mentioned that the apostle Peter’s first letter was written to Christians who are citizens of heaven while living on earth. I taught a whole series about this called Aliens and Strangers.
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There’s a scene in The Princess Bride that rings true for us. As the grandfather is reading the story to his sick grandson, he has just revealed that the hero in the story has died. The grandson stops his grandfather, “Wait, grandpa, you’re reading that wrong.” This young man wants what all of us want: For the good guys to be vindicated and for the bad guys to get what’s coming to them.
The next Royal Psalm assures us that our Judge will perfectly balance His scales of justice. King David (sort of) gives us a picture of this.
King David’s son Absalom had usurped the throne, and David is fleeing the city with his trusted inner circle. Along the way he is confronted by a man named Shimei, who was from the same family as King Saul (2 Samuel 16:5-12). David gives us a good foretaste of King Jesus in the way he initially responds to this attack (19:18b-23). Sadly, David apparently hung on to these slights and asked his son Solomon to keep an eye on Shimei (1 Kings 2:8-9). So I’m going to guess that our Royal Psalm was written between these two incidents.
Psalm 98 is a call to sing our praise to our King and Judge. First, we are to sing to Him and about Him because of what Hehas already done:
He has done marvelous things (v. 1)
He has provided salvation (v. 1)
He has made His salvation known (v. 2)
He has revealed His righteousness (v. 2)
He has remembered His love for us (v. 3)
He has remembered His faithfulness toward us (v. 3)
the earth has seen His salvation (v. 3)
Then we are called to keep on singing in anticipation of what He is going to do: we shout for joy and burst into jubilant song (v. 4), make music (vv. 5-6a), shout for joy (v. 6b), and see creation praising all around us (vv. 7-9a).
All of this singing because He comes to judge? Does that sound right?
It sounds right when judgment is in the hand of the Perfect Judge. The Bible describes judges who are looking for bribes, or who are swayed by personal feelings (like King David), or Jesus even identified a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people.
But God on His throne isn’t any of these things! Isaiah prophesies Christ’s first Advent as one of peace (Isaiah 42:1-4). Even when Jesus was maligned and mistreated even more hatefully—and without having done anything wrong—than David, He still didn’t retaliate (1 Peter 2:21-23).
Jesus entrusted Himself to Him Who judges justly, which is what Psalm 98 calls us to do.
He comes to judge [vindicate] the earth [creation], which has been groaning for this (Romans 8:21-22).
He will judge [acquit or declare guilty] the world and its peoples (Matthew 25:31-32; Revelation 20:12).
His judgement will be with righteousness and equity—
righteousness = the perfect standard
equity = the perfect consequence (see also Isaiah 42:10-13)
In light of the perfect judgment from the perfect King that is coming, how should we live today?
He will handle retribution then—so don’t retaliate today (Isaiah 11:1-5).
He will handle vindication then—so forgive today (1 Peter 2:23; Luke 23:34).
He will call you to give an account then—so change your words and actions today (Matthew 12:36).
He will forgive blood-washed saints then—so forgive today (Matthew 6:14-15).
He will judge perfectly then—so don’t be judgmental today (James 5:9; Romans 2:1-3).
He will reward perfectly then—so don’t look for applause from the world today (2 Timothy 4:7-8; Matthew 25:34).
Our King has won our salvation, and He is going to balance the scales perfectly when He returns, so we should be singing His praise every day until His return!
For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NLT)
God’s Son became flesh and blood so that we could have the ultimate Gift of life forever in His presence.
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14 NLT)
Being freed from sin, God calls us His children!
See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! (1 John 3:1 NLT)
As our Father, He knows all that His children need before we even ask Him in prayer.
Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him! Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy. (Matthew 6:8-9 NLT)
“Let this be the one thing our heart desires—that in everything the will of God be done in us and by us, as it is done in heaven.” —Andrew Murray
Our Father’s good gifts provide all that we need to do His will.
Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with His blood—may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21 NLT)
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Although no one can truly verify the accuracy of this story, it seems to fit the character of what we do know about Alexander the Great. This powerful leader was walk-in among the camp during the night and came upon a soldier who was supposed to be on guard duty. Except Alexander found him dozing off.
“Soldier, what is your name?” he demanded, bringing the sleeping soldier quickly awake.
“Alexander,” he stammered weakly.
Alexander stepped closer to the young man and repeated, “What is your name?”
“My name is Alexander, sir,” the soldier said a little more clearly this time.
Now, almost nose to nose, Alexander asked again, “What is your name?”
This time the soldier quietly said, “My name, sir, is Alexander.”
Alexander the Great then looked intently at the young soldier, “Either change your name or change your conduct.”
That story may or may not be true, but Brennan Manning’s words are most assuredly true: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” We must take an honest assessment of our lifestyle and then either change our name or change our conduct.
Our next Royal Psalm is Psalm 96. This psalm begins by echoing the words of praise the King David sang on the day the ark of the covenant of the Lord was brought to Jerusalem (see 1 Chronicles 16:23-29). This day may have been the pinnacle of this great king’s reign. Immediately after celebrating the return of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, God makes the promise to King David that his family will continue to reign until the coming of King Jesus (1 Chronicles 17).
Although this is a celebratory day for Israel—God’s chosen people—David’s psalm of thanks reverberates into all the world. It is David’s desire that not just the Jewish people, but all people know King Jesus as their Lord.
In our last Royal Psalm, we saw an invitation give to us three times to come into the presence of the King of kings (Psalm 95:1, 2, 6). But we are not to stay in the tabernacle with Him—Luke 9:28-33; 10:1. David uses words like: all the earth, the nations, all peoples, families of nations, the world (vv. 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 13).
In the middle of Psalm 96 is our proclamation to the world. We have the word ascribe (vv. 7-8) three times and an invitation in the word come. Ascribe means, “Come! Come on! Come see His glory and strength!” Then just as we have seen His glory and strength for ourselves, we invite the world to bring an offering and come into His courts.
T.M. Moore wrote, “People in the unbelieving world have witnessed a good bit of hypocrisy, shallowness, disingenuousness, dishonesty, and corruption among the members of the Church. Many of them have installed a spam filter on their brains which automatically blocks anyone calling himself a Christian as having anything meaningful or significant to say.”
So these action words in Psalm 96 are our words backed up or supported by our lifestyle.
Sing (3x) in vv. 1-2. Songs naturally come from our lips because of what is in our minds and hearts. Make sure you are singing to the LORD a new song of His moment by moment goodness to you.
Praise His name (v. 2) is better translated as bless (see NKJV, AMPC, Strong’s). Bless means to not only celebrate our King, but then to bless other people in the name of the Lord. In the New Testament Greek, bless means to say good words—say good words to people about your good King.
Proclaim His salvation (v. 2). …You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9 NLT)
Declare His glory…His marvelous deeds (vv. 3-6). Recount God’s miracles to you again and again.
Worship the LORD (v. 9). The Old English spelling was worth-ship—find ways to tell people how invaluable our King’s blessings are.
Say… “The LORD reigns” (v. 10). Do your words and attitude express that God is on His throne?
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in ‘religion’ mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness ‘feeling better’ is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. In that sense the outer world is quite right to judge Christianity by its results. Christ told us to judge by results. A tree is known by its fruit; or, as we say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world. … Our careless lives set the outer world talking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity itself.”
Jesus called us to this (Matthew 5:16). Let’s be sure our words and lifestyle are an invitation to our King that no one can ignore.
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Think about this: How do your favorite books end? How about the ending of your favorite movies?
I love listening to old-time radio shows, and I can quote the endings because they are all identical.
In the Bible, how do the epistles end? Most end with the author passing along his greetings, speaking a doxology like, “The Lord be with you,” or even a simple “Amen.”
Now listen to the last two verses of the Book of James: My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back,remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins (5:19-20).
James is a general epistle—not written to a particular congregation—so it was intended to be read to saints everywhere. The same is true for the Gospels:
Matthew: Jesus commissions His followers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel and then He promises, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Mark: “Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere” (Mark 16:20).
Luke-Acts: “And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God” (Luke 24:53); they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and more saints went out preaching (Acts 2); Paul “proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” (Acts 28:31).
John: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25). The implication, I believe, is that we are to do this as well—“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).
So James writes instructions to the saints in this same posture of an ongoing work. He writes his epistle as a cycle—
He ends with”brothers and sisters” (Greek: adelphos in 5:19-20), and starts with adelphos (1:2),
He ends with a call to prayer (5:13-15), and opens with a call to prayer (1:5-7).
He ends with a call to patience in trouble (5:7-11), and he begins teaching saints about trials (1:2-4).
He ends with encouragement of how maturing saints can triumph over difficult situations (5:16), and he opens with the word of encouragement that our difficult situations serve to mature us (1:12).
In between these bookends is fabulous counsel for daily living: Dealing with temptation, learning from the Word, watching our words, letting our day deeds reflect our faith, growing in wisdom, and seizing each day for God’s glory.
There is no finish line for me while God still has me on earth. If I’m still here, He’s still working on me so that He can work through me. We start our Christian journey justified—a one-time event where we’ve been made just as if we had never sinned. We end out journey when we are glorified—a one-time event when we arrive in Heaven. But along the journey we are being sanctified—an going process (that I like to call saint-ification) the whole time we’re on earth.
Throughout this sanctification process, we are continually growing. See Psalm 92:12-14—
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon, planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.
If you’re still breathing, you should still be…
…maturing through trials
…bearing increasingly more fruit
…useful for the Kingdom
…invaluable to the Body of Christ
So take a deep breath.
If you’re still breathing, God still has a plan for you. Don’t worry about the finish line (God will take care of that), but keep learning, growing, and serving all the way to the end.
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Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
All of the examples of faith-filled living in this 11th chapter of Hebrews are people who believed what God told them about their unseen future. And yet, they lived as though they could see it and hear it!
Abel offered “a better sacrifice” because he knew a greater reward was in his future.
Enoch walked with God like a friend.
Noah prepared for rain and for a flood.
Abraham saw his descendants living in their own land.
Sarah prepared to have a baby when she “was past childbearing age” and her husband was “as good as dead.”
Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, and Jacob blessed Manasseh and Ephraim’s future descendants, as they saw them perpetuating Abraham’s family line.
Joseph planned for the exodus.
Moses’ parents saw him as a national leader.
Moses saw a kingdom greater than Egypt.
The Israelites saw dry ground where there was a vast ocean and a rushing river, and collapsed walls where there was there was an impassable city.
Rahab believed in the true God.
“There were others who were tortured”; “the world was not worthy of them”—“they were too good for this world” (v. 38 in the NLT).
But they were more “commended for their faith” than anyone who may have received accolades while on this earth.
Their commendation was, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your Master’s happiness forever!” (see Matthew 25:21, 23, 34).
“Some faced jeers” but then heard the cheers of the “great cloud of witnesses” (12:1) and the applause from nail-scarred Hands!
Reading these faith-filled biographies prompts me to search my motivations—
What do I see? Am I too focused on the here and now?
What do I hear? Am I motivated by earthly cheers and discouraged by earthly jeers?
May my eyes see and my ears hear what God has promised. May my faith be confident in hope of what God has promised and assured about what I do not see or hear with my natural eyes and ears. Instead, may I see promises fulfilled and hear the joyful shout of, “Well done!”
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Throughout history, no one is ever seen approaching a king like it’s no big deal. Even those who are confident in themselves, still are seen reassuring themselves before they venture into the king’s throne room.
Last week we talked about the King’s royal robes that allow us to enter into His presence. We see that in civic government too (Esther 4:1-2). Mordecai urges Queen Esther to approach King Xerxes to intercede for the Jewish people. She is clothed appropriately (2:12, 15-17) but even she knows that’s not enough (4:11).
We who are clothed in the royal robes of Jesus can approach God’s throne confidently—Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Our next Royal Psalm is Psalm 95. This psalm is both an invitation and a warning.
Invitation: Come (3x)…
…with joyful shouts because He is “the Rock of our salvation” (v. 1; c.f. Hebrews 10:22).
…with thanksgiving because of His greatness (vv. 2-5; c.f. Hebrews 12:28)
…with worship because He is our God (vv. 6-7a; Matthew 2:2, 11)
Remember this psalm is both an invitation and a warning. The warning is the danger of refusing to approach the King. We see a hint of this warning in Hebrews 12:28-29.
Have you noticed that I have been referencing the Book of Hebrews quite frequently? That’s because the writer of Hebrews links back to this Royal Psalm in a way no other biblical author does. Check out how this psalm ends (Psalm 95:7-11).
The writer of Hebrews quotes this royal psalm (Hebrews 3:7-11), and then shares a Spirit-inspired commentary or application in verses 12-19.
Note the words unbelieving and unbelief (vv. 12, 19). These are the same Greek word which means faithlessness. This faithless attitude blocks miracles (Matthew 13:58), which can result in a hardening of our heart (Mark 16:14). Finally, this hardness of heart can keep us from resting in our King (vv. 12, 19); the word disobeyed in v. 18 means refusing to let yourself be persuaded.
Now notice the Therefore…be careful in Hebrews 4:1-7.The unbelief now moves to disobedience (vv. 6, 11), which is really better defined as obstinacy. In verses 8-11, the word Sabbath-rest is unique in all of Scripture. It’s the place of perfect contentment, undiluted and uninterrupted for all of eternity! But in order to enter this Sabbath-rest, we have to cease from our own way of doing things (see Matthew 11:28-30).
Look at how Hebrews 4 concludes: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (v. 16).
Verses 1-8 quote the Scripture of God’s promised rest, culminating in the Sabbath-rest in v. 9.
Verses 10-11 tell us to learn from the Scriptures the “example of disobedience” so that we don’t repeat it. Verse 12 tells us God’s Word exposes all our faithlessness, disobedience, and obstinacy that may even be hidden from our sight, but know that everything is uncovered and laid bear before our King of kings (v. 13).
Notice the therefore (v. 14) and the then (v. 16). My flesh would have me run and hide when my sin is revealed, but here we see that the conviction of the Spirit through the exposing Word should prompt us to run to the throne of grace with confidence (vv. 14-16).
Confident of what? Receiving mercy and finding grace.
Where is the source of this confidence? Our great High Priest Jesus—our conquering King—has opened the way for us to come to a throne of grace instead of a throne of wrath!
We come joyfully, thankfully, and worshipfully. We come not because of our deeds, but yoked to our King.
In Esther 5:1-2 we see Esther adorned to enter the king’s presence, unsure if she would be accepted. But we don’t have to adorn ourselves. Instead, we are clothed in the righteous, royal robe of Jesus which makes God pleased so that He extends His scepter of Sabbath-rest (Hebrews 4:16)!
May we all desire to enter into this place of Sabbath-rest!
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Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. (James 4:11)
There are three Greek words that dominate this verse.
First, there is katalaleo. This word appears five times in the whole New Testament, with three of those used in this verse alone!
This verse in the NIV uses the words “slander” and “speaks against.” Other translations render these same words:
criticize (NLT)
accuse (AMPC)
malign (AMPC)
speak evil (NKJV)
bad mouth (MSG)
Literally translated katalaleo means “to talk down.” The word is only used in this verse and in 1 Peter 2:12 and 3:16, where worldlings are speaking against Christians. Paul uses the root word once in Romans 1:30, also to describe evil people as “backbiters.”
This word is never used in a complementary way, whether talking about those calling themselves Christians or not.
The second word is adelphos. This word is translated “brothers and sisters” three times in just this one verse. How sad that James has to put “slander” alongside “saints” when writing to the church!
The third word is krinos or krino. This word for judge or judgment is used four times in this single verse. It means to sit in an elevated or authoritative position to make rulings or determinations about others.
James says if we judge people, we are really judging the law; thereby, we judge the “only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy” (v. 12).
His most convicting words are probably this: “When you judge the law, you are not keeping it.”
The Bible has much to say to those who talk about others, and none of it is good.
Talking about others…
(1) …Breaks the Mosaic law.You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16).
(2) …Violates the Golden Rule.So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12).
(3) …Doesn’t honor the Great Commandment.One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked Him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31).
(4) …Subjects me to judgment.Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:1-2).
(5) …Makes me a lawbreaker.If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For He who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker (James 2:8-11).
The bottom line:
🛑 STOP TALKING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE!! 🛑
You may also want to check out a couple of related posts:
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
A storm is coming. What are you going to do: brace for it or run for cover?
“Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”
I also mentioned a previous related blog post entitled Faith Over Fear.
One of the storms many leaders face is the attack from those whom they lead. I address this topic extensively—and a better alternative to a fight-or-flight response—in my book When Sheep Bite.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit brings an empowerment that nothing else can—You will receive POWER to be My witnesses (Acts 1:8).
I remember sitting with a group of leaders who were discussing personnel issues that was slowly becoming nothing more than a gripe session. I shared a story from the Book of Acts about some disagreements between some saints, and then made an application that caused all of these leaders to look at me in wonder. One said, “I had no idea that was in the Bible,” and another added, “I knew that story was there, but I never thought of applying that to this situation.” That wasn’t me, but the Holy Spirit who opened up His Word to that situation.
My friend Greg and I are writing a series of books for the business community called Business by the Book, where we are applying biblical insights to every “box” of a typical corporate flowchart. People who have already reviewed sections of our book are having a similar response: “I had no idea these examples and applications were there!”
We are surrounded by messages right now—messages we cannot hear. There are some persuasive arguments, some angry rants, some happy tunes, and some special sporting events. But we cannot tune into those messages with having a radio receiver set to the precise frequency. The Holy Spirit does the same thing for Christians.
Check out David talking about the speech of Creation in Psalm 19:1-4.
Jesus used Creation too—telling us to look at the birds and flowers (Matthew 6:26, 28) or to consider the farmer sowing seeds (Matthew 13:3-9).
In Romans, Paul tells us that Creation is enough (1:19-20) but that God also gave us His Law (2:12) and a conscience (2:15). When men rejected these things, God sent prophets and then His One and Only Son.
Those without the Holy Spirit are deaf to this speech, unable to understand it nor apply it to their lives, as Jesus goes on to tell His audience in Matthew 13:10-12.
We have already talked about the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth (John 16:7-15), but notice that one of the first things He does is convict us of sin (v. 8). Without this conviction, we are unable to repent of the things which are keeping us spiritual blind and deaf (Ezekiel 12:1-2).
Oswald Chambers noted, “Spiritual insight is in accordance with the development of heart purity.” How true! And that’s exactly what Jesus went on to say in Matthew 13:13-15. Paul echoes this—
But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. (1 Corinthians 2:14 NLT).
One of the prophecies about Jesus included His reliance on the Holy Spirit—not His natural mind—to discern what God was doing and how Jesus would fulfill Scripture (Isaiah 11:1-5).
This Spirit-empowered insight was anticipated by Solomon: If you will turn (repent) and give heed to My reproof, behold, I Wisdom will pour out My Spirit upon you, I will make My words known to you. (Proverbs 1:23 AMPC)
We can then know the sayings of the wise and be able to understand and apply these truths (Proverbs 24:23, 32). See how Peter did this in Acts 10:17, 28.
Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding—drawing it forth from God’s Word and life’s experiences.(Proverbs 3:13 AMPC)
The Spirit-baptized Christian is empowered to understand God’s speech through His Word, His Creation, and their life experiences, and then to make Christ-honoring applications of that understanding!
Why would we settle for anything less than this?! So don’t stop at salvation, but press on to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Craig T. Owens 