This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Overcoming Temptation
In the silent years Our Lord learned how to be; at His Baptism He had revealed to Him what He had to do; in the Temptation what to avoid.
…The word “temptation” is built on a Latin word meaning “to stretch.” … Temptation is the test by an alien power of the possession held by a personality.
…Every temptation of satan is perfectly wise. The wisest, shrewdest, subtlest things are said by satan, and they are accepted by everybody as the acme of human philosophy; but when the Spirit of God is at work in a man, instantly the hollow mockery at the heart of what satan is trying to do, is seen. When we understand the inwardness of the temptation we see how satan’s strategy is turned into confusion by the Spirit of God.
We, just like Jesus, can be victorious over these temptations by doing what Jesus did. (1) He was fully submitted to His Heavenly Father, (2) He was sensitive to go where the Holy Spirit led Him, and (3) He uncovered the shrewd and subtle arguments of satan by using the Word of God.
The One who overcame satan’s temptations wants to help you overcome as well—
For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering].(Hebrews 2:18, Amplified Bible)
I am continually astounded at the insight Oswald Chambers has on the Scripture and its practical applications to our lives! In He Shall Glorify Me, Chambers elaborates on the immensely important role the Holy Spirit plays in the lives of Christians.
The title of the book is taken from a statement Jesus made about the Holy Spirit: He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you (John 16:14). Chambers begins with the advent of the Holy Spirit, leads us through a thorough doctrine of the Spirit, and then shares practical applications for Spirit-directed living.
These were originally lectures he gave at college, then they were turned into articles for a magazine, and finally complied into a book form. As far as we know, Oswald Chambers didn’t plan for these lectures to be published as a book, so he had no say in a proposed title. But the title—He Shall Glorify Me—is perfect, as every single lecture/chapter shows us how the Holy Spirit wants to bring out of our lives only what will bring glory to Jesus.
For anyone serious about allowing the Holy Spirit to work more deeply in their lives, He Shall Glorify Me is an indispensable resource.
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. (3 John 9)
The King James Versions says that Diotrephes loveth to have the preeminence. He loved his title, his position of authority, and having everything in the church flow through him.
He wanted not only to approve who spoke in the church, but even with whom church people could socialize outside of church. He wielded his positional authority like a sword and cut off people from the fellowship of the church if they didn’t join lockstep with him.
He used fear and intimidation to demand people follow him, and wouldn’t receive a loving letter from the Apostle John. To counteract any who would question him, Diotrephes engaged in gossip and character assassination of any he perceived to be a threat to his position as pastor.
My fellow pastor, having the title of pastor doesn’t mean I’m the smartest person in the room, or that I have all the answers. I am one member of the Body of Christ. Each member of the Body needs all the other members of the Body. I should humbly serve, never demanding allegiance to me or blind obedience to my wishes. I should never try to hide behind my title, but be the most transparent, the most willing to admit my mistakes, and the first to forgive and to ask forgiveness.
Lord, guard my heart against the spirit of Diotrephes!!
UPDATE: This is one of the seed thoughts that went into my book Shepherd Leadership.
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Sanctified Specimens
May God save us from the selfish meanness of a sanctified life which says, “I am saved and sanctified, look what a wonderful specimen I am.” If we are saved and sanctified we have lost sight of ourselves absolutely, self is effaced, it is not there.
…We are saved and sanctified for God, not to be specimens in His showroom, but for God to do with us even as He did with Jesus, makes us broken bread and poured-out wine as He chooses.
From Bringing Sons Unto Glory
The apostle Paul said it this way, “You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20, AMPC). And he wrote later, “God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world” (1 Corinthians 7:23, NLT).
If God has changed you, don’t try to remain a specimen on the shelf, don’t posture and pose. In fact, stop thinking about how good you look because that only glorifies you.
Instead, let God by glorified as you allow Him to use you as a living, breathing example of how He can totally change someone’s life.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
John opens the book of Revelation with this greeting: Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, AND WHO IS TO COME… (Revelation 1:4). This is so significant because of the other descriptive phrases John uses for Jesus:
Jesus was pre-existent before creation (John 1:1).
John was witness to everything Jesus did during His public ministry, including all of the claims Jesus made about Himself (1 John 1:1).
And now John says not only has Jesus existed before time existed, not only is He alive now, but He is coming back again!
This is what makes the resurrection of Jesus so important. Jesus Himself told us exactly what was going to happen with His death by crucifixion and His resurrection three days later. The fact that these statements all turned out to be true gives us greater assurance that His promise that He is coming back is also true.
In His very first sermon, Jesus quoted from Isaiah about how He would conduct His earthly ministry (see Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 4:18-19). But when He quotes the passage from Isaiah, He leaves off a phrase “and a day of vengeance of our God.” God’s wrath against sin is being held back for now, but the day of judgment is coming.
John says Jesus is the One Who is to come, and records later on how Jesus will come—
I saw Heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God. The armies of Heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of His mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (Revelation 19:11-15)
God made Jesus to be sin for us. He suffered and died to pay the penalty for our sins, and those who are still found in their sins—unforgiven, without placing their faith in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection—must face the wrath of God.
Jesus is not only our Risen Savior, but He is the soon-returning King and Judge.
Three times the last book of the Bible records Jesus Himself saying, “I am coming soon!” This isn’t a scare tactic, it’s real. As certainly as Jesus rose from the grave, He is returning soon.
Are you ready for His return? Are you telling others that Jesus is our soon-returning King? I hope you know what it means to have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and I hope you are telling as many other people as you can about our soon coming King!
Josh McDowell is an amazing apologist! He has a tremendous knack for being able to “put the cookies on the bottom shelf.” By that I mean that he can make complex topics accessible to a wider audience than most authors. In Did The Resurrection Happen … Really? he and Dave Sterrett do just that with some great arguments for and against the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This book is classified as fiction, because fictional characters are having a discussion at a fictional university about the deep subjects of life and death, and life after death. Although the characters are fictional, the questions being discussed are real, and the sources quoted in defense of each side of the argument are all non-fictional.
McDowell and Sterrett (who are Christian apologists) don’t dumb-down the arguments against the claims of an actual physical death and an actual physical resurrection. They quote from some of the most well-known proponents of these arguments, and then thoughtfully and persuasively rebut those claims.
Because this book is written in a conversational style, it bring the reader right into the coffee chats of the characters. It also helps the reader see how he/she could have a similar dialogue with others who question the biblical account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The book is well footnoted, so curious readers can dig deeper and research further. But don’t let this fact lead you to believe that this is a heady, academic book. As I mentioned earlier, McDowell and Sterrett definitely make these concepts accessible to a wide audience.
This would be an excellent book to read if you have friends who are skeptical to the biblical account. It would also be a very good resource for those preparing to attend a university where the faculty might be more antagonistic toward the biblical worldview. In any case, it was a very enjoyable and educational book.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Could it really be this simple? Could it be that Jesus died and rose again just like the Bible says? Or does it need to be more complicated than that? Are there other theories that seem to fit the facts?
At the feast of Pentecost where Jewish people from all over the world convened in Jerusalem just 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter stood up to address them:
He began, “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem…” (Acts 2:14). He addressed both local residents and guests from faraway lands.
Peter began by saying, “Jesus of Nazareth was a Man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you, as you yourselves know” (v. 22). No one shouted Peter down or disputed this claim. Quite possibly because there were those in this audience who had personally seen or experienced one of Jesus’ miracles.
The he announced, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact” (v. 32). Anyone could have easily refuted this claim because the tomb of Jesus was within walking distance of where they were standing, and yet no one disputed this claim.
A short time later, after healing a lame man outside of the temple, Peter and John were hauled before the Sanhedrin (the rulers and elders of the people [Acts 4:8]). This was the very group who had convinced the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to have Jesus crucified.
They addresses this group by saying, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified but Whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed” (v. 10). Once again, they didn’t dispute this, but they just told them to stop preaching in this name of Jesus (v. 17).
Paul was a devout member of this Jewish religious leadership until he had a personal encounter with Jesus. It became awfully difficult for Paul to argue that Jesus was dead, when he had personally seen Him and talked with Him!
Paul’s former colleagues had him arrested to stand trial before the Romans. The Roman governor Festus noted that the claims of the Jews against Paul were “about a dead man named Jesus Who Paul claimed was alive” (Acts 25:19). This is nearly 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus occurred. King Agrippa didn’t scoff this off. In fact, Paul said he was glad to talk to the king since “the king is familiar with these things…. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner” (Acts 26:26). Again, Agrippa didn’t dispute the claim of Jesus’ resurrection, but simply accused Paul of trying to convert him to Christianity.
There is something in our hearts that wants the resurrection to be true.
We don’t want to work all our lives for nothing.
We don’t want to invest in a relationship, only to have that end when the other person dies.
We want there to be something more. We want there to be something that makes sense of the world.
Only the resurrection of Jesus the Christ helps us make sense of life. Only His resurrection gives us lasting hope.
An old song by the band Kansas says:
Deep within the hardest heart
There is something there that knows
There’s a hunger life can never fill
Til you face the One Who rose
There were two followers of Jesus who were out for a walk on the evening of the day of the resurrection. They, too, were trying to figure out if the news reports they heard about Jesus’ resurrection was fact or fiction. Jesus met them on the road (although they didn’t recognize Him) and He walked and talked with them. He explained how all of the things in the Bible pointed to these facts: a Savior would come, a Savior would die, and a Savior would be raised to life again. As Jesus sat down to eat with them, they recognized Who He was, and then He disappeared from their sight. As they hurried back to tell the other disciples, they said, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He talked” (Luke 24:32).
Does it take faith to believe the biblical resurrection story? Yes!
Does it take faith to believe the conspiracy theories? Yes!
But I believe that not only is the resurrection account more plausible, but it’s more satisfying too. The resurrection of Jesus rings true because IT IS TRUE, and because you were created by God to believe this truth so you could be in a relationship with Him forever.
I suggested last week that John Piper’s book Love To The Uttermost is an excellent resource to help guide you through the Holy Week with some fresh insights (you can read my review of this book by clicking here). Here are a few of the fresh insights that stood out to me.
“Luke 12:32 is a verse about the nature of God. It’s a verse about what kind of heart God has. It’s a verse about what makes God glad—not merely about what God will do or what He has to do, but what He delights to do, what He loves to do, and what He takes pleasure in doing. ‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ … This is what the word means: God’s joy, His desire, His want and wish and hope and pleasure and gladness and delight, is to give the kingdom to His flock.”
“Jesus was not accidentally entangled in a web of injustice. The saving benefits of His death for sinners were not an afterthought. God planned it all out of infinite love to sinners like us, and He appointed a time. Jesus, who was the very embodiment of His Father’s love for sinners, saw that the time had come and set His face to fulfill His mission: to die in Jerusalem for our sake. ‘No one takes my life from Me,’ Jesus said, ‘I lay it down of my own accord’ (John 10:18).”
“First, we know the depth of someone’s love for us by what it costs him. Second, we know the depth of someone’s love for us by how little we deserve it. Third, we know the depth of someone’s love for us by the greatness of the benefits we receive in being loved. Fourth, we know the depth of someone’s love for us by the freedom with which they love us.”
“[God] does not need us. If we stay away He is not impoverished. He does not need us in order to be happy in the fellowship of the Trinity. But He magnifies His mercy by giving us free access through His Son, in spite of our sin, to the one Reality that can satisfy us completely and forever, namely, Himself.”
“The resurrection of Jesus is given to us as the confirmation or evidence that He was indeed free in laying down His life. And so the resurrection is Christ’s testimony to the freedom of His love. … Of all the great things that Easter means, it also means this: it is a mighty ‘I meant it!’ behind Christ’s death. I meant it! I was free. You see how free I am? You see how much power and authority I have? I was able to avoid it. I have power to take up My life out of the grave. And could I not, then, have devastated My enemies and escaped the Cross? My resurrection is a shout over My love for My sheep: It was free! It was free! I chose it. I embraced it. I was not caught. I was not cornered. Nothing can constrain Me to do what I do not choose to do. I had power to take My life from death. And I have taken My life from death. How much more, then, could I have kept My life from death! I am alive to show you that I really loved you. I freely loved you. Nobody forced Me to it. And I am now alive to spend eternity loving you with omnipotent resurrection love forever and ever. Come to Me, all you sinners who need a Savior. And I will forgive you and accept you and love you with all My heart forevermore.”
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Redemption
Redemption is easy to experience because it cost God everything, and if I am going to be regenerated it is going to cost me something. I have to give up my right to myself. I have deliberately to accept into myself something that will fight for all it is worth, something that will war against the desires of the flesh, and that will ask me to go into identification with the death of Jesus Christ, and these things produce a struggle in me. …
The result of the Redemption in my life must be that I justify God in forgiving me. …In what way are you different in your life? does the reality of the Redemption at work in you justify God in having forgiven you?
I like to think of the death and resurrection of Jesus this way: It cost Him so much, and He wants everything He paid for.
Jesus didn’t coast through, He wasn’t wishy-washy about His decision to go to the Cross, neither was He forced into such a horrific death by crucifixion.
Jesus willingly and lovingly went “all in” to pay the redemption price for our sins. So I’m challenged by Oswald Chambers’ question: Does the reality of the Redemption at work in you justify God in having forgiven you? Does my life show how grateful I am for the price Jesus paid?
The Day of Atonement was a very special day for the Jewish people. It was called by some the Sabbath’s Sabbath, as it was the most holy day of the year. It was the day everyone looked forward to, because finally they could have forgiveness for their sins.
The word atonement in the Hebrew meant that a payment was made that was equivalent to the offense that was committed. The offense was huge: Sin was open rebellion against Almighty God, it was to spit in the face of our Heavenly Father, it was to slap away His hands that were reaching out to embrace us. Nothing short of a death could atone for that sort of offense!
So the high priest would go through an elaborate ceremony of washing himself and putting on special garments that were only to be worn on this Day of Atonement. Because the high priest was also a sinner himself, his first sacrifice was a bull. The blood from this sacrifice was taken by the high priest into the Most Holy Place of the temple to cover his own sins, before he could even approach God to ask for the forgiveness of the sins of anyone else.
After having completed this step, the high priest could then proceed. He would sacrifice a goat as a sin offering for the people. As he did with the bull’s blood, he would take the goat’s blood back into the Most Holy Place to ask God to show mercy toward people who had sinned, to turn away His holy wrath against their rebellion. Then the priest would lay his hands on a second goat, one that was still alive, and confess all of the sins of the people. This goat (called the scapegoat) was then taken out into the desert. This symbolized the removal of the people’s guilt, making it possible for them to be in relationship with God once again.
This was repeated year after year after year. It was repeated because the people continued to sin. It was repeated because these rituals were only a shadow of what God really wanted to accomplish. David wrote about the futility of these sacrifices—
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire—but a body You have given me—burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll.I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:6-8)
A beautiful thing happened through the ministry of Jesus on earth. Jesus came to be both the perfect high priest (one without sin, who did not need to purify Himself), and the perfect sacrifice. Jesus is called the once for all sacrifice of atonement for us, as He embodied the cry David made nearly 1000 years earlier. Hebrews 10:5-7 says that the words uttered by David prophetically were repeated by Jesus: “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll.I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart. I will be the once for all sacrifice.”
When Jesus told us the the new covenant was in His shed blood on Calvary’s Cross, He was saying that no longer would we have to wait until the Day of Atonement to find forgiveness; no longer would we have to wait upon an imperfect earthly priest to offer a sacrifice for us; no longer would we have to carry around the guilt of our sin and feel separated from God’s presence while waiting for a special ceremony. AT LAST! We can have immediate forgiveness, eternal redemption, and an everlasting relationship with God because of what Jesus did for us once for all!
As you celebrate Holy Week, be thrilled with the truth that Jesus’ death on the Cross makes it possible for you to have complete atonement. Our Savior has redeemed usAT LAST!
Overcoming Temptation
Craig T. Owens 