A Devotional Thought From 1 Corinthians

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their’s and our’s:                                 1 Corinthians 1:1,2

Who the heck is Sosthenes? Actually (metaphorically) we are: We Christians; We who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. While we know little of the man himself we know that his life was tied up with Paul’s in the service of the gospel. He was a believer. He was called, as we all are, to be saints. We are summoned or invited to be a part of God’s family. We are invited into faith. Come unto Me all ye who labor and are heavy laden. Come and serve me. That is the calling that Paul received and he was not only called to salvation and service, but called to the position of being an apostle. Just so all of us who have trusted in Christ have been called. We are called to be Christians, called to serve the Lord, called to be saints (This word is a synonym for Christians. The word for saints in the New Testament Greek is agioi which literally means the holy ones, or the ones made holy by God.) We, each of us who belong to Jesus have this calling on his/her life in the same way that Sosthenes and Paul did. We have differing ministries, but we are all called to the service of Christ. The ministry of the unknown “Sosthenes” in our churches today is just as much a calling, and just as important a ministry to God as that of the pastor, or teacher, or missionary. Every Christian believer is called to be for God in this life. All of us should value one another for that reason, love one another for that reason, and work together for that reason. The  work of Christian ministry is all about our Lord who can call people to Him, build a fellowship of love, and use that fellowship as salt to preserve the world from evil, and He does some of that work through us using the least to the greatest.

A Devotional Thought From Romans

But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.     Romans 16:26

          A simple and clear thought manifests itself in this verse. The Scriptures (the Bible), in part given through the prophets, made plain the truth of the Gospel, the good news that God had sent a Savior. His name is Jesus Christ, and this truth is made known through those very Scriptures so that all nations will know the truth and obey it.

          In modern society people will often say something like: “Well, that’s your religion, I have my own.” “How can you say your holy book is better than the so-called holy books of other world religions?” “Do you really believe that a book written over a thousand years ago by many different authors in many different circumstances can be true, and must be accepted today?”” Why are you so exclusive when it comes to truth? Can’t there be one truth for you and another for others?”

          The response to all of these thoughts and questions is that the one and only living God has given the Bible for all the nations to follow. Ignore it at your own risk. As an individual, ignore it at your own risk. As a family, ignore it at your own risk. As a nation, ignore it at your own risk. As a body of nations, ignore it at your own risk.

A Devotional Thought From Romans

Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.     Romans 11:5,6

          In this chapter Paul is discussing the fact that though the people who were called God’s people had as a body, in large part, refused the gospel revealed in Messiah Jesus, that there was a remnant, a piece of the whole, which had seen Christ by faith, had found Him credible, and had trusted in Him as personal Savior and received salvation. How was it possible that that group, that remnant, that representation of the people who had followed the law of works had actually found forgiveness and new life and salvation by Christ?

          Paul answers that question in a word, grace (11:6). They had received God’s grace by receiving Jesus Christ into their hearts. Grace is a favor, undeserved, which God disposes. He gives it away and offers it to anyone who will love His Son.

          One does not receive spiritual salvation grace because he doesn’t lie, or is not unfaithful to his obligations, or never has a wicked thought, or is perfectly sinless, or follows a strict law of separation from anything that he thinks might be improper. If salvation were offered to that person, it would be payback, it would be earnings, it would be tit for tat, it would not be grace. So if a person is doing everything she does in life to get saved and get to heaven, and is depending on her works to get her there, she does not have the grace of salvation. Grace is the key, and without it being given to you, you cannot unlock the door of the kingdom of heaven.

          Grace is received by anyone who believes in Christ as Savior. It doesn’t depend on what one has done (it will have dramatic changing effect upon the deeds of one who receives grace so that his/her deeds will change from evil to good) but grace is freely bestowed on the cheater, the liar, the angry, the greedy, you name the sin, and that person is then cleansed of his sin and sent on his way rejoicing, and on his way the grace changes his behavior.

          Salvation is by grace not works. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost: Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7).

A Devotional Thought From Acts

God… hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:   Acts 17:24,26,27

All people that on earth do dwell are “blood brothers,” are closely related, an actual family. When reading this verse and concept before Dr. Charles R. Drew invented blood transfusion that verse was understood spiritually, symbolic of humanity’s humanity held in common. Today we interpret it as both literal scientific truth and religious truth. If you need a blood transfusion and the donor has your type, or a compatible type , he/she can give you a pint no matter his race or color. And, that blood could save your life.

So the people of the world have a common physiology, and, the apostle Paul goes on to say, they also have a common call on their lives; That they should seek the Lord (Acts 17:27). So pick any race of mankind and that race, and all others, are expected to seek the Lord. Racial characteristics and religious preferences are no barrier to following the One and only true God’s will for you, which is to seek and find Him. You seek God when you follow Jesus; you find God when you believe in Jesus. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5); the greatest inclusivity the world has ever known is God’s invitation to all men, women, and children, everywhere, to seek and find Him. When asked about being saved Paul summed it up in Acts 16:31: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

A Devotional Thought From Acts

While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the Temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.     Acts 25:8

          Paul, having been taken into custody by the Romans because of the complaints of the religious leaders of Jerusalem, now stands before Festus the governor. In response to complaints made against him, he says, “I have not broken the law. I have not broken the religious law of my people, and I have not broken Caesar’s law, the law of the Romans. Those who are making complaints against me, and want me punished, cannot prove anything. They just complain in an effort to silence my message and get me out of their hair.”

          There are two things of deep significance in how Paul defends himself and his actions. The first is that he definitely states that his faith in Jesus, the Messiah of God, is not in disagreement with the ancient law of his people. It’s a clear statement of the Jewish roots of biblical Christianity: For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of the dry ground; (Isaiah 53:2). We learn in other places that Paul specifically says that Jesus is the fulfillment of what the prophets have been telling God’s people for centuries. At the time Paul was preaching, just like today, it would require a change in their thinking to recognize that God had fulfilled exactly what He said He was going to do. But even if Paul’s accusers decided to reject Jesus it did not change the reality that Jesus was the Son of God in human flesh Who is the Promised One of ancient Israel, and savior of the entire world. It is to Jesus that all the messianic prophecies of Old Testament scripture lead, and His resurrection from the dead proves that He is the One.

          Secondly, Paul indicates that in his preaching of the resurrected Jesus as savior, and the One to Whom people of all sorts and conditions should give their hearts in faith, was not a crime against Roman governmental law. We who live in the freedom of western civilization recognize that today, and our societies should do everything possible to accommodate the religious values of people of faith, all faiths. At the same time people of all faiths must realize that God’s word declares (written by the very same Paul, I might add) Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers (Romans 13:1). The government that is governing rightly must not say to its religious citizens change your faith or go to jail, it must find an alternative that will keep freedom of religion viable, especially in dealing with Christians who, because of the teaching of the word of God, are predisposed to be good citizens, even under Nero. And, of course, Christians must find a way with God’s help to maintain their biblical faith in a country that is continually turning from the values put forward in the Bible.

The Meaning Of The Gospel Of Christ

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses… Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.     Acts 13:38,39,46

Preaching the gospel to people who had never heard it before, the apostle Paul, declares that Jesus is the Savior, and that He is the One who brings humanity forgiveness of sins. He is the One who justifies human beings and makes them right with God. The religious law of Moses or any other religious law in the entire world cannot justify any individual in God’s sight because if taken at face value laws show that each human being is a sinner in need of forgiveness. You cannot get forgiveness through those religious laws. Through Jesus and Jesus alone there is true forgiveness for your sins, and by that a right relationship with the living God.

As is always the case some who heard that message reacted with unbelief. Luke (Acts 13:45) says that some were filled with envy, and spake against those things… contradicting and blaspheming. They refused to accept this straightforward message of salvation even though Paul had linked it with all that had gone before in the Old Testament. They refused to believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior. At that point Paul makes this amazing statement: seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life… (Acts 13:46). They decided that the gospel was not for them. They decided that! They had another way, true as far as it went, but they refused to follow it to its logical conclusion that God had kept His promise given in the Old Testament and actually sent the Savior. It is this Jesus through whom forgiveness of sins was being preached.

In essence, they had said we will not have this Man to be our Savior. We will not cast ourselves upon the gospel being declared by God in the modern world. We do not feel this is for us. We will take another way. Thus they cut themselves off from eternal life. This is true, as well, of all those in today’s world, the 21^st century, who will not believe that true forgiveness by God comes only through Jesus Christ. Don’t blame the gospel or the Christian church. We declare that all people can be forgiven, that all people are welcomed by God, that Jesus died for the sins of every man woman and child, but if they refuse Him they have made their own determination of what their relationship with Him will be. They judged themselves as unworthy of eternal life in the One in Whom they will not believe.

A Devotional Thought From The Acts Of The Apostles

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.     Acts 8:39

     The story is strange enough. An Ethiopian man in a chariot in the desert, who is reading a passage from Jewish religious scriptures, runs across a bystander on the side of the road who virtually appeared out of nowhere. As his chariot rolls by he is reading aloud and the stranger by the road calls out (in our modern vernacular) “Do you get it?” “How can I? I don’t have a teacher.” Implying that understanding biblical prophets is very hard without any biblical background.

     So Philip climbs up into the chariot and takes the opportunity to answer the man’s question; “Is the writer speaking of himself or of some other man?” Philip knows Isaiah is writing of Jesus. So he explains it to the traveler, who believes right there and then in Jesus and receives Him into his heart. To give the new believer the opportunity to confess this newfound faith, Philip baptizes him by immersion in a desert oasis.

     When they come up out of the water the Holy Spirit of God works a miracle, and Philip disappears, and the new Christian never sees him again. You would think that this might make him nervous. Did all this really happen? Does it really matter? Did I do something wrong and the preacher gave up on me? Will my friends believe this story? But instead he went on his way rejoicing. His salvation in Christ was real! Even though Philip’s disappearance was unexpected, and probably a little disconcerting, the Ethiopian just continued to rejoice in his salvation, and went home a new creation, a new Ethiopian, a new government official, and a new person, with a new life in Christ. His baptism and ours is a symbol of resurrection in Christ, and no matter what happens in our lives we can go on rejoicing.

A Devotional Thought From John’s Gospel

There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?     John 6:9

          But what are they among so many? In the hands of Jesus the little was much. To the disciples it was amazing to think Jesus could do such a thing, turn so little into so much. It must have been incredible to those who filled their hands and mouths with the crusty, chewy bread and dried fish. “I’m really hungry. How many pieces can I have?” may have been the question of many in that crowd. The disciple passing the basket of miracle food said, as much as you want. And the hungry fellow grabbed a fistful of fish and several chunks of bread. What about everybody else? All 5000 and more had as much as they wanted, and even so there were 12 baskets of leftover bread. What are those five loaves and two fish among more than 5000? So few among so many. It depends on Jesus.

          In a society quickly descending into a moral abyss with so many against the gospel and its moral dimension, Christians preaching traditional Christianity are the few among the many. At least, so the court decisions of recent years seem to indicate. The hopeful application of this record of the feeding of the 5000 is that though the preachers of righteousness seem to be so few among so many, Jesus can work miracles through us. Keep on keeping on. His word shall not return void. We gotta believe! It all depends on Jesus.

O Lord, let our testimony and ministries be the loaves and fish You use to feed our nation and the world the Bread of Life today. In Jesus’ name we ask, Amen.