Joel Question 2 - Israel kept sinning

Why did the Israelites time after time rebel against the Lord and sin? Did they simply not learn from the past or did the younger generations not care?

The people of Israel are in a sense no different to anyone else; for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Sin is the reality for each of us in our fallen world.

In thinking of the Israelites, God had chosen, called and revealed himself to them. Specifically (looking at Exodus 16 ff after their rescue from Egypt where they saw all the power of God at work in the crossing of the red sea), they soon (within days) began to doubt God’s power, plan, provision and presence (Ex 16ff), grumbling against him (Ex 16:2), longing for things as they were (Ex 16:3), refusing to keep the command of the Lord (16:28) and accusing Him of of leaving them (Ex 17:7). They showed a lack of trust in the Lord, and a constant bent to idolatry.

Yet, although, God had done all this, they did not listen. Judges 2:16 ff 16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD's commands.

Psalms 105, 106 summarise the Lord’s faithfulness and the peoples rebellion. Psalm 95 tells us that they had hardened their hearts.

Here are a couple of other thoughts.

1/ These things happened to the people of Israel, that we might lean from them, be warned by them, and take courage in out temptations. 1 Cor 10:11ff 11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

2/ these things happened to warn us also not to have hardened hearts towards God (Ps 95:8, Heb 3:7)

Some closing thoughts.

Sin is deceptive – it might even feel good or normal, hence 1 Cor 6:9 ‘do not be deceived’. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit - therefore , honour God with your body. (1 Cor 6:19).

We need to remember that if we do sin, the blood of Jesus washes away every sin.

Finally, we need each other in this Hebrew 2:7-12. (see v 12 below).

7So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.'
11So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Col

Question 1 from Joel = Assurance

In Joel, when it says everyone who calls out to the Lord will be saved – how do you know if when you call you are calling the right way. Nothing feels like enough or I feel I am not doing what God wants. How do you know our salvation is certain?

This phrase to call on the name of the Lord is not in isolation in Joel. The Context of this phrase is Joel's call to the rebellious people to return to him with all their heart (2:12), to rend their hearts and not garments (2:13), and the promise of God to restore his people by the pouring out of His Spirit on them. It is in the pouring out of the Spirit that God will change our hearts - The hearts of stone that hardened towards him. The prophet Ezekiel (36:24ff) also speaks of this day.

24 " 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness.

This is the day when God will save. The pictures of washing and a new heart are echoed in Titus 3:3ff..

3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

The sacrifice of Jesus for our sins and the pouring out of the spirit of God is the salvation to which the message of Joel looks.

Salvation in a wider bible perspective is a rescue from sin and its consequence. It is something that God does – and we trust him in this.

Isaiah 25:9ff 9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

Calling out to God is not simply a mouthing of words, but doing God’s will too, for "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matt 7:21). Of course, that is what is behind Joel’s message too.

However, we must remember whose name we trust – in whose name we call. It is the name of the Lord Jesus, for he is the saviour – The angel told Mary, ‘you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ (Matt 1:21).

So, Jesus saves. And trusting in Him – his sacrifice for our sins – is how we are saved. (John 3:16). And so, we call out to him.

When we feel that our salvation seems like something small, we need to remember, that it was a costly salvation. It is enough – it is sufficient, for the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7ff).

Yet, even though our salvation is secure in Christ, we still sin, and we will still struggle with sin. Often our feelings will accuse us. Paul in Rom 7:15 ff, after recounting his sin, says what a wretched man that I am. Here are a couple of closing thoughts. We need to remember that even though we still sin and Satan may accuse Jesus is our advocate and intercessor (Rom 8:31ff), the spirit helps us in our weakness (Rom 8:26ff), and nothing can separate us from the love of God that we have in Christ Jesus (Rom 8 37ff)... I could go on.

Salvation is certain not because of our feelings, but rather because of the gracious promise of God that whoever comes to him, he will in no way cast out (John 6:35ff).

35And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39And this is the Father's will which hath
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

Col

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Were women just created to keep humans from dying out?

A question from the feedback cards

'If women and men only get married for the purpose of sex, was woman then only created for the purpose of keeping the human race from dying out?'.

The short answer is 'no' but it's still a good question to ask from 1 Corinthians 7.

So a fuller answer...

1 Corinthians 7 is not saying that the only reason to get married is sex. Rather Paul is stating a strong guideline = if you are single then you have more time to serve the Lord. That's a good thing and a person ought not to feel they have to get married. However, this is really only if you have the (for want of a better phrase) 'the gift of singeleness', i.e. you can be single, serve the Lord well and not stumble into sexual immorality because you can't control your

natural sexual passions.

There is more the Bible says on man and woman and in particular it's important to have a look at Genesis 1-2.

1. Both man AND woman are God's intention for 'humankind'.Woman is not an afterthought or add on. So Genesis 1:26-27 'man' is created

male and female. They are both human and equal before God. A man is not better or more human than a woman. Then at v28-30 here we see the purpose

for BOTH man and woman is to multiply and rule over the earth under God. Then v31 we see this fits God's purpose for the world, i.e. both man and

woman are God's purpose.

2. Woman is created for a relationship with man.

So when we read Genesis 2 we get another (more detailed) angle on the creation of man and woman. Verse 18 and verse 20b we see that out of all the

earth (plants & creatures) nothing fits man as a 'helper'. So God creates woman to be man's helper. There's two things to say here (a) this should not

be seen as negative since God is frequently described as Israel's 'helper' in the OT (see Exodus 18:4, Deuteronomy 33:29, Psalm 10:4, Psalm 27:9, Psalm

118:7, Hosea 13:9, and then NT Hebrews 13:6 quotes the OT). So 'helper speaks not of owning or bossing someone around but a deep relationship of

care and support - companionship, partnership, intimacy. (b) it's clear woman is not created to keep the human race from dying out but to be the companion of man. So we see that man, almost, speaks the first poem expressing how well they fit and how right woman is for man.

James.

SMS Q's Faith

Q. Won’t praying improve our relationship with God

No and yes. Our relationship with God is by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone. Jesus has done everything needed to be done for us to have a perfect relationship with God. Christians are children of God and eternally members of his family. Nothing can change that in the slightest. That is extremely encouraging and gives us great confidence and assurance. So “no.”
But that is not the whole story. God is personal. We are personal. Our relationship with God is personal. So, just as any other personal relationship thrives on communication, so our personal relationship with God thrives on communication as we read his word and pray to him. Our awareness of God, and all that he has done to establish our perfect relationship with him, increases as we read the Bible and pray. So, “yes.”

But, it is possible to “fall away from the living God.” We can stop being God's people. So reading the Bible and praying and being in church and serving others and telling others about Jesus all keep us from moving away from God in our lives and help us to remain faithful and obedient. But, at the same time we can have confidence in God that he will keep us close to him.

Confused? Pray about it. Remember, Jesus has done everything necessary for us to have a perfect relationship with God. And we need to do everything God tells us to do to stay close to him.


Neil.
(thoughts and questions ~ neil@nac.asn.au)

SMS Q's divorce and adultery 3

How do we deal with parents that have been divorced and now happily married with a Christian partner. Is this wrong?

Another good question. All people, including Christians, do sinful things. However, that is not a good reason for a Christian to marry a non-Christian. Christians know that is wrong, unhelpful and potentially disastrous. But in our messy world sometimes non-Christian people get divorced and later end up married to people who become Christians. According to 1 Corinthians 7 Paul says if the non-Christian partner wants to remain married then remain married. Sometimes, Christians marry non-Christians. Sometimes it isn’t disastrous. And the same principle for Corinthians would apply.

Neil.
(thoughts or questions ~ neil@nac.asn.au)

SMS Q's divorce and adultery 2

Does not the church re-marry couples? What are the churches reasoning?

This is a really good question. The answer is hard because different people think differently about what the Bible says. In Mark 10:2-10 Jesus teaches his disciples about divorce. He explains that: “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.” It seems that he is talking about people who get divorced in order to marry someone else. That thought might be behind the other passages in 1 Cor 7 and the other gospels. However, although many people who get divorced do so in order to marry someone else, some get divorced for other reasons, like brutality. If Jesus is saying that only people who get divorced to marry someone else are committing adultery, then those people who get divorced for other reasons are not committing adultery. However, some ministers think that Jesus is saying that there is no ground for divorce and if a Christian gets divorced then they are to remain single or remarry their spouse. I know of one couple who did exactly that. Got divorced and later remarried each other.

It is really helpful for married Christians who are struggling to talk with their minister/pastor about what they think the Bible says about divorce. We need to put in the hard work of working out what the Bible says and be clear in our own minds so we don’t go against what we think the Bible says, for that would be disobedience. And we need to do that before our marriages get too far down the road to divorce .

Neil.
(thoughts or questions - neil@nac.asn.au)

SMS Q's divorce and adultery 1

Q1: What does it mean for widows who get married?

Paul talks about widows in 1 Corinthians 7. In line with the main point he is making he recommends they “remain” as they are. i.e. He says they will have more opportunities for serving Christ if they remain single. In 1 Cor 7 he is probably writing to older widows. Death brings a marriage to an end, as it does all other contracts. So widows are free to remarry.

He writes about young widows in 1 Timothy 5:11 where what he says reflects the situation of young women who have been married and had a normal sex life and then are widowed. In such a situation he would recommend they remarry.

Neil.
(thoughts or questions - neil@nac.asn.au)