The Perfect Revelation of God

Today I was reading Luke 6 and was reminded of this profound truth - God has revealed Himself through His commands.

It all started as I continued my wonderful journey in the Gospel of Luke. I have been in it now for well over a week and I'm just entering into the sixth chapter. In verse 30, while teaching the same content as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls His listeners to "give to everyone who asks of you".  It is my practice to underline all Scriptures that reveal the nature of God with a blue highlighter, and suddenly I felt the need to underline this particular command in blue. What was Holy Spirit revealing to me? I began to ponder the implications of this command and how it revealed who God is.

Suddenly 1 Peter was coming to mind again; "be Holy, as I am Holy". I am to do the very things that God does. God only asks me to do what He does, and like Jesus, I am to only do what I see my Father doing.

As I pondered this for a while my heart began to get stirred up. If I am commanded to do as He would do, and be as He would be, and He has asked me to give to anyone who asks, then I am also right to conclude that He too will "give to everyone who asks"! For God will not ask me to do something that He has is not willing to do Himself. He leads by example, for Hebrews says that He is both the Author and Perfecter of our faith. That means that He wrote it and then fulfilled it so that we would have an example to follow after.

Now my heart was excited as I began to grow in my knowledge of the Holy. A revelation found within the very commands of Scripture. So what else could I learn about God through looking at His commands?

Obviously, the command "give to everyone who asks" is a little easier to make connect with God's heart because we have other Scriptures that explicitly declare the same aspect of His nature. Matthew 7:7-12, 21:22, and 1 John 3:22 all tell us that God will give to those who ask. But what about the other commands? Does the same hold true for them as well? The answer to that question is a resounding "YES"! It is true of all of God's precepts; anything that God asks us to do has within itself the promise that He will do, and has already done, the very same thing for us (only to it's perfection). In fact, after teaching us in Matthew 7 to "ask, seek and knock", Jesus concludes His excerpt on the art of giving to everyone who asks by saying these words:

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

If 'do unto others' is how Jesus concludes His teaching regarding how the Father will respond to those who ask, and we know that we too are to give to those who ask. What should we conclude about His statement that this very principle sums up the Law and the Prophets? What does that tell us about God's heart as revealed through the Law?

So I began to ask myself the question. What does it look like to read the Law through the lens of that principle of doing unto others? If He only asks me to do what He does, and He declares that it sums up the Law, then what will He do for me through my obedience to His commands?

I took a few moments to meditate on some well known commands written in the Law of Moses, focusing on God's aspect of the command - His promised response attached to my obedience, and what it reveals about His nature. I also took some time to search out and attach other Scriptural references to ensure that I was not merely making up my own revelation, but that it actually agreed with the revelation given to us by the Prophets and most importantly, Jesus.

Here are my meditations:

"You shall have no other God before Me":...if you will depend upon Me alone, then I will be your entire Source and will supply all your needs in and of Myself. I know what you have need of before you ask. Pagans run after food and drink, but don't worry about it because you are no longer foreign to me. As you have chosen Me, so will I chose you as the object of My blessing. (Phil 4:19, Matt 12:29-31)

"You shall not commit adultery" : ...as you have chosen to be faithful to Me, so also will I be Faithful to you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. As a Bridegroom marries His bride, so will I marry you and be faithful to you forever, for I will put an end to death and then nothing shall separate our love, both now and forever! (Romans 8:38-39, Isaiah 62:5, 1 Corinthians 15:26, Rev 19:9)

"You shall not steal": ...do not take what is not yours, and in return, I too covenant that I will not violate your free will by taking anything of your own that has not been freely given to Me, including your transgressions! (Matt 11:28, Matt 6:12, 1 John 1:9, Exodus 34:7, Deut 7:10)

Those are just a few examples that I chose to meditate upon while writing this post, but the Bible is full of these promises (because it is full of God's commands!) So the next time you come across a command, why not take some time and ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you the glory of His promises hidden within each of His commands.  His commands were never meant to be burdensome, but are the means by which we enter into His rest, while demonstrating our love towards Him. Yet even more amazingly, they are the means by which He chooses to lavish His blessing upon those who have ears to hear and who hunger and thirst after His righteousness.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I pray that you have a great day of revelation as you gaze upon Jesus through the lens of God's perfect law!

Blessings,
Jon

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes." - Psalm 19:7-8

For these two bear witness to the righteousness of Jesus - the Law and the Prophets. And do not suppose that He came to throw down the law or the prophets - He did not come to throw down, but to fulfill them. For we have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (Romans 3:21, Matt 5:17, John 1:45)

Christian Fundraisers Part II

I received a "spirited" comment from someone regarding my recent post "Christian Fundraisers" and unfortunately, in my haste, deleted the comment from record. I wish I had not done so, as it raised some important clarifications regarding finances and the Kingdom.

So, this is a response letter to Anonymous. I hope you take the time to read it:


Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for your comment. I would like to start by apologizing for my abbreviated post in which I only communicated on one aspect of Christian Fundraisers. The truth of the matter is that us "IHOPer's" have a great appreciation for those who "work hard" and are a "blessing" through gifts of finance. You are the reason that missionary exploits, including those of the International House of Prayer, are carried out around the globe and the gospel is being preached to all nations. Thank You!

In the book of Nehemiah we see an excellent example of the need for people such as yourself. After being in captivity, Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple, and demonstrated the partnership between those who "work hard" and the "lazy farts" who are called to minister before the Lord.

"So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron." - Nehemiah 12:47 (NIV)

The entire country was funding the House of Prayer! However, we see that partnership soon fell apart and Nehemiah once again had to bring reformation back to Israel:

"...I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing...I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts. All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms." - Nehemiah 13:6-12 (NIV)

The Family of God has always been asked to be one of many parts with different assignments. For some of us, that assignment is being in the place of night and day worship and intercession, and it is our joy! Others, perhaps yourself, have been asked to minister as laborers in the market place. It is your joy to bring finances into the storehouses for the purpose of funding God's work in the earth. That too is our joy!

Our Father has asked His children to bring to Him offerings of gold, silver and bronze for the purpose of funding His work in the earth, and I would be greatly amiss if I portrayed God as anything less then the "Divine Fundraiser". Today He continues to call us to raise money for the work of the Kingdom, including the modern day expression of the temple, the priests and many other mandates such as widows and orphans. It is His chosen method of sacrifice and we do well to agree with His statue, and that is my concern. Agreeing with what God has prescribed as His chosen means of demonstrating Himself.

We don't need to look far into human history to see that we have a disposition for adapting God's commands. In Genesis 3, Eve modified "You must not eat" into "...if we touch it we will die". That personal interpretation of God's expressed will was disastrous for all of us! Undoubtedly, Eve was just doing what she thought best by extending the bounds of God's command to further protect herself. It had the appearance of wisdom but it was a clear deviation from God's revealed will. 

Not long after that we see the sins of the father being visited upon the children. Genesis 4 says this:

"In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”  Gensis 4:4-7 (NIV)

It is apparent in this passage that both Cain and Abel had knowledge of what the Lord had prescribed. We don't know exactly what that statute was but it is apparent from the Lord's response that Cain had not done as he was commanded. Cain was a farmer, and in his eyes the fruit of the soil would have held great value and pride. It was the fruit of his labor and would surely be equally as good as the fat of an animal. His actions demonstrate that he was bringing to God what he thought would be pleasing, otherwise he would not have been downcast by the Lord not looking favorably upon it. Cain did what he thought was best and that made a way for him to enter into great sin, he killed his brother by agreeing to participate with the spirit of murder. 

My concern for us today is that we have once again gone the way of Cain and misappropriated God's command in regards to dealing with the sick. God gave us a specific directive when it comes to how we should deal with those who are sick among us:

"Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." - James 5:14 (NIV)

The Scriptures tell us that God's precepts are perfect, good for reviving the soul, rejoicing the heart and bringing light to the eyes. (Psalm 19) And conversely, our own interpretations of His precepts open the door to sin, which is crouching at our door waiting to destroy us. (Genesis 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8).

And so we must be clear - raising money is not a sin and praying is not laziness - disobedience is sin! Therefore, if God has asked me to do one thing, and I determine to do another; no matter how good, noble and right it may appear, I have committed rebellion against God. I have gone the way of Cain and murder is crouching at my door.

One well understood teaching of Scripture is in regards to the poor; we are to take up an offering and distribute the money for their benefit. For us to merely wish them well and pray for their needs, when we have the means of feeding and clothing their naked bodies demonstrates that we have not been made perfect in love (read James 2). Likewise, we have a clear command on what to do with our sick. (James 5) If we have someone who is sick among us and we do not call the elders to pray and anoint this person with oil, then we too have misappropriated God's commands.

Or beloved James has a wealth of teaching for us, and once again brings it into perspective when he declared: "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins." - James 4:17.

It is our knowledge of God's will that makes us responsible for doing God's will, and doing it in it's appropriate context. For as my wife would say "Doing the right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing!". We must be diligent in never misappropriating God's commands, interchanging one directive for another. We are to continuously be listening to His voice, trusting and obeying the One who is both the Author and perfecter of our faith.

In closing, I would like to apologize for not esteeming in my previous post those who faithfully give money for the Kingdom. You are a blessing to us all. May prayer is that we will both grow in our understanding of what is pleasing and acceptable in the eyes of our Lord, so that when He soon returns we may be found faithful. Bless you in your giving and my desire is that you will be able to bless me in my prayers.

Sincerely,

Jon Loeppky