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Thoughts for Thursday

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 25

When was the last time you prayed for specifically and directly for wisdom? If you are like me, you don’t do it nearly often enough. Just imagine what a day would be like if you could go through it having perfect wisdom to act on every situation that arose. You would make no mistakes in judgment or action; that would be wonderful! But we don’t have such perfect wisdom, do we? Even though God promises us that he will give us wisdom if we ask Him for it (James 1:5). Our lack of wisdom and our failure to ask God for wisdom when we need it makes us prone to mistakes and failures. But when we turn to God, we find that He is wisdom, and therefore will and can never make mistakes. In the great organizations and corporations around us, leaders are those who make the most decisions while making the fewest mistakes. We need to hand over leadership to God, because He makes every decision without ever making any mistakes.

What decisions do we need to make regarding our lives? We tend to go with our own feelings and desires when we make up our mind about something. If we would commit the matter to God, we would make the decision without error. This applies to matters in our personal and family life, to matters concerning our work or school, to issues relating to God’s Assembly, to our thought and prayer life, to our Bible study, to the issues on which we need to have firm convictions. These things all require wisdom. And it is possible to make the right decisions about them all. Our text speaks of the only wise God. He is the only One who is always wise. And He is willing – and desirous – to share that wisdom with us.

I have a decision to make, and so do you. Decide with me that you will begin today to regularly and specifically ask God to give you wisdom. Whenever decision time appears, pray for wisdom. And expect things to be different. -Jim MacIntosh

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Thought for Thursday

Thursday, September 10th, 2009
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. 1 Corinthians 16:22

When you got up this morning, whose face were you the most anxious to see? Was it a spouse, one of your children, or perhaps a parent? After a break of even one night, we find ourselves anxious to see the faces of those we love the dearest. Nothing else matters, until we see those faces, and eveything else falls into place, because the ones who matter the most to us are within our view. I think Paul must have had something like that in mind when he penned the word Maranatha. At the coming of the Lord he would see again the face of the one who became to precious to him on the Damascus Road.

Do you know what a transliteration is? Simply put, it’s a word in one language that is placed in another language without being translated. A prime example is ‘baptism’. Bible translaters took the Greek word, which means ‘immerse’ or ‘submerge’ and made an English word out of it, because they didn’t want to offend religious leaders and a king who preferred the unscriptural sprinkling approach to the ordinance. Here in today’s text is another transliteration, although not nearly so well known.

Maranatha is an Aramaic word that means ‘The Lord is coming’. For some reason, it was not translated into English by those who assembled the King James Version of our Bible. But that’s OK, it means we have this beautiful word, and we can enjoy it and use it, knowing it is both a promise and a prayer. Much of its meaning is contained in the prayer of the Apostle John in the last chapter of our Bible: Even so, come Lord Jesus. Those Christians who have drawn the closest to the Lord have learned the meaning of Maranatha.

Why is the coming of the Lord so important to those who are closest to Him? Because they have learned that nothing else is important. They have learned that the cares and affairs of this life are for today and will be gone tomorrow. They have learned that the burdens and trials that come our way are only for this life and with the coming of the Lord will be forever banished. They have learned that at His coming, the frailties of the flesh, the disappointments of this life, and the stumblings and strayings of our humanity fade from view forever.

Maranatha means closing the door to this life, and welcoming the presence of our Saviour. If it be by the rapture, how glorious that day will be! If it be by death, how sweet to awake in the arms of Jesus! Maranatha, dear brothers and sisters, the Lord IS coming! -Jim MacIntosh

 

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Lesson for the Lord’s Day

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, but now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1 Corinthians 15:19-20

Communists used to make fun of Christians by saying that all they had was after this life. One of their so-called poets, Joe Hill, had a famous mocking line: Work and pray, live on hay, you’ll get pie in the sky when you die. Poor Joe Hill didn’t have much for a reference point; an execution squad shot him for a murder he probably didn’t commit when he wouldn’t use the alibi of being with another man’s wife at the time of the murder. Sadly, much of the world shares Joe Hill’s belief that the Christian is missing out on all that is good in this life, and will probably miss out in the next. How very wrong they are on both counts. Paul reminds us in today’s text that because of the resurrection, Christians have the best prospects for time and for eternity.

The most important element in life is hope, and it is part of our reaqson for being at all stages of life. Teenagers hope for a drivers lcense and a nice car, and for a glamorous girlfriend/boyfriend. Students hope for a great job and a fulfilling life. Young people hope for the best for their families and careers; middle aged people hope for a great time in retirement; retired people hope for good health as long as possible; and those in poor health hope the doctors find a cure. We need hope, it’s what gives us a reason for living, for looking forward to tomorrow and next year. That’s the way humanity is built. Without hope, we die. Do we have hope today as we gather to remember the One who died to give us assurance of hope? The certain and glorious hope of eternal salvation is rooted and founded in nothing more and nothing less than the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ.

Our gathering to remember the Lord today causes us to look backward to Calvary. We remember how much He suffered, how much He paid, how much He loved, to rescue poor sinners from eternal perdition. We remember His death. But we also remember His resurrection. Because He died, we have no fear of hell. Because He lives, we have assurance of Heaven.

Without the resurrection, we would be miserable. But we rejoice today, because He lives. And we will live forever with Him. -Jim MacIntosh

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Sermon for a Saturday

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:26

There is a legal procedure that Canadian judges can exercise in special cases where a person is convicted of a crime, but where the judge feels the charge was unfair or where the judge feels the person is highly unlikely to ever commit that crime again. The procedure is called an unconditional discharge. When the judge issues an unconditional discharge, the condemned person is deemed not to have any criminal record. The slate is wiped clean. On a much more grand and glorious scale, Paul is telling about a similar type of unconditional discharge for those of us who are guilty before God but who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ for cleansing.

Just as an unconditional discharge is only for those who have admitted their guilt, so too the righteousness of Christ is only available for those of us who have acknowledged to God that we are helpless and hopeless sinners. But while unconditional discharges are usually only for those who commit less serious crimes, the righteousness of Christ is available to all sinners without exception. By imputing Christ’s righteousness to us, God can give the guilty a perfect standing before Himself. But did you notice the lovely title that is included in this verse? The Saviour is the Justifier.

Those of us who have believed in Jesus have received our salvation from the Justifier. No one else can declare us just, regardless of what the Romish priest tells the conscience-ridden people who come to his confessional. The only man who can forgive sins is the Justifier. Nobody else paid the price for our sins. A priest might assign pennance to a confessor, but that will never pay for sins. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no understanding of God’s holiness and of sin’s awfulness. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus can take away sin. So only He can tell us we are just before God.

Do you appreciate your righteousness before God today? You owe it all to the Justifier! To Him be all the glory. -Jim MacIntosh

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Tidings for Tuesday

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

Which devour widow’s houses, and for a shew make long prayers; the same shall receive greater damnation. Luke 20:47

Many years ago, a teenage friend of mine and I were sitting on our bicycles, watching the local minister of the little United church has he turned onto the road leading to his home. It was a gravel road, and the man of the cloth had a heavy foot, spinning his tires as he made the turn. Gravel stones flew and the rear end of the car fish-tailed as it approached the narrow bridge, avoiding the guardrails of the bridge by only a few inches (this was in pre-metric days). We shook our heads at such a display of reckless driving, and my friend made the observation, ‘It’s a good thing he’s got a sure ticket to heaven, ’cause he’s going to get there quick’. For some reason, he thought that the minister of a church would be automatically assured of Heaven. Actually, there are many people who think that. The scribes and the Pharisees of whom Jesus was speaking in today’s text apparently thought that. What a rude awakening they have had!

There was an old law, long since repealed, that enabled people to escape the consequences of serious crimes if they could read a portion of the Bible in court. Called ‘benefit of clergy’, this law existed during a time when few people could read or write. Some people actually escaped the gallows by using this loophole. The scribes and Pharisees appeared to think that their knowledge and still in Scriptures was enough to assure them of escaping damnation. So they were unkind to those they considered less than themselves, and were heartless toward the poor. Jesus warned them to search the scriptures because in them they thought they had eternal life, but in reality the Scriptures spoke of Christ. They failed to recognize the One of Whom Scripture spoke, and are now in hell. All about us are religious people who are relying on their religion, not on the Lord Jesus. Tragic is their end!

It would be good if all of us had the same knowledge of Scripture that the scribes and Pharisees had. It would be good if we spent as much time in prayer as they did, although we should do our praying in the closet, not in the market.

Have we escaped damnation? Not by our prayers or our Bible reading, we haven’t. Not by being more pious than others, we haven’t. By the blood of our Saviour, we have. In deep humility, let us give thanks to the Lord Jesus today. Not of ourselves… all of Himself. -Jim MacIntosh

 

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Tidings for Tuesday

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off. Psalm 138:6

When K.C. Irving died, an incredible variety of people showed up at the funeral home to pay their respects. Mr. Irving was a billionaire industrialist who made his fortune in the energy, forestry, and services industries, and during his 92 years encountered many thousands of people, most of whom he knew on a first-name basis. I was sent to interview some of the people in the lineup at the funeral home. The premier of the Province of New Brunswick was there. So were many of the current and former government ministers, and the heads of the largest companies in the city and in the province. But so too were some of the ordinary people with whom one would never associate the name with that of a billionaire. I spoke with a retired janitor whose job was the clean the floors of Mr. Irving’s headquarters. He told me Mr. Irving never passed him in the hallway or encountered him on the street without pausing to chat about family, weather, and the issues of the day. Other people of humble means told me the same types of stories. Mr. Irving apparently never encountered anybody who was beneath the dignity of his company. Mind you, he was also comfortable in the company of great leaders and men of power, and he skillfully used his friendship with them to his advantage. So he was only partly like the God of Heaven in His relationship with people.

Compared to God, Mr. Irving was a pauper. The One Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and the wealth in every mine is the holder of all resources and power. He is the only One who is worth knowing, and yet, to know Him, we must not aspire to wealth and power, but to humility and poverty. Those of us who can make a case for getting no respect in this world can rest assured of the respect of the Almighty.

This is not a small thing to know and understand. This is a tremendous lesson for us to grasp. As those about us engage in name-dropping, bragging about the wonderful people who they know, we can send up a little prayer of thanks that we know the One who is greater than all.

Pride is the greatest sin. It’s also foolish to be proud because we have nothing to be proud of. God appreciates the lowly, because they are honest about themselves. Are you? -Jim MacIntosh

 

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Thought for Thursday

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Yet will I leave a remnant that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. Ezekiel 6:8

It seemed a never-ending sea of vehicles ahead of us as we made our way north on the New Jersey Turnpike on a Friday evening. The volume of traffic was almost unbelievable, and it was overwhelming. We seemed but an insignificant speck on what is one of the most heavily travelled highways in the world. But as the car ahead moved to another lane and I moved up behind the next car, its bright bumper sticker grabbed my attention. The message was like a beacon in the darkness, an oasis in the desert. It read ‘Christ died for the ungodly.’ I knew it was a Christian, because I have never seen any unbeliever have anything to do with that text. The driver of that car will never know what a cheer his bumper sticker was to us that day. Just one other Christian’s car, that’s all I saw. Amid the many thousands of vehicles heading north on that busy highway that day, there was a tiny remnant that I identified as belonging to the Lord. But how precious that remnant was!

Murray McCandless once said that a Christian is glad even to see another Christian’s dog. There is something very special in encountering other believers, in identifying someone who is part of the remnant that belongs to Christ. It’s not only that there are so few of us, but that we are so precious to each other. The remnant that God has so faithfully provided is made up of fellow believers who, because of Christ’s love for us and ours to him, we are able to love as brothers and sisters in the faith. As long as we can identify each other.

We could carry our Bibles at all times, with Gospel texts in bold letters; that would help others to identify us as Christ’s. But there are many other ways as well that we can enable others to identify us as part of the remnant. I have met some wonderful Christians through the simple act of giving thanks for food while at a restaurant. What about our language and our deportment, do we keep ourselves from the scruffy and filthy talk and behaviour of the world? Other saints can recognize us that way. Playing hymns or listening to music or Gospel preaching on our entertainment devices is also another identifier. We should make it a point to act and look in such a way that fellow believers will be able to identify us as part of the remnant.

Is the remnant that belongs to the Lord precious to you? -Jim MacIntosh

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