They Will Inherit the Earth – Lent with Bonhoeffer Day 10 – Purity 982
Purity 982 03/03/2023 Purity 982 Podcast
Purity 982 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo a late afternoon sun shining on the
glimmering surface of a swimming pool comes to us from yours truly as I took this
shot of the “happy place” that I found while on vacation in Myrtle Beach last Thursday
as I spent a good deal of the afternoon lounging pool side, catching the rays,
and braving the rather chilly waters to rejoice in the fact that I had
travelled far enough south to escape any semblance of winter and actually go
swimming outdoors without it being consider a polar bear plunge.
Well, it’s Saturday morning but I have to confess
that I have composed this message on Friday evening as the threat of snow has
me concerned that my morning hours may involve clearing a path to get out of my
driveway as I have to go work today. Although
my employer decided to welcome me back from vacation with a scheduled Saturday,
it won’t stop me from wishing all who either read or hear this message to have
a great weekend. I pray that you use the
time off to rejoice in all that the Lord has done for you and to take the time
to thank Him for all that He has provided.
I will be thanking the Lord for the job that
provides for my needs and will be
looking forward to quitting time as I will head north to my countryside home to
be with my wife no matter what the weather may have in store for my journey
there. I won’t mind because what lies at the end is worth the trip, to be in
the presence of my love.
Anyway, today is also the 10th Day of
lent and we are in the midst of a series as we have decided to take the 40 Day Journey
with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
As we will say each day of this journey, we take
this path to mark the season of Lent and to draw closer to God in anticipation
for the celebration of Easter, knowing that if we take this journey of
repentance seriously, the Lord will use it to change us too.
You can sign up to get this devotional yourself by
going to the Biblegateway link on the blog ((https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/40-Day-Journey-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/today)) .
Day 10
Bonhoeffer writes:
“No rights they might claim protect this community of
strangers in the world. Nor do they claim any such rights, for they are the
meek, who renounce all rights of their own for the sake of
Jesus Christ.
When they are berated, they are quiet. When violence is
done to them, they endure it. When they are cast out, they yield.
They do not sue for their rights; they do not make a scene
when injustice is done to them. They do not want rights of their own.…
But Jesus says, they will inherit the earth.
The earth belongs to those who are without rights and
power.
Those who now possess the earth with violence and injustice
will lose it, and those who renounce it here, who were meek unto the cross,
will rule over the new earth.”
Biblical Wisdom
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5
Questions to Ponder
- What does it mean to say
that disciples “renounce all rights of their own for the sake
of Jesus Christ”?
M.T. Clark: To follow the instructions given in the Beatitudes,
we would esteem others higher than ourselves out of love. To obey Christ’s
commands we would end up renouncing all our rights as we would turn the other
cheek if stricken, give to others generously, go the extra mile, love our
enemies, and bless those who curse us. All
for the sake of Christ we would do this, with the hope that the love we give
would open the eyes of the blind and be used by God to bring more into His
kingdom.
- Why would disciples “not
want rights of their own”?
M.T. Clark – Generally, to have rights of our own and demand
that they be upheld could cause us to sin through coveting or pride. A disciple would seek to emulate His teacher
and our teacher is Jesus who gave selflessly laid His life down to take away
the sins of the world. Christ’s
disciples would not want any rights of their own to give glory to their Lord and
Savior who they seek to represent.
- Should followers of Jesus be
non-violent in their response to evil?
M.T. Clark – Bonhoeffer has written elsewhere on this very point
from his commentary on the Beatitudes, stating that evil is overcome by patience
and endurance, stating essentially that violence seeks a response and when it doesn’t
get what it expects, outrage or
retaliation, it is shamed and overcome. We
seek to overcome evil with good, not to fight fire with fire. Blessed are the
peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)
- In what sense can it be said
that: “The earth belongs to those who are without rights and power”?
M.T. Clark: We surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We
surrender our rights and power to follow Him, to trust in Him. In order to be a
part of God’s kingdom we must surrender to the King, Jesus Christ. Our rights and
power of self sufficiency must be laid down to have true faith in Him and He
promises that the meek will inherit the earth.
Psalm Fragment
O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more. Psalm 10:17-18
Journal Reflections
- Are there any rights that
you would rather defend than “renounce…for the sake of Jesus Christ”?
Explain.
M.T. Clark: The right to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ to
others seems like one right we should not renounce as we are commanded to go
and make disciples of all nations and teach them everything that Jesus has
commanded us in the Great Commission.
Our right to study God’s word and to live according to God’s word seems
like other rights worthy of defending as scripture commands us to do so.
- Think of the way you do life
and live in relationships. Would you call yourself meek? Why, or why not?
M.T. Clark: One definition for meek is submissive and while my
past was somewhat rebellious, I have increasingly tried to be submissive to the
word of God and to the authority I serve under.
I am still a work in progress of course so I don’t think I would call myself
as meek as Jesus but I sure am not the rebel I used to be.
- Is there a situation in your
life now where you need the gift of meekness? If so, write about it. What
might be different in that situation if you were truly meek? What do you
need to do?
M.T. Clark: Recently, I was assigned training for new skills at
work and I get the impression that the organization wants me to utilize the
training I received. Although I was somewhat resistant to this demand, just
today I decided to fully submit to the writing on the wall and indicated that I
would be willing to do what ever was necessary to use the training I
received. I believe that this willing
submission is a way to be meek, so I guess I will see if this means I will “inherit
the earth at work” or not. But seriously, as Christians, I think we are
supposed to be helpful and serve where we are asked to serve so I guess I have
repented of my former resistance.
Intercessions
Pray for the
powerful, the arrogant, those who clamor most for their own rights, that they
might become truly meek and seek the good of others rather than their own good.
M. T. Clark:
Lord, I pray for the powerful and arrogant that they would see themselves
as you see them to convict their hearts to cause them to surrender to your
Lordship and to begin seeking the good of others rather than their own.
In Jesus
Name, I pray, Amen.
Prayer for Today
Lord Jesus, help me
to renounce my own rights for your sake. Give me the gift of meekness and make
me an “instrument of your peace.”
M.T.
Clark: In Jesus Name, I pray, Amen.
(40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.)
***As we are being
provided with Bible verses from the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we
will are taking a break from sharing a verse of the day from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”. We plan on
resuming that normal installment of the blog following Easter.***
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink’s “The
Sovereignty of God.”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By ARTHUR W. PINK
CHAPTER EIGHT
SOVEREIGNTY AND HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY
We turn now to
ponder,
III. How
is it possible for God to DECREE that men SHOULD commit certain sins, hold them
RESPONSIBLE in the committal of them, and adjudge them GUILTY because they
committed them?
Let us now consider the extreme case of
Judas. We hold that it is clear from Scripture that God decreed from all eternity that Judas should betray the Lord Jesus.
If anyone should challenge this statement we refer him to the prophecy of Zechariah
through whom God declared that His Son should be sold for “thirty pieces of
silver” (Zech. 11:12). As we have said in earlier pages, in prophecy God makes
known what will be, and in making
known what will be He is but revealing to us what He has ordained shall be. That Judas was the one through
whom the prophecy of Zechariah was fulfilled needs not to be argued. But now
the question we have to face is, Was Judas a responsible agent in fulfilling this decree of God? We reply that
he was. Responsibility attaches mainly to the motive and intention of
the one committing the act. This is recognized on every hand. Human law
distinguishes between a blow inflicted by accident (without evil design) and a
blow delivered with ‘malice
aforethought.’ Apply then this same principle to the case of Judas. What
was the design of his heart when he
bargained with the priests? Manifestly he had no conscious desire to fulfil any decree of God, though unknown
to himself he was actually doing so. On the contrary, his intention was evil only, and therefore, though God had decreed
and directed his act, nevertheless his
own evil intention rendered him justly guilty
as he afterwards acknowledged himself—“I have betrayed innocent blood.” It was the same with the Crucifixion of Christ.
Scripture plainly declares that He was “delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23),
and that though “the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against His Christ” yet, notwithstanding it was
but “for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:26, 28); which verses teach
very much more than a bare permission
by God, declaring, as they do, that the Crucifixion and all its details had
been decreed by God. Yet,
nevertheless, it was by “wicked hands,”
not merely “human hands” that our Lord was “crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).
“Wicked” because the intention of His
crucifiers was only evil.
But it might be
objected that if God decreed that Judas should
betray Christ, and that the Jews and Gentiles should crucify Him they could not do otherwise, and therefore, they
were not responsible for their intentions. The answer is, God had decreed that
they should perform the acts they
did, but in the actual perpetration of these deeds they were justly guilty because their
own purposes in the doing of them was evil only. Let it be emphatically
said that God does not produce the
sinful dispositions of any of His creatures, though He does restrain and direct them to the accomplishing of His own purposes. Hence He is
neither the Author nor the Approver of sin. This distinction was expressed thus
by Augustine: “That men sin proceeds from themselves; that in sinning they
perform this or that action, is from the power of God who divideth the darkness
according to His pleasure.” Thus it is written, “A man’s heart deviseth his
way: but the Lord directeth his steps”
(Prov. 16:9). What we would here insist upon is, that God’s decrees are not the
necessitating cause of the sins of
men but the foredetermined and prescribed boundings
and directings of men’s sinful acts.
In connection with the betrayal of Christ God did not decree that He should be
sold by one of His creatures and then take up a good man, instill an evil
desire into his heart and thus force
him to perform the terrible deed in order
to execute His decree. No; not so do the Scriptures represent it. Instead,
God decreed the act and selected the one who was to perform the act, but He did
not make him evil in order that he should perform the deed; on the
contrary, the betrayer was a “devil” at the time the Lord Jesus chose him as
one of the twelve (John 6:70), and in the exercise
and manifestation of his own deviltry God simply directed his actions, actions which were
perfectly agreeable to his own vile heart, and performed with the
most wicked intentions. Thus it was
with the Crucifixion.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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