Settled in Our Hearts

"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

1 Peter 5:10-11

As Peter wrapped up his letter, he warned how the devil prowls about seeking whom he may devour.  He told believers they all would experience afflictions and seasons of suffering, both of a spiritual and physical nature.  Jesus told His disciples they would hear of wars and commotions but not to be terrified, even when these proved to be more than rumours but the real thing.  There would be conflicts between nations, earthquakes, famine and pestilence.  Despite all these things, Peter said the God of all grace would be faithful to perfect, establish, strengthen and settle all who trust in Jesus.  When the lives of Christians are marked by fears, worries and anxiety, it is evidence we have stopped short of entering into the rest He has provided us to experience today.  God or our circumstances are not to be blamed for the cares we carry, but we must take responsbility for every one of them and cast them upon Jesus who cares for us.

When we hear what we deem to be bad or unwelcome news, we are naturally troubled--not settled.  We can be disturbed about the suffering others are experiencing or potential suffering we might someday face.  But God, the LORD who is a Saviour and has dominion forever, He has called us and is faithful to do all He has promised.  Christians are not at rest because they are ignorant of what people suffer in this world or never experience traumatic suffering themselves:  established by faith on our Rock of Salvation we are able to endure violent waves that would render others a ruin.  We can remain strong and steadfast in the LORD and in the power of His might because we trust Jesus and obey Him.

It is good for us to be reminded of our good standing and God's promises especially before and during times of trouble.  Jesus told His disciples what would happen in the future not so they would fret or worry, but so they would realise He was in control.  None of the persecution of the church was beyond the reach of God to redeem for His good purposes; not one satanic assault caught God off guard.  Jesus said in Luke 21:12-15, "But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. ¹³ But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. ¹⁴ Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; ¹⁵ for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist."  Because God would perfect, establish, strengthen and settle His people, they could be settled in their hearts by faith God would make them His witnesses in pressure situations.

Here is an interesting thing:  Jesus told His disciples they would be hauled before councils.  One might assume He did this so they could prepare statements concerning the divinity of Jesus Christ, His worthiness to be praised and their loyalty to Him--almost like preparing for a test or a job interview.  But Jesus told them this, not so they would prepare a speech, but to settle their hearts to trust Jesus to help them speak on the day.  The preparation required was to settle their minds and hearts, that it would be as if it was already done.  We say "That's settled!" when a decision has been made and there is no more to do, and this is fitting in the case of the disciples because Jesus Himself would be faithful to do the work.  How encouraging it is that God will settle us, and we can be settled in our hearts, confident in in His word and wisdom.

Warnings and Prophecy

When God led the children of Israel into the promised land, He enabled them to have victory over their enemies.  At the same time there was a degree of personal responsibility required from each tribe to rise up and possess their inheritance.  This meant dispossessing the inhabitants of the land who were well-established there.

God promised to give tribes and families land by lot according to their relative size.  Then He provided a sobering warning in Numbers 33:55-56:  "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. ⁵⁶ Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.'"  I have learned that God never gives warning needlessly.  When He warns it is not to draw attention to what could theoretically occur but what will most certainly happen.  Warnings are always prophetic in a sense, for there is not a boundary God has set man has not willfully transgressed.

Land with defined boarders had all been given to the children of Israel by God's grace, yet labour was required by them to drive out the inhabitants of the land.  If they were slack to do this, God would see to it those remaining people would be like irritants in their eyes and painful thorns in their sides that would harass them.  And then God said an even more confronting thing:  "...I will do to you as I thought to do to them."  What had God determined for the inhabitants of the land when their sin was full?  To drive them out, to destroy them completely.  If God's people would not be His faithful instruments of justice, then their folly would be returned upon their own heads.  They would be the ones driven out and destroyed.

The follower of Jesus is under no such command of conquest of land under the New Covenant.  Our inheritance is in heaven, and we also have rest to enter today by faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to Him.  Our weapons of warfare are not carnal but mighty in God to pull down strongholds in our own minds and hearts, to bring our physical bodies under submission to God's rule, being transformed from within rather than allowing ourselves to be conformed to a worldly mould.  We are to put to death the sins in our flesh like pride, selfishness, lying and stealing.  Our call is to humble ourselves before God, love God and one another, and be led by the Spirit according to God's word.  Jesus guides us to walk righteously personally in public and private.

If we choose a life of sin, there will be inescapable consequences because God does not show partiality in judgment.  The neglect of the children of Israel to fully drive out their enemies caused problems for them, and the believer's reluctance to put sin to death leads to ongoing problems and pain for us also.  Since God has an abundant life promised and a full reward planned for us, let us be those who labour to enter into His rest by faith marked by obedience in our personal lives.  God's grace is sufficient for us, and in our weakness His strength is made perfect.  It is not our failures we are to glory in but our Saviour Who is glorious and good.  We glorify our LORD when we heed his warnings and do all He has said.

God's Little Ones

In my reading and study of the Gospels I have learned to observe links between dialogue, action and the illustrations Jesus used in teaching.  A lot of valuable information and meaning can be lost when these connections are ignored.  Keeping the immediate context is of great importance to shed light not only on what happened but how the passage instructs us and why.  Observing these connections brings us right into the middle of the action, for teachings of Jesus to His disciples are instructions for us to take to heart.

Luke 17 begins with Jesus warning people over offenses.  He said it would be better to have a millstone hung around our necks and be thrown into the sea rather than offend one of His little ones.  He said in Luke 17:3-4, "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴ And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."  Jesus prefaced His statement that we ought to take heed to ourselves that we forgive others. The faults of our brother who sins against us seven times in a day is not to be our focal point:  our Master commands us to rebuke this brother so he might be restored, to forgive him when his offences are repeated again and again.  We cannot excuse our lack of forgiveness for his sin, for Jesus has given us this command and an example to follow by forgiving us.

Luke 17:5-6 reads, "And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." ⁶ So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."  The disciples rightly connected forgiving others with faith in God, for with God nothing is impossible.  Our sin would be the death of us--like having a millstone lashed to our necks and being thrown overboard a ship in the middle of the ocean--but by faith in Christ we can have victory over sin and put it far from us.  A little faith in God can uproot a well-established tree of unforgiveness and cast it into the depths sea with the rest of our transgressions (Micah 7:19).  By faith in God we can respond to the rebuke of Christ for our lack of forgiveness, repent and forgive as He has freely forgiven us.

The instruction of Jesus to His disciples concerning their responsibilities before God continued with an illustration in Luke 17:7-11:  "And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? ⁸ But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? ⁹ Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. ¹⁰ So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'"  Jesus taught His disciples by using a familiar example.  The role of servants were to cater to their master, to serve him until he was completely done eating and drinking.  After he was finished it was appropriate for the servants to enjoy the meal provided by him.  The servants did not do this out of the "goodness" of their hearts:  they did this because it was their responsibility and duty.

It might be when we forgive someone for an offence against us we feel we are being very generous and kind to them--like we are doing them a huge favour at our expense.  The story Jesus told shows it is not to our credit to rebuke or forgive anyone, for it is what Jesus requires of us as His servants.  Others may do as they will, but we (as one of God's little ones!) are to obey our Saviour and Master Jesus.  Our faith in Jesus is increased as we obey Him, trusting He is aware of our needs, how we feel and all we have suffered.  We can forgive others only because we have been forgiven by Jesus and been filled with the Holy Spirit.  Thus when we forgive it is not out of our goodness, fortitude or quality of character but because we are doing our duty as His servants.  In this way God receives the glory for our service unto Him in forgiving others and trusting Him, and He sees to it our needs are abundantly provided at His table.  Isn't God awesome?

A Discriminating Ear

"And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures."

Luke 24:45

Until Jesus opened the understanding of His disciples, they could not comprehend the spiritual and practical truth of God's word--despite their familiarity of passages, rote memorisation, obedience to the Law of Moses and teaching by Jesus.  This opening of understanding correlated with the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed upon them (John 20:22).  We must be spiritually regenerated before we can understand scriptures that are spiritually discerned.

This morning I spent an hour metal detecting and it provided an illustration of the importance of having our understanding opened by Jesus.  By waving a calibrated detector over sand, metal objects can be sensed which cannot be seen.  After a bit of practice the user can determine what sort of target lies under the sand by the volume, duration and clarity of the tone.  Unless the metal detector is turned on, it is of no value whatsoever.  On the flip side if it picks up all ferrous content in the sand or soil it is constant noise and cannot alert the user to dig a potentially valuable target.  Once the worthless iron and aluminium foil is tuned out (using discrimination), then a metal detector can be used effectively.

For the first 20 minutes of detecting, I did not notice my settings had been changed from the "pro" to the "coin" setting.  This meant I was not hearing everything I am accustomed to and likely missed many good targets.  Once this setting was adjusted I was able to better determine what objects were buried in the sand.  This prompted me to think about how reading a Bible without the aid of Jesus opening our understanding leaves us missing out why we read the Bible in the first place:  to know God, hear His voice, to receive correction, instruction and wisdom.  Reading the scriptures without having the help of the Holy Spirit to enlighten our understanding is like waving a metal detector without batteries over the sand:  no signals and thus no spiritual benefit.  Whilst there is great truth littering God's word in plain sight, there remain priceless nuggets of wisdom discovered under the surface.

How wondrous is the grace of God who opens the understanding of unlearned, ordinary people to receive divine truth faithful Old Testament prophets and angels are ignorant of!  Through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit enabled fisherman and tax collectors to walk in wisdom the learned chief priests and religious Pharisees could not comprehend.  Jesus grants His followers the ability to hear His still, small voice and strength to walk wisely.  A faint signal of a metal detector can indicate a great find, while a loud beep could be an empty soda can.  Let us be those who dig into God's word to discover what He is saying to us, valuing His wisdom over the worldly clamour all around us.  The sheep of the Good Shepherd hear His voice, and thus we learn to tune out the deceptions and distractions that are not of God, taking to heart His good word.