“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son…” (Colossians 1:13)

In the domain of darkness, the devil has dominion.  That is both a tongue-twister and a sobering truth.  You are either under Satan’s thumb, or you are a citizen of Jesus’ kingdom.  There is no third option for mankind.

With citizenship comes rights which do not belong to the foreigners of the darkness: the right to forgiveness, the right to bear His name, and the right to hope, just to name a few.  With citizenship in Christ’s kingdom comes belonging and worth. We may dwell as strangers and pilgrims in this foreign, broken land right now, but our citizenship cannot be revoked.  Mansions await, and the King watches over us through this mortal age.

As citizens of heaven, we are ambassadors of His kingdom – proclaiming the goodness of the King who will return.  This world is not our home, but our home is laid up in heaven.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5b)

            My car has a proximity alert feature.  When I am backing up, it gives an increasingly frequent set of beeps, reminding me of the nearness of any obstacles.  My van does not have this feature, and my flower beds have paid the price from time to time.  Apparently, rosebushes and one ton van bumpers are not meant to occupy the same space simultaneously.

            When we are aware of the nearness of something, we behave differently.  We stop, we adjust, and we think about what we will do or say next.  The nearness of others affects our behavior, or more precisely, the awareness of their nearness affects our behavior.  That’s why managers sometimes like to sneak up on their subordinates unawares.  It is also why law enforcement officers park on the backside of the bend in the road with the radar gun, not the front side.

            The Lord is near, whether or not we are aware of Him.  He counts the hairs on your head, and the secrets of our hearts are revealed before Him.  His invisible nature should not be confused with distance.  His eyes roam to and fro throughout this earth seeing all that is.  We must actively remind ourselves of His nearness.  The awareness of His proximity will help us to avoid many flower bed fiascos.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.  To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.” (Philippians 3:1)

Look around and you will see safeguards everywhere.  Grocery stories have little signs to guard us against slipping on newly-mopped aisles, tablesaws have stops to guard against kickback, we put guard rails on bunkbeds, safety barriers are in high traffic areas, and security guards in our schools.  In normal life, you will never need these safety measures.

Safeguards only exist for the worst case scenario.  They protect against what might happen in the worst case scenario.  They exist because accidents happen, bad people do the wrong thing, and life isn’t always normal.

Paul told the Philippians that it was worth the effort to write to them and remind them of things they already knew.  That’s another way of saying it is worth the effort for us to read things we already know.  Refreshing our minds with a return to well-worn passages is a safeguard against complacency and distraction.

A psalm a day keeps the devil away… or something like that.  Regular meditation on the Word is a safeguard for the soul.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing…” (Philippians 2:14)

            The low rumble of the grumbler can destroy the best of days.  The grumbler has found a point of irritation and allowed it to color his entire view of the world.  How easily we complain and criticize!

            Yet, grumbling is a choice.  It is the choice to play the victim and to lay blame at the feet of others, God, or fate.  It is to act as though you have no control, but that isn’t true.

You cannot choose all that happens to you in life, but you can choose your reaction.  Joy is a choice.  Choose blessings and to bless today – show yourself an innocent and blameless child of God.  Leave off the moaning and the whining.

“Today is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

            Jesus isn’t a quitter.  When you committed yourself to Him, He committed Himself to you.  As Paul says later in this letter, Jesus has “laid hold of” His people (see Php 3:12), and His desire is to perfect us into what we are meant to be.

            The perfecting process of the saints is referred to by many different names – “refining”, “disciplining”, “sharpening”, and “renewing” to name a few.  The picture is of an ever-upward spiral along the way of Christ that leads us both to a heavenly destination and a honing of our inner man.

            Character flaws such as selfishness, greed, malice, pride, and cowardice are driven out by the heat of trial, and the Christ-like virtues of service, joy, self-control, fortitude, love, and faithfulness are infused deep into the fibers of our being through the Word and work of the Lord.

            This process of perfection is what you are meant for, and I am confident that Jesus will finish the work He began in you.  Your story isn’t over yet.  What you are meant to be is further ahead down the road.  Don’t quit – press on.  Let Him refine you and renew you.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“From now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.” (Galatians 6:17)

            Paul may have started out as a pretty man, but he didn’t finish life that way.  Paul’s journeys involved shipwrecks and exposure to the elements which would have callused his hands and leathered his skin.  He endured beatings and at least one stoning that left him at death’s door.  His back would have been crisscrossed with angry, ropy scars paired with pockmarks of irritation across his skin.

            Paul’s body was weathered and branded, but brands denote ownership.  The brand of a cattleman is seared into his herd, so all may know to whom those longhorns belong.  Paul belonged to Jesus, and his body bore the marks of the Maker’s brand.  Paul had no regrets for his life in service to Jesus and the marks upon his body simply told the story of a life aimed toward heaven’s gates.

            Be not afraid to suffer for your Lord.  Lean into the hard and trying struggles.  Be proud of the brand.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.” (Galatians 5:3)

            Circumcision was THE issue in the early church, and congregations left and right were plagued by the potential for division over this issue.  Why?  Simply put – it is was an issue of authority and precedent.

            Circumcision was an Old Testament Jewish commandment, and it was a requirement for a Jew, but when Christ came, He instituted a new law – Christ’s law – found in the New Testament.  Which law were they supposed to follow?  If circumcision was accepted as necessary, they needed to take the rest of the stuff, too.  Animal sacrifice, Sabbath keeping, festivals, temple, priest system, etc. were all required as well… they didn’t get to cherry-pick; it was all or nothing.

            So where is the application for us today?  Circumcision isn’t really a debated topic anymore because everyone has accepted it is an individual choice and not a doctrinal obligation.  But there are other things we are tempted to bind on people today.  Human traditions have constantly been a struggle for God’s people – we must be careful to discern the difference between individual judgment and the issues of doctrinal truth which are universal.  Unity in Christ requires us to make careful examination between issues of Scripture (right and wrong) and preference.  Church unity can be shattered by our preferences being treated like necessities just as much as Scriptural necessities being treated like preferences.

            Let’s make sure that in matters of truth we stand unflinchingly and in matters of preference we show constant flexibility to meet the needs of each generation.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law…” (Galatians 4:4)

Jesus didn’t live in a vacuum.  He grew up in a Jewish community, in a Jewish family, and lived by the Old Testament laws God had given to the Hebrew nation.  Why does this matter?

It matters because if we are to fully understand Jesus, we must understand the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.  Jesus went to the temple, made offerings (not all offerings are for sin!), had to learn the Scriptures (see Luke 2:52), and follow the commands God laid down through Moses.  This is the context into which we receive the New Testament.  Context matters.

His first-century upbringing also matters because it reminds us that He knows what it is like to deal with the issues of family, culture, and political tension.  At times, His family relationships were complicated by His faith, and His service to God put Him squarely between the crossroads of politics and religion.  Navigating those waters was part of what He had to do, and His examples help us to understand how to do it, too.

God sent Jesus at the right time, the “fullness of time”, and the more we know about the historical context, the better we appreciate who our Savior is and how to imitate Him.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.” (Galatians 3:15)

Once a contract is signed, there is no going back – all parties are committed.  We understand that even in human agreements, you don’t just change the parts down the road when things get difficult.

God’s covenant speaks to His commitment to us through thick and thin.  He isn’t going to ditch you the first-time life gets difficult.  He knows you fail, He knows you sin, and He knows you need Jesus.  The covenant is His promise to not lay you aside when the conditions get rough.

However, the commitment to the covenant is needed on our side, too.  We aren’t allowed to just keep the verses we like and ignore the rest.  The whole counsel of God must be understood by every generation because each generation must stand by His Word amid the battlefield of the culture and trials their particular generation must face.  We must each individually know His Word because it is His Word for us.  We cannot lay it aside or add to it when the world changes.  The covenant was permanently ratified upon the cross.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites

“But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.” (Galatians 2:5)

When Paul and Barnabas spoke with the brethren in Jerusalem about accepting the Gentiles without requiring circumcision – it was an unpopular view.  Their lives became increasingly difficult because they refused to budge and accept circumcision.  Paul knew that if he would only compromise a little bit, life would get a lot easier… but it was a compromise he was unwilling to make.

We cannot afford to bend truth to the whims of culture or tradition because making that compromise removes the “truth of the gospel”.  The good news must remain preserved though the world would happily have us adjust and constantly pressures us to do so.

The gospel cannot be subject to man; man must be subject to the gospel.

Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites