The Names of God

Photo Credits: Dan Samonte

In the Thursday Bible studies, we have been learning from Catherine about the traditional Jewish names for God. Here is a quick list of some of these names we've learned so far (source: http://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html).

ELOHIM

God “Creator, Mighty and Strong” (Genesis 17:7 ;Jeremiah 31:33 ) – the plural form of Eloah (God), which accommodates the doctrine of the Trinity. From the Bible’s first sentence, the superlative nature of God’s power is evident as God (Elohim) speaks the world into existence (Genesis 1:1 ).

ADONAI

“Lord” (Genesis 15:2 ;Judges 6:15 ) – used in place of YHWH, which was thought by the Jews to be too sacred to be uttered by sinful men. In the Old Testament, YHWH is more often used in God’s dealings with His people, while Adonai is used more when He deals with the Gentiles.

YHWH / YAHWEH / JEHOVAH

“LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4 ;Daniel 9:14 ) – strictly speaking, the only proper name for God. Translated in English Bibles “LORD” (all capitals) to distinguish it from Adonai, “Lord.” The revelation of the name is first given to Moses “I Am who I Am” (Exodus 3:14 ). This name specifies an immediacy, a presence. Yahweh is present, accessible, near to those who call on Him for deliverance (Psalm 107:13 ), forgiveness (Psalm 25:11 ) and guidance (Psalm 31:3 ).

JEHOVAH-JIREH

"The Lord Will Provide" (Genesis 22:14 ) – the name memorialized by Abraham when God provided the ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.

JEHOVAH-RAPHA

"The Lord Who Heals" (Exodus 15:26 ) – “I am Jehovah who heals you” both in body and soul. In body, by preserving from and curing diseases, and in soul, by pardoning iniquities.

JEHOVAH-NISSI

"The Lord Our Banner" (Exodus 17:15 ), where banner is understood to be a rallying place. This name commemorates the desert victory over the Amalekites in Exodus 17 .

Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html#ixzz3Rb6P5ND3

If Jesus Came to Your House

For Sunday, February 8, 2015

Text

Revelation 3:14-22

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Summary

As we walk in our lives with Christ, we should always keep guard against the sin of complacency. The marks of spiritual complacency is being self-dependent apart from God, thinking that we "do not need a thing". 

We are not to be dependent on material wealth but rather seek the "gold refined in the fire" -- a richness that will last forever found only in Jesus. Secondly, only Jesus can clean us by placing his own righteousness over us ("white clothes to wear"). Nothing but Jesus can cover all the mistakes we've ever made. Thirdly, only through Jesus can we see clearly (as opposed to being spiritually blind, see here). 

Jesus rebukes any spiritually complacent follower so that they might repent. This is because he wants us to fellowship with him ("eat with that person"). The good news is that he extends this invitation to fellowship with him to everyone.

The Christian life is marked by a constant fellowship with Jesus, while avoiding complacency and compromise. In the end, only the victorious will be the ones who will be with Christ. 

---

We talked about the following poem about how we would react if Jesus physically visited us in our homes. Would we live our lives differently if Jesus were physically present everywhere we go?

"If Jesus Came to Your House"
by Lois Blanchard Eades

If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two - 
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do. 
Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room to such an honored Guest, 
And all the food you'd serve to Him would be the very best,
And you would keep assuring Him you're glad to have him there - 
That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare.

But when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door 
With arms outstretched in welcome to your heavenly Visitor? 
Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in? 
Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been? 
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn't heard? 
And wish you hadn't uttered that last, loud, hasty word?

Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out? 
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about? 
And I wonder - if the Savior spent a day or two with you, 
Would you go right on doing the things you always do? 
Would you go right on saying the things you always say? 
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?

Would your family conversation keep up it's usual pace? 
And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace? 
Would you sing the songs you always sing, and read the books you read, 
And let Him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed? 
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you'd planned to go? 
Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends? 
Or would you hope they'd stay away until His visit ends? 
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on? 
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone? 
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do 
If Jesus Christ in person came to spend some time with you.

Whoever Wants Must Deny Himself | F/F Week 5

First Unit Half Summary

Many of the things we learned for the past few weeks can be summarized by reading Matthew 7:21-23, verse by verse:

1. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
2. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name?'
3. And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"

In light of this verse, and with the help of the other questions we've been asking ourselves lately, we would have to determine whether we're fans or followers. Whatever the answer, Christ calls us to follow him and follow him more closely in our lives. The Biblical promise is that "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him". This alone should mean that following Christ will be worth it in the end. 

The Second Half of the Series: An Invitation to Follow

Jesus clearly lays out his requirements for his disciples all over Scripture, but it is most clearly stated in Luke 9:23:

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me"

Our focus in this second half of the series is on each of the phrases in this verse:

1. "Whoever wants to be my disciple
2. must deny themselves
3. and take up their cross daily
4. and follow me"

For this week we are studying the first two phrases. 

"Whoever wants to be my disciple"

The first word here is "whoever" -- in other words, Jesus is making an open invitation to anyone, without any other qualifications. No matter what past, background, ethnicity, or any sins anyone has made, Jesus makes an open invitation to ALL. This concept is echoed all throughout scripture:

John 3:16 -- "...whoever believes in him will not perish..."
Acts 17:30 -- "...now [God] commands all people everywhere to repent"
Matthew 28:19 -- "...go and make disciples of all nations..."

The implications of this is that we should never exclude people from knowing the good news of Jesus Christ. No one is (in fact, no one can ever be) bad enough, far-out enough, or even "good" enough for the gospel. One can find quick proof of this by simply reading the gospels and seeing what kind of people followed Jesus: sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, etc. God calls everyone to himself. 

The rest of this phrase in Luke 9:23 implies that one has to "want to be [Jesus'] disciple". This means that he doesn't impose his will against anyone. A follower must actually want to be a disciple.

"must deny themselves"

Here lies the crux of discipleship; these are simply words but captures the essence of following Jesus. To follow him means to stop following everything else that is not in accordance with following him. This concept of self-denial is repeated throughout the Bible:

Titus 2:11-12 -- "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age."

Luke 14:26 -- "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

It is also emphasized in Scripture that once anyone becomes a Christian, they live new lives that please God rather than selves:

Galatians 2:20 -- "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

The whole of Romans 6 talks about being dead to sin, and alive in Christ. Many, many Christians have also written about this. 

The fact that Jesus demands self-denial in his followers means that everything we do must in some way done for his glory alone (1 Cor. 10:31). This may be difficult in our modern American lives where the "I" is held at the center of one's life. But the truth is that one cannot fully see how great God is if we're so distracted by our own selves. As a hymn goes:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Christian Perspectives on Self-Denial

We got into some discussion on what it meant to deny oneself (Luke 9:23). We talked about how those who follow Christ have "died to sin" (Romans 6) and how it is now Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20). Because of this, one will eventually find their joy in obeying Jesus in their walk with him (John 15:9-11). Still, while we are in our sinful bodies we are tempted by sin in our Christian walk. And so we are called to deny our flesh while we wait until Jesus comes to redeem us from this disobedient world (Titus 2:11-14).

It is always good to learn from previous Christian thinkers who have written about topics like these, so here are some excerpts from their writings concerning self-denial and joy in following Jesus.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself." The disciple must say to himself the same words Peter said of Christ when he denied him: "I know not this man." Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to him."

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and the death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find him, and with him everything else thrown in.

John Piper in Desiring God

The pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is not an “extra” that a person might grow into after he comes to faith. It is not simply a way to “enhance” your walk with the Lord. Until your heart has hit upon this pursuit, your “faith” cannot please God. It is not saving faith. Saving faith is the confidence that if you sell all you have and forsake all sinful pleasures, the hidden treasure of holy joy will satisfy your deepest desires. Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction not only that Christ is reliable, but also that He is desirable. It is the confidence that He will come through with His promises and that what He promises is more to be desired than all the world.

John Wesley in Self-Denial

On the whole, then, to deny ourselves, is, to deny our own will, where it does not fall in with the will of God; and that however pleasing it may be. It is, to deny ourselves any pleasure which does not spring from, and lead to, God; that is, in effect, to refuse going out of our way, though into a pleasant, flowery path; to refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste.

Read Wesley's sermon here: http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-48-self-denial

C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory

The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself.  We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.  If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.  Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.

Read Lewis' sermon here: http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf

"Christ is Enough" | Hillsong Worship

Christ is Enough

Sung by Hillsong Worship from their album Glorious Ruins

If what we're learning could be summarized by a single song or hymn, this would be it. As you listen to this, I hope and pray that you guys understand and actually feel the weight of the message of this song. 

[Verse 1]
Christ is my reward
And all of my devotion
Now there's nothing in this world
That could ever satisfy

[Pre-Chorus]
Through every trial
My soul will sing
No turning back
I've been set free

[Chorus]
Christ is enough for me
Christ is enough for me
Everything I need is in You
Everything I need

[Verse 2]
Christ my all in all
The joy of my salvation
And this hope will never fail
Heaven is our home

[Pre-Chorus]
Through every storm
My soul will sing
Jesus is here
To God be the glory

[Bridge]
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back
No turning back

The cross before me
The world behind me
No turning back
No turning back