Preparing the Way of the Lord
BY JOSEPH PAULEY
Before Jesus initiated His earthly
ministry it was necessary for the way to be prepared. So John came as “the voice of one crying out
in the wilderness” (John 1:23, ESV).
What did the voice proclaim? “Make
straight the way of the Lord.”
Isaiah had originally prophesied
concerning the return of God’s people from exile:
A voice cries:
"In the wilderness prepare
the way of the Lord;
make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and
every mountain and hill be made low;
the
uneven ground shall become level,
and
the rough places a plain” (40:3-4).
God would make a
way through the desert to bring home His people. It wouldn’t be a winding little road that
twisted through the rugged mountains.
God would make blast through the mountains and make His own in order to
“make straight in the desert a highway.”
How was the way through the
wilderness made straight in John’s day?
Mark explains it like this: “John
appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins” (1:4).
Following Jesus’ death and
resurrection, the apostles proclaimed a similar message of repentance and
baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts
2:38). These acts certainly prepare the
way for the Lord to dwell within our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17). However, there is continual need to prepare
our hearts; a continual need to tear down the high places therein and fill in
the crevices of doubt and disobedience with the word of Christ that will lead
us to repentance and greater obedience.
Are you preparing your heart for the
Lord?
An Intriguing Invitation
BY JOSEPH PAULEY
When the two disciples of John hear
his words about Jesus and begin to follow after Him, Jesus turned and asked,
“What are you seeking?” They inquired as
to His accommodations, and He said to them, “Come and you will see.” Later, after Jesus had called Philip, Philip
finds Nathanael and tells him about Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael replied with the cliché, “Can
anything good come out of
What an intriguing invitation! It plays upon our curiosity and challenges us
either discover that our suspicions were justified, or to discover something
wonderful and life-changing. In Nathanael’s
case, he learned the latter. He profited
much from just going to see if what Philip had told him was true.
Do we tend to present Jesus in such
a way to our family, friends, and co-workers who do not know Him? Many folks are suspicious of Christ,
especially as He is presented to them in the lives of those who claim to follow
Him. “Come and see” challenges them to
try Him for themselves. It begs them to
engage Him. Many folks like a challenge,
and this has eternal stakes.
Of course, it seems to me that how
we present the challenge might have an affect on whether or not they accept
it. Philip, after all, was beaming with
good news, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets
wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
We have a tendency to make Jesus only full of bad news for
everyone. To be sure, there is bad news
for those who remain in darkness, but Jesus came to give us the light of life.
One more thing, it is essential that
we proclaim Jesus. He is our life and
light. He is the truth. He is full of grace. He is way to the Father. He takes away sin.
Invite someone to “come and see”
Jesus this week.
Continuing to Be God’s Church
BY JOSEPH PAULEY
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was
mostly a long rebuke of their attitudes, actions and false teachings. He’s railed against their foolishness,
carnality, immaturity, weaknesses in standing against
false teachers, aimlessness and their lack of love. In the closing section of his letter, he
gives five summarizing admonitions to help them overcome their deficiencies. He says, “Be watchful, stand firm in the
faith, act like me, be strong. Let all
that you do be done in love” (1 Cor. 16:13-14, ESV).
Be Alert. The word translated "watchful"
means to be awake, which carries with it the idea of being alert. The Corinthians had been far from alert in
the way they were living. In fact, Paul
has already stated in his letter that they were asleep. In the previous chapter he exhorted them,
saying, "Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on
sinning" (15:34a).
Be Firm in the Faith. The firmness that Paul is describing is that
of "[being] firmly committed in conviction or belief." Instead of being easily persuaded by those
false teachers, they should be certain of what they believe and stand up for
those beliefs.
Be Mature. The phrase was used in a literal sense (as
the ESV, KJV & NASB translates it), and it was also used in figurative
sense, i.e., "courageous/brave" (as it's translated in the NKJV, NIV,
NLT and HCSB). In view of the fact that
Paul has called them "immature" and "children," it should
be taken literally. They needed to grow
up and act like grownups.
Be Strong. The strength here is a mental, emotional or
spiritual strength. He is telling them
to "remain firm" in the sense of continually being encouraged. To be encouraged is to find the courage
needed to do what must be done. Paul
wants them to always have the resources necessary to do what they are to do in
contending for the faith.
Be Loving. Love characterizes the way all of these other
things—and more—are accomplished. Why is
love so important? Remember that Paul
has already said, "love builds up"
(8:1). Any other good thing we can do
for the Lord will be in vain if we don't have love (ch. 13).
For the Corinthians, if they would heed
these admonitions, they'd continue be God's church at
We have work to do. We can't simply wait to act when things go
awry; it's too hard to rebuild after we've torn each other down. So let's take care of our responsibilities to
the Lord, to His word, and to each other so that we can continue to be what God
has called us to be—"the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9b).
Cleaning the House of Worship
BY JOSEPH PAULEY
Each week someone cleans the church
building to make sure that the place is presentable and suitable for what will
take place in it on the Lord’s Day. This
person vacuums, cleans the restrooms, empties the trashcans, straightens up the
songbooks and the pews, etc. We greatly
appreciate the work this person does, and would be appalled if it weren’t done.
Yet, how many of us do the
housecleaning that’s really necessary for what will take place at the church
house on the Lord’s Day? We come in a
mad rush in order to make it on time, or we don’t rush enough and come in
late. We come unprepared for the Bible
class lesson. We’re restless during the
sermon, or finally getting some much needed rest because we stayed up too late
on Saturday night.
The fact is that many of us come
with cluttered hearts and minds. Our
time in worship is simply that, time that passes by (ever so slowly!?). It’s not a time that we’ve prepared for by
reordering our hearts and minds with God’s Word accompanied by prayer. We haven’t been confessing our sins to God—we
haven’t even considered them—all week, and so worship is one huge guilt trip
that is sure to be taken again next week.
Frankly, worship doesn’t really
describe it for some. Worship is pouring
out our hearts in praise, adoration and thanksgiving to God. When it’s nothing more than an item on a checklist
or a guilt trip to be dreaded, we never really get around to worshiping. Edification, the other purpose of the
assembly, goes out the window, too.
We’re so focused on the baggage we bring to worship that we can’t begin
to think about building up our brothers and sisters.
Brethren, we need to be appalled
that we come to worship in such messy ways.
Perhaps, if you’ve come this way this morning, you’ll be convicted and
called to account and fall on your face and pour out your heart to God. And maybe you’ll be moved to do some
housecleaning this week.