[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 342 – Ephesians 4-6; Luke 1 summary!]
Judges 7 reminds us the LORD was always the one who won the battles the Israelites fought against their enemies. As we read the account, Gideon gathers an army to go against Midian, but the LORD tells Gideon he has too many men–32,000 to be exact. When they defeat Midian, they will take the credit for the victory. The LORD shrinks the army by having Gideon tell everyone who was afraid to go home. 22,000 men went home. Now, with 10,000 men, Gideon was ready to face Midian, but the LORD told him the army was still too big. He had Gideon divide the group by the way they drank water from a stream. It turned out 9,700 of them did it one way, while 300 did it another. The LORD chose the 300 and sent the 9,700 home. Now, with only 300 soldiers, everyone would know any victory won over the mighty Midianites would be the LORD’s. That’s precisely what happened. God used the 300, and He defeated the Midianites. What a powerful reminder to us, that whatever the LORD is in doesn’t require large numbers of “troops” to be successful. We’re also reminded to rely on the LORD and not on ourselves. How easily we forget both of those powerful truths.
Judges 8-9 show us once again how quickly the people of Israel could turn back from following the LORD. Even though, the LORD was the obvious victor over the Midianites, the people immediately turned away from Him. They worshiped the Baals. They worshiped a golden ephod Gideon made from the spoils of the battle with the Midianites. They battled against each other, especially after Gideon died. Gideon’s son by one of his concubines, Abimelech convinced the people to make him king. He killed 70 of Gideon’s sons, his step-brothers, to ensure the people would continue to follow him. Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, escaped and told a parable that made clear to everyone, they had backed the wrong leader, in choosing Abimelech. Eventually, Abimelech killed many of those who turned against him, and a woman in one of the cities besieged by Abimelech threw an upper millstone from a tower. It struck Abimelech and would have killed him, but he had his armor bearer kill him first, so a woman wouldn’t get the credit for killing him. In the end the people of Israel were in disarray and following false gods once again. This picture repeated itself over and over again through the period of the judges. The details changed, but the picture remained the same: God delivered the people from suffering and slavery. The people rejoiced, and perhaps followed Him momentarily. Then they rejected Him again, and God turned them over to their enemies once again. The people cried out, and God would once again deliver them. Hopefully, we can learn from these cycles of rejecting God, being enslaved, crying out to God, and being redeemed, that the best part of the cycle is being redeemed by God, and remember our redemption in Jesus. Then we can live in victory over sin instead of permitting it to enslave us.
As we return to John 14, we return to Jesus’ conversation with the disciples on the night before He was crucified. John 14 makes it so clear to us this life is not all there is, and those who follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, will experience the next life with Him. Jesus makes several promises to the disciples during this talk with them. The most powerful of the promises is we will do greater things than He did, because He was returning to His heavenly Father. The thought of doing greater things than healing the sick, casting demons out of people, and raising the dead is hard to imagine. But the scope of the technology in our time, makes Jesus’ words so easy to fulfill. As we rely on Him, we can take His good news of salvation virtually anywhere in the world. We can feed thousands of people with the resources we have. We can preach to tens of thousands of people at one time. The key is putting Jesus first. As we do that, we can and will do the greater things He promised we will do in His name!
Day 342 – Ephesians 4-6; Luke 1
As we turn to Ephesians 4-5, we move to the “walk” portion of the letter. In chapters 4-5, Paul offers extensive instruction to the Ephesian believers about what it means to follow Jesus together, individually, and in their families. Let’s look at some of the specific learnings we gain from these two important chapters.
First, Paul reminded us to live out the calling we have received, which is a calling to unity. Next, Paul told us Jesus had given specific gifts of leadership in the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers. The role of these leaders was to “equip the saints” (saints here means believer, not a “stained-glass” member of a small calss of believers) to do the work of ministry. The purpose of this process was to build up the Church, and to mature, so we will all be like Jesus. As Paul gave these commands, he also reminded the Ephesian believers, when we live this way, we won’t be fooled by the tricks of the devil or of people, but will speak the truth in love and will grow up in every way to Him who is our “head,” that is Jesus. Paul closes out chapter 4 and moves to chapter 5 by offering a “laundry list” of actions we must do and those we must not do if we are going to walk in the “light.”
While each of the commands is important, when we get to Ephesians 5:15-21, we find Paul reminding us to make the most of the time, because the days are evil. He commands us to “be being filled” with the Holy Spirit, and as a result we will worship and praise God, give thanks to God for everything in Jesus’ name and submit to one another out of reverence for Jesus. The reason I put “be being filled” in quotes is because Paul’s command was written in the present passive imperative in Greek, which means the action is to be ongoing, not a one-and-done action. Being passive, it means we can’t do it on our own. He didn’t tell us to fill our selves, but to be filled. That means we must open ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s filling, but the Spirit is the one who fills us.
Paul closes chapter 5 with an extensive analogy, which speaks of how husbands and lives are to live together in marriage. The analogy is Paul is also talking about Jesus and the church, His “bride.” The key focus is husbands are to love their lives as Jesus loved the church, and wives are to submit to and respect their husbands as the church is to do the same to Jesus. The commands are impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit, but when we live them out in the power of the Holy Spirit, the world gets to see God’s intention both for marriage and for His Church!
As we move to Ephesians 6, Paul offers instructions for children, and how they are to live toward their parents. Then he tells fathers how to live toward their children. Next, he tells slaves how they are to live toward their masters, and how masters are to live toward their slaves. While we could all wish Paul would have condemned slavery, the instructions remind everyone that slaves and masters are brothers, and that we all serve Jesus as our master.
The bulk of Ephesians 6 focuses on the spiritual war we face, the armor we must wear both to protect ourselves and to go into battle against the devil, and a call to prayer, and specifically praying in the Spirit as a means of overcoming the devil, and as a support to Paul’s efforts to do the same. These verses remind us the devil is real, and while he is powerful, we are assured of victory, when we defend ourselves with the right “armor,” and attack with the sword of the Spirit – God’s word!
As we return to the Gospel of Luke, let’s remind ourselves Luke was not a disciple. He was a doctor of Gentile background. His emphases bear that out. In Luke 1, Luke tells us both of Zechariah’s visitation by an angel to tell him he and Elizabeth, his wife, would have a son, who would prepare the way for the Messiah, and of Mary’s visitation by the same angel, to receive word she would become the mother of Jesus. The chapter is filled with long poetic passages, speaking of God’s glory, God’s grace, and God’s plan to redeem His people. It closes with John being born and the world, unknowingly at the moment, being poised to receive the birth of her Savior!