Clifford Suddeth

Colossians 3:1-3 (ESV)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

In the second post I wrote that I was very insecure as a teenager. At the time I was too proud to admit to anyone that I was insecure. I had to act like I had it all together. But I suspect that I wasn’t fooling anyone. Insecure people rarely fool others. To be insecure is to have fears and doubts; it is to be uneasy and lack confidence.

It is horrible to be insecure. I wish I had really known the truth, and implications, of Colossians 3:3 when I was younger. Don’t get me wrong, my life was great as a teenager, but insecurity was an ever-present threat to my happiness.

Think about the truth of Colossians 3:3. As followers of Christ, we have died. That doesn’t sound good, but it really is good for us. It’s good because of what Paul writes in Romans 6:7, “For one who has died has been set free from sin.” Paul is not talking about a physical death, he’s talking being dead to  sin. It’s good for us, because we’ve died to sin and all the horrible results of sin – like insecurity. We can be free from insecurity. (We are also free from all sins, so that they don’t have to have power over our lives.)

It may sound confusing, but Christ has made it so that we who were dead are actually made alive. We were dead, and by dying, we were made alive. It’s a mouthful, but it’s true.

You see, before we were saved, we were dead in our sins – spiritually dead. But because of the grace and mercy of God, we were made spiritually alive. (All of that is in Ephesians 2:1-10, and it’s great stuff!)

And because we have died, our lives are hidden with Christ in God. That truth gives us great security. Think for a moment. If you are a follower of Christ, your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Since God is completely satisfied being God (remember the earlier posts) it  is only logical that He is totally secure being God. Now it gets good. Since we are with Christ in God, we have every reason to be totally secure as we are completely satisfied in Him. In other words, our security is based on our relationship with Jesus.

We can forget comparisons to other people, how we do in certain things, how we look, etc. because we are secure in Christ. Please let the truth of your security in Christ be real to you!

Think Harder

• Based on the truth of Colossians 3:3, what are we encouraged and challenged to do in verses 1-2?
• How would doing those things make our lives different?

Ezra 7:10 (ESV)

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Last week, in the posts, we looked at reading, listening to, and memorizing God’s Word. All of that is good for us!

I’ve been reading through the book of Ezra the past couple of days, and the verse above (Ezra 7:10) really caught my attention. It has caught my attention so much that I wrote in my journal that I want that verse to be true of me. I think it would be awesome for God to think of me as someone who studied His Word, did what it said, and taught others to follow Him.

Many times I’ve said and written that I’m convinced the more we know God the more we will love Him and want to serve Him. Loving and serving are the result of knowing.

As Ezra studied God’s Word, the irresistible effect was to do what it said. That’s the power that God’s Word has in our lives when it starts to become a part of us – it becomes irresistible for us to follow. We really have no choice, nor do we want another option other than obedience. Because as we get to know God more and more, we see more and more of His goodness, righteousness, power, love, grace, mercy, etc. The obvious conclusion for any follower of Christ is, “I must follow Him, and it is good for me to do it.”

Here’s the cool thing – studying, doing, and teaching others is not just for special people like Ezra. It’s not just for pastors, teachers, or missionaries. It’s for all of us. In fact, that’s the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)

All of us, as followers of Christ, can study, do, and teach God’s Word. And not only can we do it, we get to do it!

So… think hard about God. Follow the example of Ezra. Set your heart to:

• Love reading His Word.
• Love listening to His Word preached.
• Love memorizing His Word.

Psalm 119:11 (ESV)

I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

There is something good about memorizing Bible verses.

Memorizing Bible verses was just a part of my life going to a Christian school, but I’m convinced that it was a good thing for me. If I remember correctly, we had to memorize one verse a week in Bible class. I’m sure there were times when I really didn’t want to memorize a verse, and I know there were many times I never thought about what the verse meant. But it was still a good thing. God’s Word was still getting in me, and I’m amazed at how helpful it is now that I’m older. After all, God’s Word is powerful (Hebrews 4:12).

It is good for us to know God’s Word!

The Example of Jesus

Jesus gives us a great example in Matthew 4:1-11. Three times He is tempted by Satan, and three times He responds to the temptations by quoting Bible verses (in context). Jesus was in a fight, and He fought using God’s Word.

In Ephesians 6, Paul reminds us that the Word of God is a spiritual sword. It is a weapon we use in our fight against spiritual forces. We need God’s Word to fight well.

I’m certainly not comparing myself to Jesus, but I know from experience the power of knowing Bible verses. As just one example, I can’t tell you how many times when I’ve been tempted to sin it has been a great help to quote 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

A Challenge

I want to give you a challenge – commit to memorize one verse a week. If you don’t like to memorize, or you find it hard to do, and it takes you two weeks, so what? You’re still learning 26 verses every year. But I have a feeling that if you commit to memorizing one verse a week, you’ll be able to do it. I think God will honor your commitment to knowing His Word.

Some Suggestions on How to Memorize Verses

I think it depends on the person, and there is no one right way to learn Bible verses, but let me offer a couple of suggestions:

Use memory cards. A lot of times I use 3×5 index cards. I will write the verse on one side and the reference on the other. I will say the verse over and over, and it always helps to say it out loud, section by section, until I have it down. The great thing about using memory cards is it makes it easy to review verses that you have already learned. You can just go through your stack of memory verses for review.

Fighter Verse App. I just found this app this week that I’ve downloaded and will probably start using to help me memorize verses. You can get the app for iPhone, iPad, and android. It does cost $2.99, but it will be worth it. There is also a website.

A Final Thought

How do you know what Bible verses to memorize? Well, I suppose any verse, because it’s a part of God’s Word, is good to memorize. So, start somewhere. (The fighter verse app gives a new verse each week.) However, one thing you can do is ask godly people you trust what are some Bible verses that are especially important to them. Pretty soon, you’ll have a good list of verses to memorize – and that’s a good thing!

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12 ESV)

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 8 (ESV)

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

Today’s Point: hearing God’s Word taught and preached is a great source of joy and satisfaction for Christians.

In the last post I tried to make the case that we, as Christians, should love reading God’s Word and doing so is very good for us. In this post, I would like to suggest that it is also very good to listen to good preaching and teaching that is biblical and expository (verse-by-verse is explained).

Hopefully we get that type of preaching and teaching in every church service we attend. At least we should expect it, because it is an essential part of church. But, thanks to the internet, there are also great opportunities to listen to God’s Word being taught. I like to watch a message while I’m riding a stationary bike, listen to a message while I’m running, or listen to a message while I’m driving on a long trip.

God uses the proclamation of His Word in a great way in the lives of His people.

There are some great pastors and teachers who offer their teaching resources online. Some of my favorites I like to regularly hear are:

• Francis Chan
• John Piper
• David Platt
• I also like watching or listening to the speakers at the Southern Seminary chapel services.

May we be like the people of Nehemiah’s day and have ears that are attentive to God’s Word. I encourage you to listen to one message from the internet this week. I think you will find it very encouraging. If you don’t have a message in mind, I suggest one I recently watched from Francis Chan. It was a message he preached in 2010 at a pastors’ conference in Minneapolis, MN. It was encouraging and challenging to me.

Think Hard, Stay Humble: The Life of the Mind and the Peril of Pride

2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Today’s point: loving God’s Word is a great source of joy and satisfaction for Christians.

I wish I had been taught to love reading God’s Word when I was younger. I wish I had understood reading the Bible wasn’t something to do like a homework assignment, but rather reading God’s Word is good and satisfying. It is satisfying because it is from God.

In the Zone

If you play sports, have you ever played in a game where you were in the zone? You know, when you couldn’t do anything wrong and everything you did was right? That happened to me two times – one time in over 10 years of playing basketball, and one time in six years of playing soccer. I remember how great it felt to do everything right in those two games. I also remember all the games I was frustrated and discouraged, because I didn’t do everything right.

Think about God. To say that God is righteous is to say that He acts in an upright, moral way. God always acts in a right way, because He does not change (Malachi 3:8). He always does what is right. We could say that He is always in the zone. He is never frustrated, discouraged, or unsure of what He does. Imagine how satisfied He must be and how He must feel about all He does!

Not Without Jesus

Jesus is the only way for us to be made right with God. Consider the following:

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who you are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood (Romans 3:22-25a NLT).

Love God’s Word

We are made right with God because Jesus, on the cross, paid the penalty for the sins of His people. Therefore, we don’t do things, like read the Bible to be accepted by God. We read and love God’s Word, because we are already accepted by God through Jesus. That’s grace!

The Bible trains us, as followers of Jesus, to be all that He has made us to be. Read 2 Timothy 3:16 again. The Bible is profitable to train us in righteousness. Or to say it another way, the Bible is profitable to train us live the right way so that we can be happy and satisfied in God. So, read and love God’s Word and be trained to be satisfied in God. You won’t regret it!

Psalm 73:25-26 (ESV)

Here are the things we’ve considered so far:

• We need to think hard about God, because the more we know God the more we will love and serve Him.
• God is passionate about His glory.
• God wants for us to be passionate about His glory. (God is serious about our happiness.)

When we understand that God is serious about our happiness, it only makes sense that we could say to God,

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25-26 ESV)

After all, He can make us happier than any other person, thing, or activity ever could. BUT the truth is…

We go after so many other things that we think will make us happy. Why do we do that? I don’t think there’s one easy answer. Basically, we’re affected by sin – to the point that we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1) and there is nothing in us that wants anything to do with God (Romans 3:10-11). If we’re spiritually dead and don’t want anything to do with God, why would we want to look for our happiness in Him? This is when things start to get amazing…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)

Do we understand that God is so serious about His people being happy and satisfied in Him? Do we see why it’s amazing and good for us to think hard about God?

Think Harder

• Read Ephesians 2:1-10 carefully several times.
• Based on these verses, what are we like without God?
• Based on these verses, how does God deal with His people? What has God done for His people?
• How should the truths in these verses affect the way we think about our relationship with Jesus? Should we be completely satisfied in Him and treasure Him more than anything else?

1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

God has many reasons for doing things, but none of those reasons are more important than His glory. His glory, or His unending worth, is most important to Him. God would be wrong to value anything more than His own worth, because He is most valuable. That’s part of what it means for Him to be God.

As we think hard about God we realize that we are to do all to the glory of God because God does everything to His glory. In other words, God commands us to delight in Him the same way that He delights in Himself.  To put it another way, God is serious about our happiness – our happiness in Him.

If I had truly understood that God was serious about my happiness when I was younger it would have changed my life! My focus would have shifted from pleasing friends, being accepted, my appearance, obeying rules, etc. to simply loving God because He is God. After all, once we really understand this truth, why would we not want to love the One who is even more serious about our happiness than we are? And not only is He serious about our happiness, but He also gives it to those who are purposed on glorifying Him!

Think Harder

• Dwell on the truth that God is serious about your happiness. How does that change your view of God?
• How is it possible for God to have nothing more important to Him than His glory and still be very serious about your happiness?

1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

As we think hard about God through this series of posts, we’ve seen that God is completely satisfied in Himself and delights in His glory.

These truths are important, because the secret to our happiness is being satisfied in God. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to be happy?

When Paul says, “do all to the glory of God” what does he mean? Glory is hard to explain. I looked up the word glory on dictionary.com and one of the definitions is “resplendent beauty or magnificence.” Okay, so what? It seems like Paul is telling us to recognize the beauty, magnificence, greatness, infinite worth, infinite value of God in all that we do.

To do all to the glory of God is to have God as most important in our lives, because we see and know Him as more valuable than anything else.

Think Harder

• Read 1 Corinthians 10 several times. Think about the warnings about idolatry and the connection to do all to the glory of God. It’s amazing!
• What are things, every day things, you can do to the glory of God? (What you discover may change the way you think about your life.)

Isaiah 42:8 (ESV)

I am the LORD; that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.

Isaiah 48:11 (ESV)

For My own sake, for My own sake, I do it, for how should My name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

Have you ever thought about what is most important to God? I don’t guess I really thought about it for a long time. I suppose that was because I was so focused on myself. But we need to think about what is most important to God, because what is most important to God needs to be most important to us. We have to get this right!

God’s glory is most important to God.  That’s it. I would challenge you to think hard about this reality of God. This is the one reality that can change everything for us. John Piper, in Desiring God, helped me to see this truth. Let me share what He writes,

My conclusion is that God’s own glory is uppermost in His own affections. In everything He does, His purpose is to preserve and display that glory. To say that His glory is uppermost in His own affections means that He puts a greater value on it than on anything else.

God’s ultimate goal therefore is to preserve and display His infinite and awesome greatness and worth, that is, His glory.

God has many other goals in what He does. But none of them is more ultimate that this. They are all subordinate. God’s overwhelming passion is to exalt the value of His glory. To that end He seeks to display it, to oppose those who belittle it, and to vindicate it from all contempt. It is clearly the uppermost reality in His affections. He loves His glory infinitely.

This is the same as saying: He loves Himself infinitely. Or: He Himself is uppermost in His own affections. A moment’s reflection reveals the inexorable justice of this fact. God would be unrighteous (just as we would) if He valued anything more than what is supremely valuable. But He Himself is supremely valuable. If He did not take infinite delight in the worth of His glory He would be unrighteous. For it is right to take delight in a person in proportion to the excellence of that person’s glory. (Piper, 43)

Think Harder

• What is God’s glory? (We’ll look further in the next post, but begin to think about it.)
• Look through your Bible and get an idea of how much is written about God’s glory.

REFERENCE LIST

Piper, John. 1996. Desiring God. Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books.

In the last post, the basic challenge was to think hard about God. As we think about God, I’m convinced we will grow in our love for God and our desire to live life for Him.

As I think back to when I was a teenager, there are things I wish I had known and understood about God  – things that have since changed my life. Don’t get me wrong, they are not necessarily things I wanted to know back then, but they are things I wish I had known as I look back at my life. I’m sharing these posts so that you can know these things about God now, and so that you will realize these are great things to know about God. I’m convinced knowing certain things about God will help shape and change your life – all in a good way!

Psalm 115:3 (ESV)

Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.

“The implication of this text is that God has the right and power to do whatever makes Him happy. That is what it means to say God is sovereign.  Think about it for a moment: if God is sovereign and can do anything He pleases, then none of His purposes can be frustrated. And if none of His purposes can be frustrated, then He must be the happiest of all beings.” (Piper, 34)

Was God Lonely?

Growing up I was taught, or maybe I just assumed, that God created mankind because He was lonely. Somehow I had the idea that God, in some way, needed us. I now realize how silly that view of God is. It’s silly, because it’s impossible for God to be lonely or to need anything or anyone. Think about it. God – perfect, holy, righteous, all-powerful, all-knowing, not lacking in any way – was lonely. The thought is ridiculous. God, as God, is completely happy in Himself. In the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – there is perfect love and fellowship. Since there is perfect love and fellowship, there’s no way God can be lonely.

Our Security

Why is it important to know that God is completely satisfied in Himself? How does that change my life and your life? It helps us begin to see that life is not all about us. Our lives are all about God.

Understanding this reality would have been a big deal for me as an insecure teenager. I was so insecure. In 6th grade, I wanted to be liked by other people. (That year was the worst of my life!) In 10th grade, I think every zit I had seemed 10 times bigger than it really was. Of course, I was always insecure about girls. I could go on and on… Basically, my problem was that I thought life was all about me, but it never has been. My life has always been about God.

God doesn’t need me.  It seems like a strange place to start in shaping and changing my life in a good way, but it’s where we need to start.  After all, we need to know what God thinks about Himself, so we know what to think about Him.

Think Harder

• Take some time to think about reasons God has to be happy with Himself.
• Read Psalm 115:3 (or the whole chapter) several times, think about it, and let those truths sink in.
• Read Isaiah 46:9-10 several times, think about it, and let those truths sink in.

REFERENCE LIST

Piper, John. 1996. Desiring God. Sisters, OR: Multonomah Books.