Angels in Heaven, sure but Satan?

This passage for sure has caused much herat burn for commentators and Bible scholars. Was this the Satan of the Garden and Revelation 12:10? How is satan allowed into the presence of God. Does he accuse others even ourselves just as he is accusing Job? Does he have the power to afflict us as he does with Job?  Why does the Hebrew use the definite article before his name (making it "the Satan")? Is he literal of figurative? Why do the angels come to present themselves before God, does he not know what they are doing?

Beyond some simple answers that are mostly wanting we need to understand several key principles.

1. All things are before God's presence, while we maintain that nothing evil has a permanent presence or existence before GOd we cannot say that no evil whatsoever has ever come before God.
2. We know that angels present themsleves before God to do His bidding, it also seems clear that the fallen ones or the chief fallen one has some presence in court before God as attested to by this passage a nd others like Luke 22:3 and Rev. 12:10.
3. Many theologians  maintain that while Satan was cast from heaven prior to the fall of man in Gen. 6; he will be permanently cast from God's presence and the presence of mankind at the final judgement in Revelation.

All in all, the key to understanding this section of Job is to realize that there is an accuser of mankind before God and that accuser is the liar and destroyer Satan and his minions. He thoughrougly enjoys this role and task. Anything to disrupt and destroy the work of God at any point in the evangelsitic process (Matt. 13:36; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; 2 Thess. 2 :8). Christians should never be found assisting the work of Satan and become one anothers "accuser"!

So how do we respond to this message?

• Believe and know that Satan is at work against us, but he is impotent when we are strong in Christ.
• Realize that like any penal act it can be a deterrant as well. Let's not give Satan opportunity to prove us sinful without making him lie!
• Prayer keeps us presenting oursleves before the LORD as the angels do. Let's enter into His presence with confidence and boldness becuase we have our best to present.
• Remember that we are eternally grateful that Christ is our advocate, presenting our innocence through Himself.

Mat_13:25, Mat_13:28; 2Co_2:17, 2Co_11:3, 2Co_11:13-15; Eph_2:2, Eph_6:11-12; 2Th_2:8-11; 1Pe_5:8; Rev_12:9, Rev_13:14, Rev_19:20, Rev_20:2-3, Rev_20:7-10

Money and the Cause of Christ

OK, so we all agree that money is more fun to have than to not have. If you disagree with this statement I would like to hear about life from under your rock. Just like having a car is more fun than not having one (even though maybe a horse is fun to a degree, it wears thin in places... isn't that why we chose to invent a iron one?) Anyway, we live in a world in which money is integral, necessary and many times critical. But do necessary things need to become things of worship? Money is a tool and thus a means to an end; not the end in itself. So we ask ourselves; "to what (end) do we expect the (means of) money to accomplish: wealth? security?  What will the tool called money accomplish in my hands? If we continually ask this question it will be amazing how we begin to change our views of money. Can  money really accomplish the end we desire. Does money truly create security? Does money really make me a better person by the volume of it?

Notice that Job, in our ongoing study here, uses much of his money to keep his family connected with God. To what end does Job need to offer sacrifices for his "party-ing" children, is a subject of debate. Is this a act of a father trying to cover the overt sins of his children who are squandering their lives? Or is it a father that takes a very active, maybe even pro-active, role in the spiritual guidance of his children? Here is how it reads:
Job 1:5
When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.
NIV

I see things generally from the positive view point and I think that Job is hedging his bets. Notice the phrase "perhaps". (in the NASB and NIV) "it may be" ( in the ESV and KJV). Was Job being very careful and proactive. Or was he only ignorant and didn't want to know. Was he functioning as the "priest" of his home? For the sake of argument let's say he is functioning as the priest of his home. Is he teaching us that the end for which he uses some of his money is to promote or prompt the spiritual life of his kids? Is he using money to help his kids walk closer to God? Wow, when was the last time we saw any of our money being used for this end or purpose? How might that look? Well obviously tithing at our local church assembly might be an indirect way. How about a more direct way?
What if you used your money to take your family on a missions trip. What if you funded the whole thing without sending support letters to friends and family? 

Something to "think as we should!"

Lord God, we bow before you as the giver of all gifts and tools. One of those tools you give to us is money. Forgive us when we use this tool to support our own desires and ends. Help us to look beyond the world of our need to the idea of money used for your glory. Help us to seek after your call to us that we may have tuned out. We love you and desire to honor you even now with our money.  


Send me your thoughts and comments!

Money and Integrity: uncommon partners

Morning to all.
I find this morning a fascinating verse. In verse 2 of Job 1 we hear how wealthy Job was. A family of 10 kids (7 sons 3 daughters) and a phenomenal amount of livestock. 7000 sheep. 3000 camels 500 oxen for yokes, 500 donkeys and a "large number" number of servants. (Makes me wonder if there were so many it was hard to count the servants.) I guess you can count sheep easier than servants, especially if you have insomnia. When verse 3 states that he was the greatest man in all the East it is in reference to his wealth and station in life. I do not think it is a stretch to say that he was the Bill Gates of his day. Nonetheless he was as we say: "Healthy, Wealthy and Wise". The Hebrew word used for great can refer to great in any sense (wealth, character, strength etc.). Could it be that for the sake of the drama of the beginning of Job, he was great in all respects. It seems he is great in character, piety and wealth. Now realize that Scripture rarely couples wealth and piety, riches and character. It is more prone to describe the rich as lacking significantly in integrity. Notice,
Proverbs 3:9-10 Solomon's understanding that if wealth is not used for God's honor, it is soon to vanish.
Proverbs 11:4 Wealth cannot save anyone in the day of Wrath or Judgement. Righteousness does however. (In Hebrew poetry which uses parallelism, this can be seen as an antithetical parallel. The first is the opposite of the second.)
Of great importance to note is Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 where Solomon the richest man of his day betrays the benefit of riches and sees the great trouble it brings. Read this passage and commit it to memory, it will serve us all well.
So here we find a man with the perfect set-up. He is righteous (has integrity) and wealth. Not many like him in history. What becomes, will test and try every aspect of his life.

How do I view riches: Well for me, it is the means to getting what I want. Unfortunately, I have had a lust for wealth much of my life. It is a secret passion and desire. I find it resident in me at significant times. How about you? But see for me, wealth is not for the having, but for the spending. In there lies the deception. Let me explain. For example; the wealth affords me the chance to buy nice cars, and anybody that knows me, knows I like anything with a MOTOR and shiny paint. Car, boat, plane, motorcycle etc. Oh boy, what I could buy if I had MONEY! So God reminds me, The more you have, the more everyone expects from you. Your money won't do you any good--others will just spend it for you.
(Ecc 5:11)

Instead he reminds me that money is to be used for HIS HONOR. Tomorrow we will explore that idea in depth.

Integrity of the Whole

So yesterday we looked at God's description of Job. A man of blameless character, at least in comparison to all else who lived. Helpful  is this statement from the Expositors Commentary:
He was not sinless, for nobody can claim that distinction, but he was complete and mature in character and "straight" in conduct. The word translated "perfect" is related to "integrity," another important word in Job (2:3,9; 27:5; 31:6). People with integrity are whole persons, without hypocrisy or duplicity. In the face of his friends' accusations and God's silence, Job maintained his integrity, and the Lord ultimately vindicated him.
The author of Job was making it quite clear that compared to those around Job, he was above the rest. Notice these phrases:
Job 1:3
was the greatest of all the people of the east.
ESV
Job 1:8
that there is none like him on the earth
ESV
The Book of Job is about a man who is being tested not about his faith or integrity but about his love for God. As we will see in days to come the test of Job is more about Satan's accusation against God then about Job's faith.
 For today let's revisit the quote from Hendrickson and the Expositors Commentary. Do you agree with his definition of someone of integrity? How would you describe integrity? Here are some definitions:

an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting; "

moral soundness;

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Integrity as a concept has to do with perceived consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome. People use integrity as a holistic concept, judging the integrity of systems in terms of those systems' ability to achieve their own goals (if any). ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity

Integrity then involves the totality of who we are, not just parts of us. In all areas, in all demonstrations we are to have integrity.
Dear Heavenly Father, We know that only you are complete and full of integrity in all that you are. We are parts and pieces of what we were to be when you first created mankind in the Garden. Please help us to be put back together again, for your glory and our sakes. Amen. 

Feb. 8 2011

Welcome to my blog and daily devotional site. I hope that you will enjoy reading and participating with us as we venture into new areas of ministry and faith. For the next several days we will be looking at two major sections of Scripture. The Old Testament book of JOB and the New Testament book of Hebrews. I encourage you to read them through, a couple of times during the next month.

(Job 1:1) "Many years ago, a man named Job lived in the land of Uz. He was a truly good person, who respected God and refused to do evil." (Contemporary English Version)

The Book of Job starts in an unusual manner and with a very unique statement regarding the man Job. The unusual manner is with the pithy statement that sounds like a children's book, more than a sacred text. Kind of like the ol' "A long time ago, in a far away land...". But there is very little that is childish about this book and its introduction. We will be faced with a variety of perplexing and striking statements throughout the pages. The first is the unique statement that, "Job was a truly good person, who refused to do evil." Can that be truly said of any of us? Is he without sin? With those questions I encourage you to begin to interact with me on this blog.
In the mean time, let's spend an intimate moment with God on this verse. I see a couple of things that encourage my heart and hopefully yours.

• It matters to God about the "where" and "when" and "who" of us. It matters enough that we see Him including this information about Job in the first verse of the book; which actually has more to do with who God is than, who Job is! (More on that later)
• Secondly, I find it interesting to notice that God notices the "righteousness and goodness" (whatever degree that is a reality) of Job and He is not afraid to state it outright. Have you ever thought that God was keeping track of your "goodness" rather than your "badness". If God keeps lists at all, what kind do you think He keeps?

Dear Heavenly Father,
I must admit that initially I would be very afraid, if you kept lists. But I am finding that maybe you are not at all like me, and when you keep lists, you keep them for the good and better of someone rather than the worst. After all, if you love us, should it surprise us that you remember the things in us that you created for your delight? I am humbled and thankful for your loving character. Amen