Patiently Enduring Weakness

We (almost) never appreciate things that seem to weaken us, whether the limitations are physical, mental, emotional, financial, social, etc. These vexing thing can come on us by nature, at the hands of other people and sometimes by the restraints we place upon ourselves. 

Financial or social setbacks can come because we are taking care of God given responsibilities (like aged parents, or children) have us otherwise engaged, or because we refuse to take advantage of situations or people (as many sinners do) out of regard for others (Phil. 2:4) and following the golden rule (Matt. 7:12). 

Enduring our weaknesses and limitations, whatever they may be and from whatever source, is frustrating until we have really and truly learned patience.  Patience is never an easy or fun thing to learn. 

Heb. 12:11“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” 

The “peaceful fruit of righteousness” the product of godly living.  We’d often like it to come quicker, but without contentment and perseverance it never makes it’s appearance. Patience is hard. Only God has ever had it perfectly (1 Tim. 1:16). But if we are trained by it as we do the good deeds that God has created us to do (Eph. 2:10), it will have its perfect result in us. 

Jas 1:4“And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

And like a “perfect result” in any endeavor, it will take a while.

The Rainbow

The Bible tells us the origin and meaning of the rainbow, Gen. 9:12-17.  

Gen. 9:13“I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” 

This is not just as natural phenomenon, as we were taught in physical science class, but the sign of the covenant of God to restrain His anger and never destroy all mankind again.

God says this is “My bow.” The glorious colored circle containing either 6, 7 or 8 colors (depending on how one divides it*), is a symbol of the presence of God. It is very uniquely His and a regular reminder of Him to us. 

In Ezek. 1:28 a His glory is compared to a rainbow. In Rev. 4:3 a rainbow surrounds His throne in Heaven, and in Rev. 10:1 one of His strong angels isgiven an rainbow to wear as a crown when he came in glory for the Lord. 

Yet today we often see the rainbow used in an entirely different way. It is now used as the banner of homosexual identity and the destructive cultural forces and political power that go with their ungodliness. The perversion of the word “gay” was a great loss to our language, but the appropriation of God’s symbol for Himself for us in a promotion evil is one of Satan’s great (temporary) victories. They have turned the symbol of God’s peace into a reminder of why God restrain Himself from catastrophic judgment. Without that covenant, what might He rightly do to us?  

_______________

*The rainbow actually contains every visible color in a continuum, including infrared and ultraviolet just above and below the visible spectrum.

No Scriptures = No Limits

This week in an interview publicizing his new book, former President Jimmy Carter spoke about the role of his faith and religion to his life. The interviewer, Marc Hill, and President Carter had this exchange:

Carter:  I think everyone should have a right to get married…those partners should be able to get married.  That’s no problem… 

Hill:  Would Jesus approve gay marriage?

Carter:  I believe Jesus would. I don't have any verse in scripture… 

Hill:  No, no, no, but intuitively, yeah…

Carter:  ...I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage, but that's just my own personal belief. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don't see that gay marriage damages anyone else.    (www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/07/jimmy-carter-gay-marriage_n_7744390.html)

Both President Carter and his interviewer readily agree that there is absolutely NO SCRIPTURE at all to support gay marriage. Carter, who had just said in the interview that he regularly teaches Sunday School at his local church, admits it before he even asked about it.  The interviewer tries to help him his position by asserting that it’s not even necessary to have scriptures on your side, since it’s something that one just knows “intuitively.”

Carter not only agrees that scripture isn’t needed for it, but affirms that “any love affair” must be fine with Jesus so long as it is “honest, sincere and not harmful.” On this basis would any fornication or sin, agreeably entered into, be wrong? When you approve things without scripture, there are no limits.

To Understand The Scriptures

1. Ask the Right Questions:  If we want to know what a passage means, we have to ask ourselves:

1What question was the original audience asking (or what problem were they having)?

2How was that being addressed by the inspired writer?

3How can I apply the truth of that passage to my life today?

2. Stop Focusing on Peripheral Details:  Some people miss the point of a passage because they spend all of their time thinking about the incidental details of a story, rather than focusing on the main point(s). As an example, my whole life I’ve heard people talk about whether it was a “fish” or a “whale” that swallowed Jonah.  If we are ever going to be “transformed by the renewing” of our minds (Romans 12:2), we must stop getting lost in the weeds. We have got to stop focusing on the peripheral details.

3. Consider the Big Picture of Scripture:  Another reason many people miss the point when they study Scripture is because they read passages as if the passage stood entirely alone, isolated from the rest of Scripture. You cannot possibly come to right conclusions when you read Scripture this way. You must see every passage in the context of the book in which it is found and within the context of the entire Bible.

The psalmist said, “The sum of Your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Meaning, when you put it all together, you have the “truth.” The Bible is not an encyclopedia or a dictionary, where you can simply look up a verse and say, “Ok, so this is what the Bible says about this.” You have to understand that verse in light of the big picture of Scripture.

What Has Changed?

The Supreme Court has legalized homosexual marriage. As Christians sort through the ramifications of this, we ask ourselves, “What has changed?”

1) Legally: our culture changed its definition of marriage. Socially: the word “marriage” hasn’t had a biblical meaning for many for a long time. Divorce, adultery, cohabitation, fornication, homosexuality and other forms of sexual immorality have long been defiling “the marriage bed”  (Heb. 13:4).

2) Cultural acceptance of depraved behavior: legalizing an activity once forbidden will aid in normalizing it. Yet, God’s word has not changed one iota. Such sings as inhibriation, abortion, gambling or divorce for any cause, etc., will find approval with men (Prov. 14:12), but God still condemns them as sin. He condemns those who commit such things, and those who give approval to those who do (Rom. 1:32b).

3) National morality: this nation has long supported unrighteousness (Prov. 14:34). While we continue to grieve its ever our increasing moral decline, we acknowledge that no nation of men is sinless (Rom. 3:9-18). But our salvation is not based on our national identity, but our identity with the kingdom of heaven and the cross of Christ.

For the Christian, nothing has little or moral substance or faith changed. We are still promised persecution for godly living (2 Tim. 3:12). Sin is still sin (1 John 3:4) and its wages are still death (Rom. 6:23). Souls still need salvation (Jas. 5:19-20). The gospel still needs to be preached (Mark 16:15-16). The truth is still the truth (John 17:17). The longsuffering of the Lord is still salvation (2 Pet. 3:15). Jesus is still coming (Rev. 22:20). Rather than entangle ourselves in the affairs of this life, let us seek to please Him who enlisted us to fight the good fight (2 Tim. 2:4). Let us continue to be salt and light in a sin-sick and lost world, leading souls to salvation in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Is The Way

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).

Jesus is the way. He is the answer to life’s great riddle. People continually search for a path to follow, a way toward better things. Academics, sports, professions, politics, hobbies, clubs, societies, and special interests offer paths to pursue, and this is good. God intended man to be creative and industrious, just as He is, but without His higher purpose, all of these paths lead to the same familiar dead end, an empty heart.

Just any way won’t do. There are many dark paths lurking behind the door of a wrong decision, in moment of weakness, or within the seeming innocence of ignorance. People pursue paths that lead to destruction because of emptiness, disillusionment, self-loathing, or simply deception. Man is as wild as a rogue grizzly, yet as lost and vulnerable as a lone sheep.

Jesus is the Shepherd and the sacrificial Lamb. He is God, manifest in the form of man to show the way, as a shepherd guides his flock (John 1; Psalm 23). He lived the ideal life inspired by His love for God the Father and all men. never straying from the path. His footprints still show the way. 

His life and character are revealed in the scripture, penned by the hands of His closest disciples. He gave His innocent life as a sacrifice for sinners, making it possible for all to receive life instead of death, and be restored to relationship with a holy God (John 3:16). Through the example of His life, and the payment of His blood, Jesus is the way to being like God in our character and being with God in our fellowship. The way. The only way.

Christian Speech

Speech

1.  There is a time to speak and a time to be silent – Eccl. 3:7. 

2.  Power of life and death is in the tongueπ – Prov. 18:21.

3.  A person speaks from the abundance of the heart – Matt. 12:34.

4.  He who keeps his mouth keeps his soul – Prov. 21:23.

5.  Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul– Prov. 16:24.

6.  Moses couldn’t enter Canaan because he spoke unadvisedly – Ps. 106:33.

7.  The things which proceed out of the mouth defile man – Matt. 15: 18.

8.  People shall give account of every idle word – Matt. 12:36.

9.  By his words a person is justified or condemned – Matt.12:37.

So Christian’s Speech Must Be:

1.  Words of truth and soberness – Acts 26:25; Eph. 4:25.

2.  Good words which will build people up – Eph. 4:29.

3.  Words to strengthen those who are faint in heart – 1 Thess. 5:14.

4.  Words which comfort those in sorrow – 1 Thess. 4:18.

5.  Words of grace, opportunely spoken – Col. 4:6.

6.  Sound speech which cannot be condemned – Prov. 12 :18;  Titus 2:8.

7.  Giving of thanks Eph. 5:4; James 3:9.

8.  Without murmurings or disputings – Phil. 2:14.

9.  With meekness and fear – 1 Pet. 3:15.

11.  As an example to the believers – 1 Tim. 4 :12.

None of Those Diseases

David Stern, a medical doctor and believer wrote a book called “None Of These Diseases” based on the promise of God in Ex. 15:26 “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.” The following is from his book:

Leprosy cast the greatest blight that threw its shadow over the daily life of medieval humanity.  Fear of all other diseases taken together can hardly be compared to the terror spread by leprosy.  Not even Black Death in the fourteenth century or the appearance of syphilis towards the end of the fifteenth century produced a similar state of fright...Early in the Middle Ages, during the sixth and seventh centuries, it began to spread more widely in Europe and became a serious social and health problem.  It was endemic particularly among the poor and reached a terrifying peak in the thirteenth and fourteenth century.

Leadership was taken by the church, as physicians had nothing to offer.  The church took as its guiding principle the concept of contagion as embodied in the Old Testament...This idea and its practical consequences are defined with great clarity in the book of Leviticus...Once the condition of leprosy had been established, the patient was to be segregated from the community.

Following the precepts laid down in Leviticus the church undertook the task of combating leprosy...it accomplished the first great feat...in the methodical eradication of disease.

Joseph Overcame Temptation Gen. 39

How did Joseph resist the temptation when Potiphar’s wife, “looked with desire” at him?

Refused vs. 7“he refused.”  Oh how many problems we could avoid if we just resolved to refuse sin.  God has promised that “with the temptation will provide the way of escape also,” (1 Cor. 10:13) but we must refuse sin in order to find it.   

Reasoned vss. 8 “he refused and said…”  Those who sin often cannot give coherent explanation for their sin. Most sins are marked by lack of thought .  

Recognized Responsibilities And Trusts vss. 8,9“My master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.” 

Remembered God  vs. 9Joseph said, “How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?” 

Refused To Listen To Evil vs. 12“he did not listen to her to lie beside her.” Evil speaks incessantly.  It never stops.  But we don’t have to listen to it.  

Ran vs. 12 “She caught him by his garment saying, ‘Lie with me!…he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.” 

Let us resolve to be in Joseph.  When sin approaches: refuse, reason, realize your responsibility, remember God, refuse to listen to evil entreaties, and finally run if necessary.  Resisting sin can be hard, but is very rewarding, work. 

Death At God’s Voice Deut 5:23-33

In the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy the Ten Commandments are restated for a new generation. This generation had not been there when the Lord’s presence descended on the mountain in smoke and earthquakes. They were not the ones summoned by the trumpet and told to consecrate themselves and consecrate the mountain and then told to stay behind the barrier lest they see God and die. (Ex. 19:18-23) But they needed to learn the same lesson and be equally impressed with the authority of God.  

So Moses tells them of how their fathers came to the mountain and heard the voice of the Almighty. (Deut. 5:23) When this happened they were so stunned by the power and holiness of God they were surprised that they had survived it saying, “we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.” (Deut. 5:24)

Up until this time they did not have the proper impression of the power of God.  Their fear overtook their faith and became afraid that hearing more of God’s voice would kill now kill the, although it hadn’t done so thus far.  “Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we shall die, For who is there of all flesh, who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?” (Deut. 5:25,26)   

If God had wanted them to die they would have already been dead.  What God wanted from them, and from all, is for them to hear, heed and live. God did not want to kill them, or any. But sadly, many are lost for not listening to what His great voice says.

All God’s Promises Are True

Think of all the comforts of God’s word. In an unstable and shifting world that are not many thing that we can rely on with absolute certainty. Only God is constant and true. His words and promises are a “strong encouragement” and the hope that we base on them are “an anchor of the soul...both sure and steadfast.” (Heb. 6:18,19)  

Yet even as we take comfort in the surety of God’s promises for help and good, we make take with equal seriousness all His promises that warn of punishment. So often we like to think of only the nice things. This is illustrated in the fact that poll after poll shows that a much greater number of people believe in heaven than in hell, even though we have equal evidence and authority for both. Jesus often speaks of rewards and punishments in the same sentence, yet only one is remembered.  But His promises of curses and consequences are just as sure as His promises of blessings and rewards. 

Both the righteous goodness and righteous severity of God has been equally spoken and equally proven. All of God’s word is confirmed. Will those living by the gospel faith go to heaven? Surely they will.  Will those who are not obedient to it go to hell? Just as surely they will also. Salvation and condemnation are based on the same sure word of God. The scriptures, history and experience all confirm that we must give heed to all that God has said. Let His word be a dreadful and fearful thing to those who won’t live by it – and let them not ignore it – even as His word is wondrously comforting to those who will live by it.

More Blessed To Give Than Receive

Acts 20:33-35“I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

34“You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.

35“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Worldly minded people seldom understand the spiritual words of the Savior, and none are more misunderstood or maligned than the word’s that Paul reminds us of here. 

We don’t know when Jesus spoke these words since they are not recorded or referenced in the gospels. We only know that His inspired apostle attests to these words, and used them to teach the church the proper view of material things: Sharing, not coveting and hoarding.

It is more blessed to give than to receive because Christians view life and possessions are as things to do good with, not to seek for the accumulation or use of them for our own pleasures.

It is more blessed to give than receive because the spiritual is more important than the material. 

It is more blessed to give than to receive because the ability to give means that we have been first blessed to have enough of something to share.

It is more blessed to give than to receive because we follow the example and pattern of the Father. 

Let us seek every opportunity to give important things, both physical and spiritual It is the blessed way.

Run The Race With Endurance Heb. 12:1-3

The exhortation to be faithful and avoid sin is based firmly on the life and work of Jesus. As we run our endurance race of Christianity, we look to Jesus.  In distance races it is illegal to have someone set the pace for you.  You compete on your own. Once a Cuban racer fall far back off the lead, then as his teammate was about to lap him he sped back up and set a strong pace for the first man who was now tiring. This encouragement helped his teammate to run at near record time, but it also got them both disqualified.  Fortunately we don’t run the Christian race alone. God’s rules permit a pacesetter.  It is Jesus. He has run this same race — a life of service, faith and devotion to God here on earth.  

The exhortation to be faithful and avoid sin is also based on the death of Jesus. Jesus’ struggle against sin was a mortal one. The Hebrews were “growing weary and losing heart.” (vs. 3) They were giving up to soon.  Consider all that Jesus gave up.  He gave up heaven then suffered cruelly for us. If we are still living, our struggle hasn’t yet cost us our lives as it did Jesus. We are like the Hebrews, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.” (vs. 4) Jesus suffered the shameful cross because He saw the goal - being seated at the right hand of God. If we want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy lord”  and “receive the crown of life,” we will have to do the same things.  

In order to “run with endurance,” live like the faithful, not the faint. Look to Jesus, not th

Living And Dying Peacefully

(A selection from of the Brother's funeral sermon)

One of the things that struck me as I was privileged to be with Brother_____ and his family at in his final hours of life, was the peacefulness of it all.  Brother_____ was at peace with himself and his God. He was at peace with his children, and they with each other. Many of his grandchildren were able to come see him off as well. It was a calm and peaceful scene.

This peaceful scene was many years in the making. It was the fruit of the gospel practiced over a lifetime. 

The common hope in the New Testament is “grace and peace.”  

Jude 2 “May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

And in Brother_____ life it was.

Rom. 15:13  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

He was full and joy and hope, and the peace that comes by faith. 

Phil. 4:7  “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

And it did. In days of work and success, in days of grief and despair, in days of exasperation and testing (he did raise 3 boys!), the days of old age holding grand and great-grandchildren on his knee, and finally on to the days of feebleness and forgetfulness…   We read it again:

Phil. 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Instrumental Music

I recently attended two funerals. One was with our brethren, the other was with the Christian church — folks who were our brethren until the 1890s, when division over instrumental music.  The main difference in the funerals was the type and character of the music. (There were other differences as well, such as the coffee bar and fellowship hall in the one of the buildings.)

At one funeral, the mourners to joined in the singing of hymns of praise to God and comfort for one another; at the other, the mourners sat back and listened to pre-recorded hymns sung to them by professional singers, played back over very high quality speakers. As far as the “quality” of the music in regard to pitch and polished performance, the professional recording would surely win. But that isn’t why we sing. 

In the acappella hymns, the mourners and worshipers were able participate in the songs of praise and comfort. We were able to actively take part in the service, not passively observe. I found one satisfying to the soul, and the other lacking entirely.  I realize the God’s will on the subject is not established by what I find satisfying, and others accustomed to the instrument might find music without it lacking, but the repeated admonitions to sing in the New Testament and lack of any instruction to play, seem vindicated to me through experiencing them both. 

Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist pastor and leader of what was really the first mega-church, said this, 140 years: “The congregation…has no organ ‘to assist’ them in singing their praises to their God and Savior. Their tongues and voices express the gratitude of their hearts…I would just as soon pray to God with machinery as to sing to God with machinery.”

Why Are You Anxious?

In Matthew 6:28 Jesus asked, “Why are you anxious?” Jesus said that God cared for the grass and the birds and so He will surely meet our needs as well.  Yet are so often very anxious.

Anxiety frustrates and immobilizes us without giving us any goods results.  It causes bad mental consequences such as confusion, discouragement and preoccupied minds.  It can physically effect us with stomach troubles; heart disease, high blood pressure; suppressing our immune systems. And it effects us spiritually by weighing down our hearts (Luke 21:34) and even choking out the word of God. (Mark 4:19)

Anxiety is enhanced by a lack of faith as we dwell on a great parade of imaginary horribles that our mind dreams up. Most of all, anxiety is increased by sin. “I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin.” (Ps. 38:18)

Anxiety can be reduced by a number of godly measures: Trust (1 Pet.5:5,6; Ps. 55:22); Prayer (Luke 21:36); not worrying about what we’ve been forgiven of (1 Cor. 15:9,10); taking problems one day at a time (Matt. 6:34); being busy for others and filling our mind with godly things (Phil. 4:8,9).

Finally, if all else fails to reduce you anxiety for the future, count your blessings.  Recall what God has done for you in the past and is doing for you now. (1 Thess. 5:16-18) Then think on what God will do in the future for those that trust in Him.  Jesus continues to ask, “Why are you anxious?”

Difference Between Fools & Wise Men

The fool doesn’t learn when wisdom is presented to him because he’s too full of himself to hear.  

Prov. 12:15“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.”

Prov. 26:12“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

The fool doesn’t even learn even from his own mistakes though he suffers terrible consequences for his folly.   

Prov. 17:10“A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.”

Prov. 26:16“The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can give a discreet answer. [sensibly - NKJV]”

The wise man doesn’t need to personally see the consequences of sin and folly, but who learns by hearing or reading wise counsel.  

Prov. 10:8“The wise of heart will receive commands, But a babbling fool will be thrown down.”

Prov. 13:1“A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.”

Prov. 23:19“Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.”

The wisest of all is the one who hears and reads the true wisdom, the wisdom of God in His revelation, to learn the ways of life.  

Ps. 19:7“The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”

Settled On Their Lees Zeph. 1:12

“And it will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the men Who are stagnant in spirit [that are settled on their lees - KJV], Who say in their hearts, 'The LORD will not do good or evil!'” (Zeph. 1:12)

Pictured here is undisturbed wine. The dregs (lees) have precipitated out, and have not been disturbed for a very long time. When bottles of wine are not rotated in their racks or casks of wine that are not turned, the wine becomes thick and it’s flavor is unchanged. So good wine becomes great and bad wine simply becomes worse. Wicked men, too long undisturbed, sink into sin and degradation that it is impossible to recover from. 

Their indifference caused them to think that the Lord cares, rewards or punishes. As the prophet Amos said, they are “at ease in Zion.” (Amos 6:1) It wasn’t they they didn’t know, but that they didn’t care. These are not atheists in profession; yet they are atheists in practice. They don’t take the time or effort to deny God in thought and work out a philosophy of it, they just live like He doesn’t matter, with complete disregard for the Creator who showers them with life and all blessings. So they rest at complete ease in their evil.  

Rather than be complacent, and let your sins stack up, continually have the attitude of David: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” (Ps. 139:23,24) You know that God will examine everything concerning our lives anyway, so invite Him in to cleanse and perfect it, rather than just waiting until He comes and give punishment for the sin that we’ve all committed.

The Good Life 1 Pet. 3:10-11

Peter quotes Ps. 34 in his instructions on how to conduct live so that you will be pleasing to God and so you will can enjoy the best life here on earth. Peter states, “Let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. And let him turn away from evil and do good;  let him seek peace and pursue it.”

There are three instructions to those who wish to “love life and see good days.” Men have always sought a life on earth. God wants us to have a good life here on the earth. God did not create us to come here and suffer. He intended for this earth to be a good place to live. (Rf. Gen. 1:31)

To have this, first instruction is to control the tongue.  James calls the tongue is a fire, hard to control (Jas. 3:3-8).  As Proverbs notes that the tongue can quickly get us in or out of trouble, Prov. 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” 

Second, to turn from evil and do good. The good man will not be troubled as the evil one is. The evil man must always be worried about being caught in his lies and deceptions and watching out for the retaliations of and recriminations from those whom he has harmed.“‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked,’” (Isa. 57:20,21).   

Third, “seek peace and pursue it.” Peace with your neighbors is paramount to a good life.  This peace is to be sought and pursued, it is to be hunted for and actively looked for.  It is not an easy thing to find or maintain in a world full of malice, envy, strife, and murders. But we, as Christians, are to pursue it though prayers (1 Tim. 2:1-3), and reconciliation (Matt. 5:23-25).

But Now Brought Near Eph. 2:13

What a horrible and hopeless condition the heathens in before being called by the gospel.  They did not have Christ, where all spiritual blessings and forgiveness of sin are found, (Eph. 1:3) nor did they have the Law that would lead them to Him. The Jews were also lacking the fullness of these blessings, but they had the hope of the expected Messiah. The Gentiles were excluded from both the blessings and the hope. The Messiah was coming through the nation of Israel and very few Gentiles had even heard of it.  

They were “strangers to the covenant of promise.” Abraham was promised a descendant who would be a blessing to all nations. Moses promised a prophet like him that all should listen to. The prophets promised the Messiah. The Jews had a school master preparing and bringing men to Christ. But the Gentiles were ignorant of all of this and excluded from the hope. The whole Gentile world was outside of these promises and blessings. They had nothing to look forward to, just as they no conciliation in this life. 

Without God, the heathens had no hope, only blind groping because what witness God had given them was ignored or forgotten.  God was still there, but their lives did not reflect it. Paul described the gloominess of this spiritual “blind man’s bluff” search for God to the Athenians: “that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”  (Acts 17:27) 

But then, thanks be to God, Christ came and offered His blessings to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2:13) Reconciliations and forgiveness were found in Christ form them too.