Max Lucado Daily: No Condemnation
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus . . . who walk according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1 NKJV
Does the Word of God say There is limited condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? No. Does it say There is some condemnation . . .? No. It says There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Think of it—regardless of our sin, we are not guilty!
Judges 19
A Levite and His Concubine
1 In those days Israel had no king.
Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, 3 her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. 4 His father-in-law, the woman’s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.
5 On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.” 6 So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the woman’s father said, “Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.” 7 And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. 8 On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two of them ate together.
9 Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the woman’s father, said, “Now look, it’s almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home.” 10 But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.
11 When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night.”
12 His master replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” 13 He added, “Come, let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” 14 So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 15 There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them in for the night.
16 That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. 17 When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
18 He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the LORD.[a] No one has taken me in for the night. 19 We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants—me, the woman and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.”
20 “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” 21 So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.
22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”
23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.”
25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.
27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 4:1-16
Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it[a] says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”[b]
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Measuring Growth
September 6, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Till we all come to the unity of the faith and . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. —Ephesians 4:13
When a high school student tried using a thermometer to measure a table, his teacher was dumbfounded. In 15 years of teaching, Dave had seen many sad and shocking situations. But even he was amazed that a student could make it to high school without knowing the difference between a ruler and a thermometer.
When a friend told me this story, my heart broke for that student and others like him who have fallen so far behind in their education. They can’t move forward because they haven’t yet learned basic lessons of everyday life.
But then a sobering thought came to me: Don’t we sometimes do the same thing when we use wrong spiritual measuring devices? For example, do we assume that churches with the most resources are the most blessed by God? And do we ever think that popular preachers are more godly than those with few followers?
The proper measure of our spiritual condition is the quality of our lives, which is measured by such attributes as lowliness, gentleness, and longsuffering (Eph. 4:2). “Bearing with one another in love” (v.2) is a good indication that we are moving toward God’s goal for us: “the measure of . . . the fullness of Christ” (v.13).
Our spiritual maturity
Is measured by the quality
Of attributes that others see
Produced in us by Christ. —Sper
Our love for God can be measured by our love for others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 6th, 2011
The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life
He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38
A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe. . .” (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.
A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.
Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Rest of The Story - #6432
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
A long time ago my friend, Art, got stopped for speeding, although he was a little baffled when the police officer didn't get out of his car for a couple of moments. So, he thought, "Well, I'll be obliging." Art got out of his car. Oh boy! Immediately he heard the policeman yelling at him, "Get in that car and stay there, and don't move!" as the policeman reached for his gun. Poor Art! I mean, the poor guy was only doing 37 in the 30. That's not really that bad an offense most of the time.
Well, the policeman finally came up to his window. And as Art reached in his back pocket for his license, the policeman said, "Freeze where you are! Eyes straight ahead! Put your hands on the steering wheel! Don't move!" Well, of course, Art's first reaction was, "Am I going to die?" And then his second reaction was, "What is this guy's problem?" Well, if you'd stopped right there you'd have said, "Boy, this officer's really got an attitude, man. What's going on here?"
Well, you see, the officer went on to explain why he was so jumpy that day. He had just had a friend, a fellow officer, gunned down by a man that had been stopped for a minor traffic violation. All of a sudden, it's kind of understandable, isn't it? You see, when someone is over-reacting or just acting strangely, there's usually more to it than meets the eye.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Rest of The Story."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in John 4, and you may recognize this as an incident where Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. She's an obnoxious woman, and she comes across in this passage as being hard and prejudiced. Jesus is trying to offer her living water to satisfy the deepest needs of her heart, and she throws up racial barriers, and religious differences. She's sarcastic toward Jesus. And if I were Jesus, I would have found it tempting just to say, "What's your problem, Lady? I don't need this." But Jesus looks for the "why" behind her actions; the need behind the deed.
And so, in John 4:16, He says, "'Go call your husband and come back.' 'Oh, I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.' 'Sir,' the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet.'"
As the conversation moves on, Jesus obviously has touched the real need in her life, her restless search for love, for lasting love, as expressed in the men that she's gone through. She finally knows He's a prophet, and she eventually trusts Him as Savior.
Jesus is basically saying to her, "I understand why you're acting like you're acting. Now let's deal with the real issue." Now, look, we all know people who are hard to take, or maybe people who just suddenly explode over you for no reason. You've got two choices. You can attack them or you can treat their wound.
Like that police officer I told you about at the beginning, there is often--if you'll just try to understand--something about that person that tells you how hurt they are and why they're acting as they are. Christ-like people try to understand the well the bitterness is coming from: someone in your family, or at work, someone who has been hurt, maybe they've been rejected, maybe they've been hurt by their family. Try to understand that. See the "need behind the deed." Then your response is love and compassion, instead of giving an eye for an eye or returning evil for evil.
Think about that person you care about, or that person who's hard to care about. You can focus on what they're putting you through, or what they're going through. And if you'll get the rest of the story, you'll be just like Jesus.
