SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/2/2014
8:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Priority
of Excelling
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1
Thessalonians 4:1a, d
Message of the
verse: “Finally then, brethren, we
request and exhort you…that you excel still more.”
As we look through the letters that Paul wrote to
different churches and also to different men we can see that usually the first
part of his letters he teaches, and then in the second part he exhorts the
readers to follow what he has taught them in practical ways. We are now in the second part of his first
letter to the Thessalonicans.
Paul says that he requests the Thessalonians, and this
word is used as one talking to an equal, not as like a person in the military
talking to someone under their command.
It is interesting that this word was used by the apostle John in his
gospel when our Lord was talking to His Father, showing that they are equal,
which shows the deity of our Lord. We
see the humility of Paul in using this word as he writes to these believers.
John MacArthur writes “The word excel (perisseuete) means ‘to abound, to be
abundantly supplied, to overflow, to exist in full quantity, to be over and
above and around, to be advanced.’ A
closely related form of the word can mean ‘extraordinary,’ or ‘surpassing.’ Paul used perisseuete
here in a comparative way (cf. 1 Cor. 8:8) to tell the Thessalonians he was
intent that they become spiritually extraordinary, that they excel to a higher degree
(cf. 1 Cor. 14:12; Phil. 1:9; 1 Thess. 3:12; 4:10).”
The following verses from Psalm 42 captures Paul’s
priority for the believers he is writing to, a spiritual progress motivated by
a desire to know God: “As the deer pants
for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for
God, for the living God.” I want to
insert a quote from Warren Wiersbe here which gives us a caution: “Pleasing God means much more than simply
doing God’s will. It is possible to obey
God and yet not pleas Him. Jonah is a
case in point. He obeyed God and did
what he was commanded, but his heart was not in it. God blessed His Word but He could not bless
His servant. So Jonah sat outside the
city of Nineveh angry with everybody, including the Lord! Our obedience should be ‘not with eyeservice,
as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart’ (Eph. 6:6).”
John MacArthur writes “The objective of knowing God
should supersede even the desire to know His Word; that desire is simply the
means of knowing the God of the Word. If
gaining more information about the Bible and participating in additional spiritual
activities—praying, witnessing, and serving—are not linked to the desire to
know God better, they will not bring spiritual growth to those who profess
faith in Christ.”
“12 I am writing to you, little children, because your
sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. 13 I am writing to you,
fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to
you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you,
children, because you know the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers,
because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you,
young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you
have overcome the evil one (1 John 2:12-14).”
These verses capture what we are discussing here. MacArthur writes “In that text (1 John
2:12-14), John identifies three steps in a believers growth: (1) ‘little
children’ who know their sins are forgiven, (2) ‘young men’ who know doctrine
and are strong against Satan’s lies (unlike children, cf. Eph. 4:14), and (3) ‘fathers’
who know not just doctrine but the eternal God.
That is the final goal of every believer.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The question for
today is which step in my spiritual life am I in? I love the study of God’s Word, but perhaps I
need to focus on loving the God of the Word more which is a better goal, but
one I cannot get to without the study of His Word.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Begin to love the God of the Word more as I
study the Word of God each day.
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-8
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of men. “Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross.
Answer to our last Bible
question: “Abraham” (Genesis 13:8-9).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which Bible book tells of
Israel asking for a king?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/2/2014 9:35 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment