SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/30/2018
9:22 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Alienation
Apart From Christ”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
2:11-12
Message of the verses: “11 Therefore
remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
"Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which
is performed in the flesh by human hands- 12 remember that you were at that
time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world.”
We
have been looking at what we could call an introduction to these two verses in
our last SD, and that will continue in this SD as we continue to talk about the
things that causes divisions which we stated as being predigest and I will give
a definition from something that I found while searching for the meaning of
this word:
Prejudice
“Prejudice is an affective feeling towards a person or
group member based solely on that person's group membership. The word is often
used to refer to preconceived, usually unfavorable, feelings towards people or
a person because of their sex, gender, beliefs, values, social class, age,
disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality, beauty,
occupation, education, criminality, sport team affiliation or other personal
characteristics. In this case, it refers to a positive or negative evaluation
of another person based on that person's perceived group membership.”
We have mentioned the
problems that Israel had because they misunderstood their call from the Lord
and a good example of how they felt about Gentiles comes from the prophet Jonah
as he typified the common Jewish attitude toward Gentiles. Most people know the story of Jonah as he was
told by the Lord to go to Nineveh which was the capital of the Assyrians who
would eventually conquer the Northern Tribes of Israel. They were a very mean spirited people and so
the Lord wanted Jonah to preach to them.
Jonah went the opposite way in a ship and so the Lord caused a great
storm to come upon the ocean and Jonah knew that the storm was caused because
of his running away. He was thrown
overboard and the storm stopped. He was
prepared to die until swallowed by a very large fish and was in the belly of
this fish for three days. God directed
the fish to vomit him out near Nineveh.
While in the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord and wanted to be forgiven. Jonah probably looked a different color since
he was in the belly of the fish and so when he got to Nineveh he began to
preach to the people there and they repented because of his preaching. Jonah told them if they did not repent that
God was going to destroy them. Jonah
became upset with the Lord because the people of Nineveh repented and this was
because even after being in the belly of a fish for three days it did not cure
his prejudice as he still thought Gentiles were below the people of Israel in
stature.
John MacArthur writes “Like
Jonah, most Jews did not want to share their gracious and loving God with
anyone else. They accepted their divine
blessings but not their divine mission—to be a light to the Gentiles nations
(Isa. 42:6, 49:6; 60:3; 62:1-2).”
We know that the Jews
have been the most persecuted group of people to ever live, and yet for the
most part they most often vented their own resentment and hatred back against
their persecutors. Similar to Jonah,
they wanted Gentiles to be judged and not forgiven. John MacArthur adds that “Some Jews believed
that God created the Gentiles to use as fuel for hell.” Some Jews even believed that God loved the
Jews and hated the every other nation.
There is a point in
all of this writings about the feelings of the Jews towards the Gentiles as we
continue this introduction and that is to say how much trouble it was for the
Jews to accept the Gentile believers as they came into the churches in the
first century. With all of the
prejudices this was going to be a most difficult transition.
John MacArthur writes
in his last paragraph before we move onto the first sub-point the
following: “This important section
begins with the word therefore, indicating that the next line of thought
regarding the new identity of these Gentile Christians is built on what Christ
has done to give them life and eternal blessing, as described in verses
1-10. It is as if Paul is calling them
to be so grateful for their deliverance from their old situation that they come
to fully appreciate their new situation of union with all other believers. Nothing more inspires gratitude in a saved
sinner than a look back to the pit from which he has come.” I have mentioned in past SD’s that this word “therefore”
has always been something that I like as it does take us back to previous
thoughts written by the writers of the Bible and also mentioned that it is used
in the NASB95 904 times in the Scriptures.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There has been a lot of looking back for me
when it comes to my Spiritual life, looking back at my salvation and how I was
not looking for the Lord when He saved me.
Looking back is good for my soul as I can be ever more thankful to the
Lord for saving me from the life that I was headed into. I suppose that in some ways that is one
reason that I watch each Christmas season “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
My Steps of
Faith for Today: Continue to look back at my life in order to
see if I have sinned against the Lord so that I can ask for forgiveness.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“Bethlehem” (2 Samuel 23:15).
Today’s Bible question: “Who led
an army of 300 men carrying trumpets, lamps and pitchers?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/30/2018 10:02 AM
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