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 Assyrian Empire.
Assyria 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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