Psalm 26, 28; 1 Kings 8:65-9:9; James 2:14-26; Mark 14:66-72
The Lord renews the covenant with Solomon that He had made with his father David. From Genesis we see this same pattern, renewing the covenant with succeeding generations of the family. If Solomon walks in the ways of the Lord, the people will enjoy His divine favor but if Solomon follows after other gods, the people will lose the land. All hinges on the leader for as the leader goes, so go the people. Obedience to the Lord’s command matters. Enjoyment of the covenant blessing is contingent on obedience and faithfulness to Him as covenant partner. Surely such a personal visitation and all that Solomon has seen and experienced of the Lord will be sufficient to keep him walking behind the Lord as his leader. Alas, it will not be true that Solomon remains faithful to the covenant.
Peter wanted to be faithful but his flesh was too weak to stand up to the challenges of life. In the end, he acted out of self-preservation and self-interest. Just as Jesus had prophesied, Peter’s strength and courage failed and he denied Jesus three times under what seems relatively little pressure. The pressure is applied by servant girls of the high priest, not soldiers or the Sanhedrin, and that slight pressure is enough to cause Peter to deny Jesus and then rain down curses on himself. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is there to help the flesh now that the day of Pentecost has come. I see this incident and the events we see in Acts 4 and 5 where Peter stands before the Sanhedrin and boldly swears his allegiance to Jesus as proof positive of the resurrection and of the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. Peter’s boldness on that occasion is testimony to a man who has seen and experienced something extraordinary.
Does James preach a false Gospel? Is he preaching that we are saved by works? No, he is clearly saying that faith must be living and active in order to be counted as faith. There must be evidence of faith being active in our lives, leading us to good works, if we are to say we are new creations and truly alive in our faith. If Jesus had simply claimed to be Messiah and had done nothing to authenticate Himself, would we believe today that He is indeed Messiah? If we are new creations, born by the Spirit, should we not also have works to authenticate that new life? James is calling us to active faith, a life lived according to the faith we have. Our lives now belong to the One who redeemed us, and we are to be used as instruments of His glory in the world around us. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, doing the works He Himself would be doing if He were among us because, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He is among us. Our salvation is not intended to remain a private matter, it is intended to be the beginning of a new and public proclamation of the power of Christ. Boldness in speech and action are to be characteristic of our new lives.
Should I with scoffers join
Her altars to abuse?
No! Better far my tongue were dumb,
My hand its skill should lose.
No comments:
Post a Comment