Take it Patiently

I Peter 2:18-20.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

Peter takes v. 17 one step further and addresses the relationship between masters and servants/slaves.

“WHAT?” You may ask. “Slaves? Really? In the BIBLE?”

Yes. The Bible dealt with life as it actually was, not as any idealist wished it were. Slavery was common in Peter’s day, as the Greco-Roman empire flexed its muscles. Any conquered nation was sure to be considered as free pickings for those who sought slaves for their households or businesses. It was quite common, for example, for a Roman household to purchase a Greek slave to be a teacher for the children in the household.

I’m pointing this out NOT to approve of slavery, but to acknowledge the reality of it. Peter’s message to Christian servants, whether they were hired or enslaved, was to honor and respect their masters–the good along with the froward, or those who were bent, perverse, wicked, unfair and surly.

If a slave suffered abuse for his faith, that was honorable and praiseworthy, especially if he suffered it with humility and dependence on God.

To be buffeted was to be beaten. If you did wrong and were beaten for it, there’s no particular prize to be won. However, if you did no wrong and were still abused, and bore it with patience, then you found honor in the sight of God.

Years ago, I read Richard Wurmbrandt’s story Tortured for Christ. Recently, I watched a movie on my computer about the story of Richard and Sabina’s efforts to help Jewish refugees and, finally, Nazis who were running from Russian Communism. How remarkable that they were able to help the very man who had murdered her family! It was an amazing story of true forgiveness. Richard’s suffering at the hands of Communism came a bit later, and is not an easy story to read. The great lesson, I believe, is that he bore it with patience. After he was finally set free, he traveled to many places. I was honored to hear him speak way back in the 70’s, and was amazed at his lack of anger or hatred toward those who persecuted him.

That is what Peter is teaching in our passage for today. Believe me, I’m not volunteering to be mistreated. I only pray that if such a calamity should arise, my testimony would remain strong.

Thou Hast Kept the Good Wine

John 2:9-10.

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

Following Jesus’ command, the servants took a sample of the wine to the governor of the feast. I’m imagining, now, that the governor hesitantly took a moment to smell the wine, doubting it would be worth serving. But the aroma caught his attention. He sipped enough to allow the wine to sit on his tongue for a moment, enjoying the wonderful richness and depth. He swallowed, thanked the servants, and took his sample to the bridegroom.

I love the little parenthetical comment that the governor didn’t know the source of the wine, but the servants did. They don’t seem to have revealed the source; at least, if they did, it is not recorded.

In any case, the governor was impressed. He paid the groom a high compliment.

It was customary to present the best wine first, and after the guest had drunk enough to lose their sense of quality, the cheaper wine was brought out.

The governor was impressed that the groom had done just the opposite. Cheap wine first, then the very best wine. Doing so spoke to the groom’s, and his parents,’ generosity and class.

Again, in my imagination, I’m watching and listening to the servants as they return to the waterpots to carry the wine to the banquet hall. Did they talk, or were they silent in amazement? Were their hearts stirred in the presence of a Man who could turn water into wine? Did they tell others what they had seen?

What would you have done?

Israel’s Mission

Isaiah 43:10-12. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen: that  ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord: and beside Me there is no Savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.”

The Jews were Jehovah’s witnesses and His servants whom He had chosen. They were cut off from being the peculiar people of God when they rejected their Messiah; and now the Gentiles have this place as a people (Mat. 21:33-45; Rom. 11). The Jews will be received again at the second advent of Christ; they will become witnesses of Jehovah again, and will literally evangelize the nations in the Millennium (2:2-4; 11:3-12; 52:7; Zech. 8:23; Rom. 1:25-29).

The Jews were chosen that they might know Him, believe Him, understand that He is God; and that they may witness that He is God.

When they worshiped no other gods, they were able to be the witnesses God had chosen them to be. But when they turned to idols,  they lost their privileged position. When they rejected Messiah at His first coming, they  were replaced as witnesses by the Gentile nations.

Restoration will come when Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom and establish His thousand-year reign. The Jews will return to Him, and will be the witnesses who will take the gospel to the Gentile nations.

The Churl

Isaiah 32:7-8. “The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.”

A churl is an unprincipled person whose main goal is to get gain for himself. His behavior toward those he considers his inferiors–and that would include just about everyone–is always deceitful and dishonest. This is a person who has no conscience, and whose goal is always to come out on top. It doesn’t matter to him how much his victims may suffer in his self-centered climb up his own ladder of “success.”

When a poor man’s cause was just,  the unprincipled men in power deprived him of his rights and plotted against him to enrich themselves.

In verse 8, the liberal is not a reference to today’s left-wing politicians. It’s so tempting to go off on that rabbit trail, because the meaning of this good word has, over time, taken on a completely different connotation and now denotes those who believe that the bigger the government, the better; and that we ordinary folks are unable  to make any decisions without their guidance.

Instead, this term is used to describe the honorable, generous, noble, benevolent public-spirited men who devote themselves to the welfare of the country and fellow men.  When they rule, the noble things they stand for will be established.

Again, we have to keep in mind that this chapter is a Millennium prophecy, describing the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ on earth after the Battle of Armageddon and the binding of Satan. It is NOT about present times.  We will not see peace on earth until Jesus Christ, Messiah, is ruling from Jerusalem.

Heir of God through Christ

Galatians 4: 6-7. And becuse ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

Salvation has always come by faith. The diligent keeping of the Law did not make a person sure of heaven; it was by faith that the Old Testament saints believed God. They kept the Law as an indicator of their faith in God, and out of reverent obedience to His Word.  When they taught their children the Law, they taught about the great and holy Yaweh Who had given them the law to bring them to an understanding of their sin.

Since Christ’s finished work at Calvary, every true believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, sealed and anointed. Anyone who does not have that indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not a true believer.  Because He dwells in our hearts, as we grow in understanding and knowledge of Him and Who He is, we look with adoration and reverence into His face and cry, “Abba, Father.”  Both Jew and Gentile now have this free access to God, by grace, through faith.

Because we now have the Holy Spirit, we are indeed  no longer in the place of servants, but of sons. As sons, we are heirs of all His possessions through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do you sometimes find yourself thinking, “Yes, I know this.  I believe it is true. But I have a really hard time getting my head around the idea that I have the same standing with God as His Son does, and that my heavenly inheritance is equal with His. How can this be?”

I know only that it is through the unlimited grace and love of God that it is possible. To know it now is amazing. To experience it there?  I can’t even begin to imagine.

The Talents

Matthew 25:15, “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took the journey.”

The talent was a very great sum of money.  I’ve searched several places, coming up with different answers, but they all indicate that we’re not talking about paltry amounts here. My Dake’s study Bible says the talanton was $29, 085. Five talents would have been $145,425; and the two talents would have been $58,170.  The copyright date on my Dake’s is 1963, with the tenth printing being in 1992. I’m sure these figures have changed since then.

The scripture says that each of the three servants was given that which the lord felt was appropriate for his ability. He was to use the money for trade, in an effort to increase the master’s wealth. Obviously, this man was in a position of high trust and authority to have accummulated so much wealth.

What would you do if you were given over $29,000 to invest; or twice that; or five times that amount?

How are you doing with what God has entrusted you to do? Have you increased His wealth? Have you invested your life and your time wisely?  It is all His, after all.

The Householder, part one

Matthew 21:33-36. “Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.”

This is a more complicated parable, and still it keeps the religious leaders in place. This time, the parable reviews the history of their nation and predicts the calamity that will soon come to Israel.  Later on, we’ll find that these men understood exactly what Jesus’ story was about. They must have figured it out pretty quickly, when Jesus spoke of the vineyard, the hedge and the winepress, the tower and the husbandmen, as well as of the fruit the vineyard was to yield.  Israel, the nation to whom He had come to offer the Kingdom.  Israel, a vineyard, is an Old Testament picture. The parable is founded upon Isaiah 5:1-7, Jeremiah 2:21, and Psalm 53:8.  All these words had already been spoken to the prophets of old, and now He was come in the flesh  to flash the truth of God’s mercy to Israel, their shameful past and the still greater sin in the hearts of these national leaders. The vineyard was not bearing fruit.  The servants who came to the vineyard are the prophets sent by God, who had been rejected and mistreated.

We’ll look at the rest of the story tomorrow.  It is a heartbreaking picture of the hearts of men who have had every opportunity to thrive, and yet when they are held accountable, they fail to bear fruit.  Let’s not be too quick to point the finger at unbelieving Israel.  We’re no different. Our hearts easily grow cold and hard, and it often takes persecution to bring us to our knees in repentance for our unbelief.

The King and His Servants

Matthew 18:23. “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.”

Jesus, after telling Peter to forgive infinitely, told the disciples a parable about a king and his servants. He knew that forgiveness doesn’t come easily for many of us, and that we would struggle with it. So He used one of His wonderful parables to help us understand the importance of learning to forgive.

He described how the king called his servants to account for their debts, and of how some were forgiven, and some were not. It’s quite a dramatic story, and one which I look forward to telling in my own words.

The passage  starts in Matthew 18:23 and ends with verse 35.  Please read it over, study it, and be ready to dig into it with me!