Orange Moon Tuesday, December 7, 2021 "The Hour That Came"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

   

"The Hour That Came"

    Just before He was arrested and ultimately tortured to death, the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to His Father.

    "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee" (John 17:1).

    The Father answered that prayer.  He glorified the Lord Jesus by allowing human hands to administer upon Him injustice, slander, mockery, condemnation, beating, whipping, thorns, nails, and a spear.  Even more, the Father executed His own wrath against sin by smiting His Son with agonies no other conscious being will ever know.  "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).  This was the hour that came.  This was the glory revealed, and the prayer answered.  "They crucified Him… being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Matthew 27:35; Acts 2:23).

   Many centuries before, Moses had asked God to show him His glory.  The Lord answered, "I will make all My goodness pass before thee" (Exodus 33:18-18).  Before the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, this encounter between God and Moses had served as the most direct definition of "glory" ever revealed.  The man had asked to see God's glory.  The Lord responded by revealing His goodness.  This was definitive.  Indeed, of all that could be said about the glory of God, the essence of His character - goodness - most Biblically defined the meaning.  That is, again, until the hour that came.

    Every moment of our Savior's sorrows, suffering, forsakenness, and death at the hands of men and the hand of God resulted from the Lord's prayer: "Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee."  The Lord Jesus asked for both His and His Father's goodness to be revealed.  Calvary sounds and resounds with this glory, this glory of goodness composed by a grace even eternity will never fully explain.  How can there be such a One who so graciously gives His beloved Son to suffer and die for rebels willfully gone astray, with no inclination to turn and return?  How can that Son be so willing to obey His Father's purpose?  Glory is the answer, the glory of goodness defined to Moses verbally, and revealed by the Lord Jesus demonstrably.  "And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6).

    The hour that came still shines its glory of goodness in this hour that is.  If ever we are tempted to question God's ways, let us hear His voice of old, "I will make all My goodness pass before Thee."  Even more, let us gaze on the pages of Scripture to behold the revelation of God glorifying Himself and His Son in a way that does not pass before us, but rather enters into our hearts to elicit wonder beyond all comprehension.  Yes, our Lord's glory can be understood in many ways.  But nothing more defines the reality than His goodness, whether declared to Moses by word, or revealed to all by the grace of Calvary, where we most discover the heart and nature of our glorious God.

"They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works."

(Psalm 145:7-9)

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

(II Corinthians 4:6)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Romans 6:11)

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Orange Moon Monday, December 6, 2021 "Straw and Bricks"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

   

"Straw and Bricks"

    Unlike Pharaoh, who demanded that the Israelites make bricks without straw, God provides abundant supply for born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to live in a manner pleasing to Him (Exodus 5).

   "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue" (II Peter 1:3).

    "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21).

   "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (II Corinthians 9:8).

    The commands of the New Testament, far greater in measure and scope than the mandates of the law of Moses, would be a cruel joke were it not for the Christ of the New Testament.  We would find ourselves more strawless, as it were, than the Israelites of old.  Thankfully, God never acts cruelly, and He most certainly does not jest about our doing His will.  Thus, He sends His Spirit to inhabit the innermost being of those who trust the Lord Jesus, birthing a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24).  Thereby, Christians become supercharged vessels of faith and obedience in our innermost Christ-inhabited being.  "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" declared the Apostle Paul, an affirmation every believer can and must make about ourselves in the light of promise: "It is God which worketh in you both to will and do of His good pleasure" (Romans 7:22; Philippians 2:12).  

   Of course, we still live in natural bodies not yet graced by our Lord's supernatural presence and working.  "The flesh lusteth against the spirit… If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin" (Galatians 5:17; Romans 8:10).  Thus, we do not always make bricks of faith and faithfulness despite the vast abundance of straw God provides in Christ.  Contrary emotions, inclinations, and thoughts, along with past experience, tempt us to view ourselves as lacking both desire and enabling regarding the will of God.  If we view ourselves after the flesh and its desires, this is absolutely true.  We will find no straw in that barn.  "To be carnally (fleshly) minded is death" (Romans 8:6).  However, if we determine to view ourselves in terms of the living Christ who dwells in our enlivened spirits, we will make enough bricks in this day to build whatever house God wills, with many left over.  "Exceeding, abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…"

   "Without Me, ye can do nothing" declared the Lord Jesus (John 15:5).  We are strawless apart from our Savior.  However, born again believers are never without our Lord.  "I am with you always… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5).  This is truth.  This is reality.  This is life, life in and through Christ.  This is straw in overabundance and unending supply whereby the brickmaking of obedience to God becomes not only the delight of our hearts, but also the joyful labor of our hands.  "I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8).

   The challenge will ever be great to walk in the light of such truth.  The flesh screams.  The Spirit quietly utters in the still and the small voice heard only by faith.  Who will we believe?  What will we believe?  A garner overflowing with straw beckons us to see the Lord Jesus as He is, and ourselves as we are in Him.  Our Father calls us to make bricks today, and He has given us no less than the Spirit of His Son to empower our endeavors of faith and faithfulness.  May we set forth in confidence of God's abundant supply, rejoicing that in the grace of the Lord Jesus, His promises and provision of straw always precede His commands to make bricks.  Always.

"By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

(I Corinthians 15:10)

"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

(Romans 6:11)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Romans 6:11)

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Orange Moon Saturday, December 4, 2021 "The Things of Others"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

   

"The Things of Others"  

     The Christian faith began with the sufferings of One resulting in the redemption of many.

    "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (I Peter 3:18).

    The Spirit of this same Lord Jesus now dwells within the hearts of born again believers.

    "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).

    In the light of our Lord's indwelling presence, we might expect that He would replicate the quality of His life in us.  He does, which means that God purposes our challenges to serve as a conduit of ministry to others. 

   "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (II Corinthians 1:3-6).

   "So then death worketh in us, but life in you" (II Corinthians 4:12).

    Of the reasons believers experience pain, problems, difficulties, heartaches, and heartbreaks, the presence of the Christ devoted to the needs of others constitutes one of the most vital.  As happened in His earthly lifetime, our challenges grant us opportunity to minister His grace to our sphere of influence.  The simplest expression of such devotion involves prayer.  When we hurt, our initial human reaction will likely be to focus on ourselves.  "Why is this happening to me?"  Love, however, asks a different question: "Who is this happening for?"  That is, for whom can I pray, based on the challenge I now face?  We likely know others who hurt, and can seek God's grace for them.  Or, we may simply pray a general prayer for those facing challenges. Whatever the case, prayers for others offered from the altar of our own sufferings reflects the love of Christ in our hearts and His sublime devotion to His Father's glory and the needs of others.

   "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

   The Lord referred to His earthly lifetime, of course.  However, His Spirit comes again to all who receive His saving grace.  Thus, we must expect our Heavenly Father to lead us along the same paths as He did His Son.  This involves our sufferings, which offer us the privilege to "walk, even as He walked" (I John 2:6).  Rather than descend into the black hole of self centeredness when we hurt, the Holy Spirit beckons us to "shine as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15).  Prayer for others, ascending to the Heavenly throne of grace from the rough and rocky paths of a fallen world, reflects the wonder of Christ's redeeming presence in our hearts.  "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).

    We will rarely know in this lifetime God's answers of comfort, restoration, healing, and help administered to others when we pray from our pains.  This does not matter.  What does matter is that we can know the Christ who physically walked in this world long ago now spiritually walks in us.  "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).  Thus, we expect our Heavenly Father to lead us in His love, as He led the Lord Jesus.  The Apostle Paul confirms such truth, and we close in the light of Christ's devotion to others once revealed to us, and now, in us…

"Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor."

(Ephesians 5:2)

"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."

(Philippians 2:4)

Weekly Memory Verse

    He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

 (John 7:38)

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