Coffee With The Lord

Sooner or later it will happen to you… You’ll read something in the Bible you don’t agree with or that bothers you!  Or you’ll hear Biblical truth proclaimed or taught and it will “tick you off!”  Something about it just doesn’t sit right and you’re tempted to argue, fuss, and reject it outright!  I mean, after all, you and I have the knowledge, the judgment, and the right to pass judgment on what the Bible – no, more than that – what God clearly teaches, right?

I’ve just finished reading John 6 and there’s some stuff in the last part of that chapter that bothers me… that I don’t fully understand… truth that at “first blush” makes me want to say “Hold it a minute! No way – I can’t accept that!”  But Jesus, God’s Son, didn’t ask me before He said those things – I wasn’t consulted for permission to edit His manuscript… [Incidentally, you should read “those things” – vss. 22-59.]  And believe me, you or I weren’t the only ones bothered by some of the teaching in that chapter – important teaching – teaching upon which our eternal destiny depends!

So what to do?  I think the last verses of that chapter give us a clue!  In fact, I would argue that, believe it or not, impetuous Peter’s response guides us on issues like that… Here it is, right out of the passage:

“When many of His disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’  But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, ‘Do you take offense at this? … It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all!  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life!’ … After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.  So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’  SIMON PETER ANSWERED HIM, ‘LORD TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?  YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE!  WE HAVE BELIEVED, AND HAVE COME TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE HOLY ONE OF GOD!”

Want to know what I take from that?  When you don’t understand – when God’s word teaches something that offends you – when you’re faced with Truth that perplexes you… Trust the source – Trust the Lord, depend on the fact that He understands the end from the beginning and His understanding is inscrutable (beyond our understanding)!  “TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?  YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE!  YOU ARE THE HOLY ONE OF GOD! 

Seems like good advice to me, Peter – thanks for sharing it!

NIGHTMARES! … Scary things!!!  They usually seem to happen early in the morning, just before you should be getting up.  At the time they seem so real!  You wake up with a start, sweating, realize it’s a nightmare, breathe a sigh of relief, and probably get up and face the day.  Perhaps somewhere during the day you’ll admit to someone, “I had this dream – this nightmare – last night… it was so real! …”

Sometimes dreams though – even scary ones – leave you with the feeling they came from God!  Some dreams (even “visions”) that patriarchs, prophets, and apostles had are significant enough that they’re recorded in the Bible.  This morning during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” I read about one that Daniel had (Daniel 7) … It was VERY significant and certainly DID come from God!

The nightmares we have usually don’t end up good… They’re just scary and “end up!”

The nightmare Daniel had that came from God, however – though scary (read Daniel 7:1-8, 19-25) – turned out good!  The scary part involved human governments, kingdoms, and leaders that would be a part of human history [first Babylon; then Media/Persia, Greece with Alexander the Great, and finally the Roman empire – ending up with two terrifying world leaders: Antiochus IV Epiphanes and ultimately the Antichrist]!

But this nightmare turns out good – it comes from God! … Here’s the good part – give it a read! …

“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.  A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed!

“The four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever!

^“And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him!” (From Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, 17-18, 27)

HEY, A “NIGHTMARE” THAT TURNS OUT GOOD!  The rest of the story – the ultimate fulfillment is found in your Bible in Revelation 20-22!  Take it from me – a worthy read – AND IT WILL BE FULLFILLED!

Does the name Onesiphorus mean anything to you?  Probably not in a personal way… But if you’d had the privilege of a personal conversation with Apostle Paul late in his life – in prison in Rome, just before his martyrdom – He’d have told you just how much this guy and his entire household (probably meaning the members of the church that met in his house) meant to him!

Here’s what Paul had to say about it in 2 Timothy…

“You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains!  On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.  May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus!”

 People who help others in their time of loneliness and need are very special!  Their expressed concern and care is like a “cup of cold water” on a hot day to a thirsty and parched throat!  It’s like the healing hand of Jesus extended – more than that – it’s like His loving presence, His comforting voice, and His personal ministry in the time of deepest need.  Not only did Onesiphorus get involved in helping Paul… his entire “household” (probably the congregation or “church” that met in his home) ministered to his need!  They were “the body of Christ” to Paul in his deepest need.  How did Jesus Himself say it… “As you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to Me!”  (Matthew 25:40, 45)

Oh what a challenge!  What an honor to be an Onesiphorus (or a member of his “household”) to a member of the “body of Christ” in need!  Gotta tell you… I want to be one!  And as passionately as I want to be a member of his household… I want to avoid like the plague being like those in the province of Asia… especially like Phygelus and Hermogenes – who abandoned Paul in His time of need…  ashamed of him… ashamed of the gospel (see 2 Timothy 1:8)!