Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Successor (Genesis 27:1-41)

/

The Lord has bound himself to work in the context and the confines of the covenantal line.  This means that the promise made to Abraham must have a successor to receive that promise.  Isaac is getting old, he has two children, but the Lord has chosen one child to be the heir of the promise.  Isaac does not want to confer the blessing to the younger, but to the older.  Is the Lord still able to establish His Sabbath people?

Affirming the Sovereign God (James 4:11-17)

/

James wants us to consider our lives in light of who we are in the Lord.  We might think that this is obvious and something that we should all be doing.  However, the reality is that our temptation is to look at the areas in our lives that we think are ordered properly and then judge others in the community in light of our walk.  Why is this such a problem?  How does such an attitude remove God from the equation?  How are we then acting as if we are not even Christians when we judge one another?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Sacrifice (Genesis 22:1-19)

/

The Lord promised to make a barren couple fruitful.  They had no children, but the Lord promised them to have a biological child even after they were beyond child bearing years.  Why does the Lord endanger the child when he finally arrives in history?  Why would the Lord do such a thing?

Humbled Before God (James 4:1-10)

/

We can be very frustrated at times because it seems like the Lord is not hearing our prayers.  We might be asking for something that we desire, but the Lord might not be giving us what we want.  Why would the Lord withhold good things from his children?  How can we find contentment in times of want?  How can we have an attitude before the Lord that is pleasing and honorable to Him?

Guarding the Rudder (James 3:1-12)

/

We might think that we are in control of our tongues and able to be very disciplined in what we say.  We might also think that maybe a few careless words are not that serious in the grand scheme of things.  We might think this, but James would not agree.  Why are a few careless words so serious?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Savior

/

We can think of the Lord being in the midst of his people as a New Testament promise.  We think about Pentecost with the Holy Spirit being poured forth showing conclusively that the Lord is in the midst of His people.  Is it true that this is only a promise for the New Testament Church or is this promise truly rooted elsewhere?

Judging Wisely (James 2:14-26)

/

The reality is that we desire to make the Lord’s standard something that will comply to our standard.  It is not an easy thing to realize that we are a sinful people in need of the Lord’s redemption.  His redemption has to cleanse us from the core of our being so that we see the fruit of His power.  So, how are these fruits manifested?  What figures in covenant history have demonstrated a life ordered by the principles of the Lord?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Solution (Genesis 12:1-20)

/

The Lord has been reacting to what man is doing under the heaven.  Man is trying to establish a personal Sabbath Garden like Eden where God is going to be lead around like a little dog catering to the wishes of man.  Is the Lord going to allow something like this to happen again and again?  What about the promise of the Lord raising up a faithful line to love Him, honor Him, and serve Him?  Moses introduces to us a new character that the Lord has chosen to use in the building of His kingdom.

Impartial to God’s Law (James 2:1-13)

/

One of the challenges of the Christian life is not allowing our earthly perspective to get in the way of our heavenly perspective.  We are people called to arrive at heaven.  We are people called to have the orientation of heaven ever before us as we sojourn through this age.  So, how is this worked out?  On the one hand we are struggling sinners called to honor the Lord and on the other hand we are called by a perfect God.  So, how are we to live our the righteous requirements of the law in light of our sinful struggle?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Reminder (2) (Genesis 11:1-9)

/

The Lord has washed the face of the earth with a flood, but has delivered a household through the ordeal waters of death.  Has sin been washed off the face of the earth?  We know that Ham mocked his dad and did not bear fruit of being one of the seed of the woman so clearly there are still sinners walking on the earth.  However, did man learn his lesson from the flood?  Did man get the message that God will carry out His justice?  Or does God need to intervene to restrain man? How can God intervene now that he bound himself to preserve this creation until the final Sabbath?

Being a Doer (James 1:19-27)

/

The law of God is one of those difficult things to address.  On the one hand we can go down the road of being self righteous where we reduce the meaning of the law down to a few outward things that are easy to keep.  We can also become a people who dismiss the seriousness of wanting to conform to the law.  We can claim that this law is not binding.  We can also go to a place where we claim that our works are needed for our entrance into heaven.  So, when James exhorts us to be doers of the law what can he possibly mean?  How can we be a doer of the law without minimizing Christ’s one time completed work?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Reminder (Genesis 8:20-9:28)

/

The Lord enters his rest at the end of the creation.  The Lord has finished his work and is now in the rest where man is to join the Lord enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven.  However, man has fallen, martyrdom has already happened, and the Lord has dealt with the offender.  Now what is going to happen?  How is this creation going to respond to Lord warning Cain?  Will the Lord have to intervene once again?

The Perfect Giver (James 1:12-18)

/

James desires us to see and believe that God is the giver of all good things.  This might sound strange considering that James just talked about the suffering that we will endure in this life.  Why is it so important to see that God is good?  Do we vainly hope that God is good or is there another issue and problem that we need to own which prevents us from seeing God’s goodness?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Rivalry (Genesis 4)

/

Adam and Eve are out of the Garden of Eden, and they are banished from the Garden.  They will never enter this paradise again nor will they taste any of the fruit that was in this original sanctuary.  How do they fare on the other side of Eden?  How will human history progress or will it just digress?

Joyful Suffering? (James 1:2-11)

/

James tells us that we are to be joyful in the midst of our suffering.  What kind of system of belief is Christianity?  Is it possible to find joy in the midst of suffering?  Is this something that is optional where maybe we find joy 10 percent of the time and the rest of the time we claim an injustice?  What does James mean and how can we possibly have a perspective of “joy” in the midst of suffering?