Friday, June 20, 2008

The First Epistle of John: Lesson Fifty-nine

"Cast your burden on the LORD,



And He shall sustain you;



He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."









Psalm 55:22






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Good day, ladies! Let's seek the Lord....






"Holy Father, as we break open Your word this day and study about Your commandments, I pray that You will speak to our hearts and convict us of any sin in our lives that we may confess it before You, repent, and be cleansed. We praise Your Holy name this day, Lord, for giving us a way to ease the burden of this world. Thank You for allowing us to cast all our cares upon You. Thank You for sustaining us when we no longer can stand.






I seek forgiveness of my sins this day, Lord, as I think about Your commands. I know there are many I have forsaken. I pray that You will wash me clean, renew me, and be the joy of my salvation once again, Lord.






I lift up each lady reading this study today. I know her cares are real and they burden her. I pray that she will cast her cares upon you and take up Your easy yoke. I pray that You will set her high upon Your Rock, lift her up and sustain her, and bless her with every spiritual blessing as she reads through Your word today.






In Jesus' name....amen."






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Obedience by Faith






As we dive deeper into chapter 5 of 1 John, we will look at the Lord's commandments and how they are not burdensome compared to the world's commands upon us.






In today's world, we are commanded to be and live a certain way. We can see the pressures of this world on our teenagers across America. They have so many pressures on them that we did not have. I saw a father of 2 boys at the library yesterday. He had taken them there, along with a friend, to pick up some books.






He looked tired from the heat and they looked bored, but they did get their books and as they walked out to the truck, I was behind them. One boy was a teenager and the other boys were in elementary school. The father's truck was a small pick-up and I wondered how they all were going to fit in it! But they did.






Unfortunately, the father was very displeased with one of the boys and he yelled at him in the parking lot. I automatically cringe when I hear parents yelling at their kids, especially in public, because it reminds me of all the yelling I experienced when I was growing up. I felt bad for all the boys who looked very uncomfortable. The father continued to belittle his son in front of his older brother and friend. I felt for the kid.






It is easy to forget that some kids out there are being raised in unloving homes without Christ, hurt by divorce, and yet we still expect these kids to be A students in school and become upstanding citizens when they are adults. What pressure!






We forget the burden we place on our children because we get so tangled up in our own burdens.






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1 John 5:2-3






"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome."






Today I would like to concentrate on the last part of verse 3. I feel that the Lord is laying on my heart to write about how His commands differ from the worlds.






In Jesus' time on earth, He spent alot of time admonishing the Jewish leaders around Him for the burden they had placed on the people. He called them hypocrites.






Before Christ came, remember that the people had not heard a word from God for 400 years. Many generations came and went without counsel from God. They relied upon the Jewish leaders to read the Torah and teach them about what God had done for them. Instead, the leaders wrote up new laws that they used to hold the people down.






They placed new burdens upon the Jewish people in addition to the 600 laws of God! As a result, the people either tried to keep all the laws including the new ones, or they gave up and went about their own business trying to stay out of Rome's way and the Jewish leaders' way.






When Christ began His ministry, this was the state of His people: they were wearing a very heavy yoke upon their shoulders. The Law of God became a huge and heavy burden to them instead of the source of peace and love that it was.






Please read:






Luke 11:37-54






Here we have Jesus admonishing the community leaders for all the burdens they place on the people. The Jewish leaders were more concerned for themselves than for the people.






In 1 John, he writes to fellow believers a reminder that the commandments of the Lord are not burdensome like the commands of this world.






John 15:10



John 14:15






They are the source of real Love.






Matt 11:28-30






The people placed yokes on the shoulders of animals to use them to plow fields or pull carts and wagons. The yokes kept the animals from going off the path. The yokes were made from large pieces of wood.




Here is a picture of a more modern yoke:
















It doesn't look too comfortable, does it? You can see why Jesus would use this as a way to illustrate His point.


"I am gentle and lowly in heart, you will find rest for your souls..."


Imagine the people's faces when they heard that from the Lord! Rest, gentleness, lowliness...compared to the harshness of the Jewish leaders and the Romans.


Rom 2:17-19


Obey God and live. His commands give us life and peace. Works do not lead to salvation, they are the result of salvation.


John 2:23-25- the world relies on signs and wonders. We live by faith.


We know we can never earn our way into heaven, but through Jesus we can have that rest and peace even when we do the work of the Lord.


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By teaching our children that obeying the Lord's commands is not burdensome, we can take off some of those pressures the world puts on them because the world's commands are burdensome.


Ps 37:3-8


Teaching our children to trust and do good, dwell and feed on His faithfulness, delight in the Lord, commit, and rest in the Lord is the best thing we can do for them.


This world teaches our children to work, strive, compete, be the BEST they can be at all times. Always pushing forward, onward, etc. Earn more money, buy more things, strive, strive, strive!!


But what does the Lord say?


Ps 37:11

Ps 37:16-17

Ps 37:18


Though there will be tough times as a Christian, we will never be utterly cast down.


Ps 37:23-24


Earthly sorrow leads to death. We have seen that among the young in Hollywood lately. We watch them become famous, enjoy the money and fame, then become depressed and despondent, only to turn to drugs.....leading to their untimely death. The pressures of the world can be too much to handle for some.


2 Cor 7:10


The sorrow of the Lord will lead us to repent of our sins which leads to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death.


Paul praises the Christians in Corinth for observing their sorrow in a godly manner and it produced in them purity.


This is what John wants us to remember. We serve the Lord God of Israel. He is faithful and true. His yoke is placed upon us, but His burden is light. He is gentle and lowly. He gives us rest.


If we say we love Jesus, then we must obey His commands by faith knowing that He will remain with us through the trials of life.


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Life Application


I have a friend whose son just turned 16 and he was hired this week for his first job ever: a bag clerk at Fry's.


I was so excited for him, but at the same time a little saddened too because his childhood is officially over. He will work now for the rest of his life.


Work, like most things, is exciting at first. Earning money, saving it, using to purchase things, is a fun part of work. But we all know work can be burdensome as well.


I thank the Lord that He has blessed my family with jobs all through our marriage. We haven't always enjoyed those jobs, but the Lord always provided. I am blessed now to be able to stay home during the summer months with my son. The Lord knows a mother's heart, and so He provides for us a way for me to stay home and enjoy my time.


"Cast your burden on the LORD,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved." Ps 55:22


To know that our Lord sustains us is a wonderful thing. That fact alone should give us rest and peace. To know we are not alone in this world. We were given the mighty Right Arm of the Lord to hold us up.


Rest on the Lord. Take time today to just rest on Him. Cast all your burdens upon Him then wait for that rest and peace. Make time to cease from work so you can just be with the Lord who is gently and lowly.


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Until next time....


"Jesus says that whoever loves God keeps his commandments. If we love God, we want to do as he says; we want to please him with heart, mind, and strength. We do not find his commands grievous because our soul is in the service of God. The Holy Spirit within us is our guide and helper....as David said, 'I will run in the way of thy commandments, when thouh shalt enlarge my heart' (Ps 119:32).


-Dr. Joel Beeke (The Epistles of John, 2006, p. 178)



Blessings,

Ruth





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