ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 17

Don't buy into the empty promises of sin, but see the joy of a new-life in Christ Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 90 Q. What is the coming-to-life of the new self? A. It is wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a delight to do every kind of good as God wants us to. Summary The structure of the Heidelberg Catechism follows a similar pattern which you may notice in many of the New Testament letters: The problem of sin. The salvation from sin is through Jesus Christ. A saved life is a changed life of gratitude for that salvation. Paul’s letter to the Colossians also follows this outline. In chapter 3, Paul uses the language that is found in this week’s questions and answers— putting to death the old self and putting on the new self. He begins with the Christian’s union with Christ’s resurrection, “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ” (3:3). Jesus ascending to glory opens the way for his followers to follow Him there. Paul’s call to the Christian uses the strong language of “put to death,” all that which is evil and impure. He lists all the ways this old self acts: sexual immorality, covetousness, anger, slander, etc. He tells us not to mess around with sin and sinful desires. These old clothes need not just be stuffed away in the back of a closet but be thrown out and burned. The new clothes include all the virtues and characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, and thankfulness. These are not how salvation is earned, but evidence of a saved life. Dig Deeper Since the serpent entered the garden, humans have been deceived into thinking that sin is more desirable and fun than living a righteous and holy life before God. When you think of holiness, or your idea of a ‘religious person,’ you might not think of someone smiling, laughing, and enjoying themself. But that's exactly how the catechism describes a life of wholehearted joy in God through Christ. The coming-to-life of the new self includes a renewed perspective and a new heart and desires. It means recognizing that the pleasures of sin are empty and temporary, but what God gives us is truly amazing and full of delights that last forever (Ps. 16:11). Colossians 3 describes a vision of a community working in perfect harmony and giving thanks to God in all things. This reality is more than new clothes, but a new life. Everything will not automatically start looking like this in its completion in this life, which is why Paul commends us to “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (3:16). A fitting Psalm to drive home the message of the Questions and Answers this week is Psalm 51. David beautifully describes the posture of godly repentance and restoration to the joy of salvation. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is our gloriously holy and loving God; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask the Holy Spirit to help you set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 12

communion, know that you are spiritually in the very presence of Jesus Christ, and that you are being joined

Jesus looks at two extremes when it comes to keeping God's law and says 'Nope.' Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 62 Q. Why can’t the good we do make us right with God, or at least help make us right with him? A. Because the righteousness which can pass God’s scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. Even the very best we do in this life is imperfect and stained with sin. Summary The Sermon on the Mount comes near the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, and right out of the gate He seeks to squelch the two biggest misunderstandings that people would have about Him. He begins by stating that He in no way, shape or form will be an excuse for sinners who seek to abolish God's Law. The latest incarnation of this in our own society comes from those who seek to pit Jesus' love against God's law by claiming that it's unloving, and therefore un-Christlike, to uphold Biblical standards that come into conflict with people's personal choices. Jesus lays out a stern warning to those who set aside even the least of God's commands, stating that they will be "called least in the Kingdom of Heaven." Next Jesus calls out those on the opposite end of the spectrum: those who think they're so high and mighty and righteous that they can ride their own awesome law keeping efforts right into the Kingdom of Heaven. Not so fast, warns Jesus. If this is your plan, your righteousness better far exceed the pseudo-righteousness of the Pharisees. But these super-duper rule followers were so hung up in dotting the i's and crossing the t's that Jesus mentioned in v18 that they missed the righteousness of God standing right in front of them. Trying to make yourself right with God on your own is hopeless. If this were the extent of Jesus' ministry, the gospel would be hopeless! Thank God it's not! Dig Deeper Last week we focused on one of the pillars of Reformed theology known as Sola Fide, a Latin phrase that simply means Faith Alone. By this we mean that you are made right with God solely because your faith in Christ and not because of works or rule keeping. But this understanding, while good, needs to be nuanced a bit. You actually are saved by works. God will not set aside His holy, righteous and perfect standards. The nuance comes in that you are not saved by your own works, rather you are saved by Christ's perfect obedience which has been credited to you. God's law must be kept - down to the smallest letter and the least stroke of a pen. Nobody born in Adam had the ability to keep this law since we were all conceived and born in sin, but Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, could and did. We'll spend most of the second half of 2023 looking at how you, as one who "can pass God's scrutiny" because you've been included in Christ, now relate to God's law. But suffice it to say for now, that although you are certainly saved by faith alone, you are not saved by a faith that is alone. As we'll see on Friday, true faith and trust in Christ produces a strong desire to live according to all of God's good and perfect law. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who defines goodness, holiness and righteousness and communicates them in His law; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that as your faith in Christ alone increases, that so will your desire to live according to God's law; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Ephesians 4

Today: John 17

This is why Jesus said that eternal life is knowing God (John 17:3).

Is God just, or is He merciful? Yes. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 11 Q. [God won't permit sin to go unpunished...] But isn’t God also merciful? A. God is certainly merciful, but he is also just. His justice demands that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty— eternal punishment of body and soul. Summary We meet Moses in today's passage at a very low point in his life. After descending down from the ultimate mountaintop experience in which he'd been in God's presence for an extended time, he returns to find his fickle people dancing around hand made idols. Moses speaks to God with amazing honesty, reminding God that the Israelites were His people, and almost demanding that God teach him God's ways, so that Moses might know God. Moses even flat out demands that God show Moses His glory! Moses has already seen God unleash the plagues on Israel, open the Red Sea, speak like thunder from a mountain, along with all sorts of other miracles along the way. God would have been just in striking Moses with lightning for making such a demand asking for more glory. But instead God lovingly complies, telling Moses that He will cause His goodness to pass in front of Moses. What Moses learns is that God's goodness has two poles: grace, mercy and peace for those He's chosen, but justice & punishment for those who remain in their guilt. Lest Moses (or us) thinks that somehow we're righteous enough to be in the presence of God's holy glory and goodness on our own, God places Moses in the cleft of a rock to shield him. Who do you suppose that Rock of Ages was foreshadowing? Dig Deeper So many people have a warped, lopsided view of God. Some associate God as a genie in the sky dispensing goodness and blessing on anyone who asks, while others see Him only as a grouchy curmudgeon crushing people for the smallest infraction. Yet at one of the lowest points of his life, Moses resists both of those extreme caricatures, and asks God for something very simple, yet life changingly profound. He ask God to "teach me your ways so that I may know you." Of all the attributes God could have responded with, God shows Moses His goodness, and in His goodness God is fully merciful AND fully just. No creature in heaven or earth can do this, but God can and did by pouring out His justice on His Son so that He could show you His amazing grace and mercy. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The LORD, the LORD, compassionate and gracious, yet who punishes the guilty; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask God to display His glory and goodness to you (be careful, this is a dangerous thing to ask for if you're not prepared to align your life with it!!) ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 3

covenant relationship with their God and how Abraham was told many years before to “walk before God” (Gen. 17 A second part of this phrase is also joined with this request over and over, giving the purpose for the WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will be sanctified by the truth, for God’s Word is truth and life (John 17:17) ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year!

fretting about them; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - John 17

Moses says that God “created the world”; and John says that “all things were created by the Word,” which Yesterday we read the beginning of Jesus' prayer in John 17.