1 Chron 16:37-18:17, Romans 2:1-24, Psalm 10:16-18, Proverbs 19:8-9
Today is the 14th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today and every day, as we gather, and step forward in the Scriptures and in our year that we spent each and every day, step-by-step, day-by-day together. And what a joy and a privilege and an honor that it is for us to be here around the Global Campfire today. And let’s take that next step forward. We are, we have been and are working our way through the book of First Chronicles in the Old Testament. Today, we will read chapters 16 verse 37 through 18 verse 17.
Commentary:
Okay so, we are a couple of days into our journey through the letter to the Romans, written by the Apostle Paul. So, we got through the introduction, and Paul began laying out this argument that God has revealed Himself and that everybody is without excuse. All you have to do is look around. Today, we got a little bit of a taste of Paul’s general tone. He’s very direct but he’s choosing to directly engage with a very serious problem among his people. A problem that is keeping them from seeing what God is doing among them, and the problem is hypocrisy. Paul said that basically that, to condemn somebody else for the same questionable things that you are participating in, isn’t going anywhere, it’s hypocrisy. Or quoting from the Apostle Paul, “if you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this, do you believe that you will escape God’s judgment.” But here’s the thing that we need to get to know about Paul because a lot of time’s people read Paul and feel like it’s very shaming or condemning. That’s not what Paul’s objective is, his objective is to name something that is very destructive to the community as he moves through the process that’s in this letter of revealing Jesus. But if we already think we know all there is to know about God, than there’s nothing else to learn. So, we think that we’ve got it all together and Paul is stepping into this. Paul was a devout Jew, a very, highly educated Pharisee. He was speaking to devout people of the Jewish faith, and he wasn’t talking about things that he had only heard about, or that he had heard rumors about. He was talking about things that he understood very clearly because he had practiced these things devoutly. And so, he’s is calling out this hypocrisy because it blinds the people. And it’s not like it’s not still going on, right friends. Like, it’s not like we can’t find hypocrisy in the world. And it’s certainly not as if we can’t find hypocrisy among our fellow brothers and sisters of the Christian faith. And it’s not as if we can’t find hypocrisy in our own lives. How many times have we found ourselves judging or condemning, whether with our words or actions, or whether we’re just doing it in our minds, condemning and judging people for things that we’ve done. So, putting it back into Paul’s words, if you have persuaded yourself that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an educator of the foolish, a teacher of infants, then why don’t you who are teaching others teach yourself, right. If we’re going to condemn stealing then we shouldn’t be a thief, even, occasionally. Like, if we’re going to condemn adultery, then we shouldn’t be an adulterer, even occasionally. If we’re gonna condemn lying, then we shouldn’t be a liar. Like, whatever we shouldn’t be doing what we’re condemning. We’re judging others for what we do, thereby proving that we know right from wrong. We know what is right and wrong and we’re judging it and participating in it in the dark, it’s hypocrisy. Paul is calling it out and he’s calling it out among people who know the Scriptures and think that they, because they know the Scriptures, they know God and they know everything God will and will not do. Paul is building this argument that you might know the Scriptures, but you are not obeying them. Or putting it back in Paul’s words, “if you brag about the law, do you shame God by breaking the law. As it is written, the name of God is discredited by the Gentiles because of you.” And that’s, that’s where, that’s where we end our reading today, but that’s where Paul was leading us to, talking to these devout Jews who judge others repeatedly for things that they themselves are participating in, which discredits the message, which discredits God. Paul is very convinced, at this point, that God has invited the, like he has invited everyone through faith in Jesus to become a part of God’s family, Jew and Gentile alike. And Paul is telling his fellow Hebrews, you are discrediting God and causing the Gentiles to stay away from God by your hypocrisy. This should be convicting to us as we examine our own lives, because the same thing can happen. Our hypocrisy can turn people completely away from God by looking at our lives and going well if that’s what we’re talking about here, if that’s what this is all about, I don’t want anything to do with that. And in our culture right now, stereotyping is like just labeling things and giving them a label so that we can be against them and dismiss them is prevalent in our culture and so much of this is rooted in our hypocrisy. Paul is in the first century speaking about the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders and the fact that it pushes people away from God. But it’s not really any different now. And Christians, throughout our church history, have been labeled and stereotyped and persecuted mercilessly. And it seems to be a lingering tension and fear in our faith that we’re worried that that can happen again. And so, we want to do everything that we can to make that not happen again. So, we very easily build ourselves an enemy that we have to try to fight against and destroy, and we end up wandering into things that are not Christ-like. And yet it’s pretty clear what Paul’s laying out here is that there is something to do and the thing to do is practice what you preach. And so, may we consider that today, may we even catch ourselves today when our actions and our convictions are not in alignment, because that’s a very tense place to live, that’s a very hard place to be. We can normalize it and get used to things, but it’s a tough place to be wouldn’t what you truly believe and what you are actually doing are not in alignment with each other. So, let’s invite the Holy Spirit today to reveal these places where we cast judgment and shade on people for the very things that we ourselves have been guilty of doing.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. We know like we are all guilty, we all know what we’re talking about here. The ways that we become false for all kinds of different reasons. Some insecurities in our stories, some circumstances that we are in, we put on the mask, when freedom invites us to be true, that we might live in the truth and be an example of the way that life is supposed to be lived. So that when others look at us, they are not repelled by us away from You but are drawn in. Come, Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, lead us away from all that is false in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
This is Rodney from Atlanta. I want to pray for the family of the young man. I think he was a nurse who was riding his bike, either to work or from work and was killed instantly by a motorist who did not even stop. I want to pray for the nurse team that’s been affected by this, for the family. Father, I lift up the family of this young man who lost his life doing a good thing. Lord, we know that there’s so much evil in the earth. But God, I even pray Lord, for the motorist who didn’t even have the courtesy to stop. I pray God, You would convict his heart, that he would come forth, in the name of the Lord Jesus. God, I thank Lord, You are a God of justice and You know where this young man is that caused this to happen and caused this other young man to lose his life. Oh God, I pray, oh God, for the family. God, give them peace during this difficult time. Those loved ones, those friends who will be at his funeral service. God, I pray Lord, that You would just, that You would give either him or her the courage and the strength and the anointing to say what needs to be said to this family. God, it’s Your peace that surpasses all understanding. Be present for this family. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Thank God. Amen. And bless you.
Hey Brian, it’s Spark. I just wanted to thank you for today the 11th. I always love it when you get to, I know you can’t do it every day but when you get to share an outlook of reading through this thing so many times and something new always pops up. It struck me, it struck me pretty hard when, when you were explaining the Proverb today of how we blame God when things aren’t going right. And looking into myself now being far from perfect, a lot of times you can still look when things aren’t going right for you, and you can still do that. But testimony, when Beloved and I were dating, I was in real bad shape. I had just, I lived on probation for about the first few years of our marriage. And probably 10 years before that I was constantly on probation. And I remember one night I was pretty upset, and she was trying to get me to you know, pray. And I looked at her square in the eye and I said, God has done nothing for me. Everything you see around me, I built myself. And it was blasphemous as hell. But she looked at me and she goes, you’re exactly right. That’s the reason you’re in the shape you’re in. How things change following God. How much better my life is. And I want to thank you for that man. Thank you and God. Love, you brother.
Hey DAB, it’s Valiant Val her in Vegas family. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before You, acknowledging that life can be filled with struggle and challenges God. Father, for those of us that are on the struggle bus Lord, we ask for Your divine presence right now, Father, to strengthen us, Lord. During difficult times Father, we lean in and on You, Father. God, Your word reminds us that You are close to the broken hearted and that You save those that are crushed in spirit. So, Lord, we are clinging to Your promises, Father God. We know that You are near, Lord. God, Your word also says do not fear, for You are with us, do not be dismayed. For I am Your God, I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God, we thank You for Your righteous right hand, Lord. And we’re leaning in and on You, Father. God, we thank You, Father. We ask for strength, Lord. Give us courage to face the struggles, Lord. Remind us that You are our constant support, God. We thank You, Father. In times of weakness and weariness, Lord, we thank You God. We thank You that Your word says, even to your old age and grey hairs, I am He, I am He, who will sustain You. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Lord, we thank You that You are our source and that You are our rescuer. Lord, we surrender all of our struggles to You, God. Knowing that You, Father, are greater than any challenge that we may face, Father. So, help us Lord to continue to trust in You, to have faithfulness in You, to rely on You, Lord. We thank You for your unfailing love. God, we thank You for Your presence. In Jesus name. Amen.
Hello DAB Family. My name is __ Girl. This is my first time ever calling. I started listening to DAB in September of last year after attending a support group for grief share. That someone introduced it to me. I lost my husband 3 years and three months ago to undiagnosed cancer. I was listening to Lorie from South Carolina who just lost her husband recently from complications of pancreatic issues. Lorie, just want you to know this journey is not easy. Being a widow is very difficult. It’s a day-by-day thing. Loneliness will take over. But sweet girl, just hang onto Jesus. He has been my stronghold, my supporter, my strength on days when I just wanted to give up. All I had to do was just wake up and He’s there. So, you hang on to your Lord. I just ask that You wrap Your arms around her today. And just give her the strength to face each and every day. In Jesus name I pray.