Worship: Jesus, I My Cross
Lyrics written by Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) whose father abandoned him at an early age and never let his son call him “father;” the song is a testament to the power of the gospel to address even situations where the rot of sin has spread into family relationships.
Get the chord chart, PPT lyrics, and more at
http://hymnbook.igracemusic.com/hymns/jesus-i-my-cross-have-taken
1. Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.
2. Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.
3. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure;
With Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba, Father!
I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
All must work for good to me.
4. Man may trouble and distress me,
‘Twill but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, 'tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, 'twere not in joy to charm me
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.
5. Take, my soul, thy full salvation;
Rise o'er sin and fear and care;
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
What a Father’s smile is thine,
What a Savior died to win thee;
Child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?
6. Haste, then, on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close the earthly mission,
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
Lyrics: http://globalworship.tumblr.com/post/113656470370/jesus-i-my-cross-have-taken-indelible-grace
Witness:
Time has again got the best of me. Stewardship of my waking hours before work is not my forté. I can turn a short trip to the store into a 2-hour excursion and come home with one or two items. When trying to clear out my emails, I often get enticed into opening and reading them. I believe I have spoken about this weakness I have in previous entries. The latest devotional series I am reading online at YouVersion is about rest. The key text is taken from that episode with Mary, Martha, Our Lord, and a meal.
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away fromLuke 10:38-42 NIV
Here we have Mary sitting at the feet of the Lord and Martha busy trying to get things prepared for her guests. The contrast is between the focused Mary (“at the Lor’s feet”) and the “distracted” Martha. Here the “many things” and the “only one thing is needed” are contrasted. Distractions are a thief that robs us of precious time with the Lord, whether they be needful things like shopping or wasteful things like TV or video games. Distractions cause unneedful stress to accomplish something and guilt that we spent too much time on them rather time with the Lord. Distractions seem to be never-ending but have only temporary results and rewards, instead of the lasting ones found in being a “one thing” person.
Obviously, Jesus is not teaching us to become recluses and lock ourselves up in room or cave and only study Scripture. His life did not follow that prescription nor did the Apostles. As usual, our Lord was speaking in strong terms to emphasize the focus He desired in our lives. This is seen in many things He said.
Mark 8:34-3634 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
NIV Matt 19:12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it."ESV John 6:53-5953 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
NIV Luke 14:26-2726 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
NIV Matt 5:29-3029 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
NIV
This is sufficient to illustrate my point. None of these verses are to be taken with wooden literalness. Some believers have, to their misfortune, and have suffered the loss of life, limb, family, or friends. So when our Lord is speaking to Martha, He is not telling her that life consists only of sitting at His feet. We know this is true, for how could we fulfill the great commission if we locked ourselves away in our rooms? Or spent our day only listening to the Word read or preached. James said,
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22 NIV
I do not have to belabor the point with other scripture and reasoning. You get the point I’m making. The fact is, we learn not only by studying and listening, but by doing as well.
But I do not want to digress anymore from my original thought. The fact that I allow myself to be easily distracted. Jesus speaks powerfully to my predicament. If I fail to keep focused and come aside to rest and sit at His feet to learn of and from Him, I will be of no good service to Him. I will become weak or misled or disheartened. Like coal set apart from the glowing embers, I will soon crow cool, and the fire in me will go out. May it never be!
Let my heart like Mary,
At Your feet oft tarry.
To listen and to learn
And lesser things to spurn.
To set my life afire
Within Your Holy pyre.
The Church set aflame
To proclaim Your Holy Name!
- Amen
|
11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence. *
13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
NIV (1984)
* spouting malicious accusations
NIV (2011)
|
Ps 27:11-14
11 Teach me how to live, O Lord.
Lead me along the right path,
for my enemies are waiting for me.
12 Do not let me fall into their hands.
For they accuse me of things I've never done;
with every breath they threaten me with violence.
13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.
14 Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
|
Ps 27:11-14
11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
KJV
|
Ps 27:11-28:1
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
ESV
|
I spoke of the experiential aspect In my previous study. I pointed out that all who seek to live for God will experience slander and falsehoods against them. Worse, some may face threats of bodily harm and even death. Many a martyr have paid the ultimate price for their faithfulness.
David was facing such a time in his life. His enemies were “bearing false witness” against him. Not only that but “violent” threats as well. He speaks of this of being the “will” or “desire” of his enemies. The word used here is nephesh which is often translated as soul.
a soul, self, life, a creature, a person, an appetite, a mind, a living being, a desire, an emotion, a passion Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.
When God created man, He breathed His breath of life in them, and they became “a living soul.”(Gen. 2:7) Then he fell and now some nephesh – some sons of Adam – are taking their depravity to the limit and desire for David’s demise. The “breathed into” are now “breathing out violence.” David prayed for deliverance from these foes. Some would say the believer need not pray such a prayer since he knows of the promises of protection for the believer. However, David did as well, and yet he still prayed. God’s protection and deliverance do not rule out the divine providence accomplished through petition. Note what one commentator has said:
Psalms 27:7-14 Once more we hear the cry in distress. The present trouble which is upon them comes into view. They plead, “leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation”—a prayer which no true Christian believer needs to pray.(from The Annotated Bible, by Arno C. Gaebelein. Biblesoft Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2015 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Contra to this is Calvin’s comments on verse 12. I will go with him on this and will end with this rather lengthy quote from Calvin which will sum up verse 12. Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will begin on the last two verses in this psalm.
Psalms 27:12 12. Give me not up to the desire of mine oppressors. The Hebrew noun ?pn, nephesh, signifies lust, will, or desire; and the language of David implies, Deliver me not up to the pleasure or lust of mine enemies, and thus he intimates, that they greedily gaped for his destruction. God delivers his people in two ways; either by appeasing the cruelty of the wicked, and rendering them meek; or, if he permits them to burn with fury, by restraining their power and violence, so that they desire and endeavor in vain to do mischief. The Psalmist afterward adds, that he is persecuted both with slanders and false accusations, and also by open violence; for when he says, that they bring forth violence, he means that they speak of nothing but of war and slaughter. We thus see that the holy man was miserably oppressed on every side. Even his integrity, which we know to have been singular, could not free him from bitter and deadly calumnies, and he was at the same time overwhelmed by the violence and force of his enemies. If the ungodly, therefore, should at any time rise against us, not only with menaces and cruel violence, but to give the semblance of justice to their enmity, should slander us with lies, let us remember the example of David, who was assaulted in both ways; nay, let us recall to mind that Christ the Son of God suffered no less injury from lying tongues than from violence. Moreover, this prayer was dictated for our comfort, to intimate that God can maintain our innocence, and oppose the shield of his protection to the cruelty of our enemies.
(from Calvin's Commentaries, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2005-2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/48/ef/65/48ef6539fb988af400571f384b032659.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment