A night to remember – blessing from the Lord, dedication to the Lord
Just another night (Genesis 28:11)? No! This was a night to remember, a
night Jacob would never forget. God came to him with His wonderful
promise of love: ‘I will not leave you until I have done what I have
promised you’ (Genesis 28:15). At Bethel (‘the house of God’),
powerfully transformed by the presence of God - ‘Surely the Lord is in
this place’ (Genesis 28:16) - , Jacob consecrated himself to the Lord.
‘If’ (Genesis 28:20) means ‘Since’. See Romans 8:31 - ‘If (Since) God is
for us, who can be against us?’ Giving the tenth (Genesis 28:22) - this
is not legalism, a kind of repayment scheme. There can be no ‘salvation
by works’. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our giving must
always be a heartfelt expression of thanksgiving to the God of grace:
‘Loving Him who first loved me’. We are saved ‘to do good works’
(Ephesians 2:10) - not because we do good works!
Our worship does end in God’s House. Let His praise go to the ends of the earth.
‘Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised’ (Psalm 48:1). We worship
God in the place of worship - ‘Within Your Temple, O God, we meditate on
Your unfailing love’. Our worship must not end there. We are to play
our part in seeing that the praise of the Lord ‘reaches to the ends of
the earth’. We are to ‘be glad’ in the Lord. We are to ‘rejoice’ in Him
(Psalm 48:9-11). We must not keep this joy to ourselves. The Lord is
‘the joy of all the earth.’ We must share His joy. We are to ‘tell the
next generation.’ How will they know if we do not tell them? Many are
slow to come and worship the Lord. We must not be slow to witness for
Him. Let’s remember God’s promise - ‘My Word...will not return to Me
empty, but will...achieve the purpose for which I sent it’ - and let’s
say - ‘Here am I. Send me!’ (Isaiah 55:11; 6:8).
Let Jesus take the highest honour. Let His Name be high over all.
We come to know God when ‘the Spirit’ leads us to ‘Jesus Christ’ (1
Corinthians 2:10-13; 3:11; John 16:14). We must not attach too much
importance to the preachers - ‘What then is Apollos? What is Paul?
Servants...’. When we make too much of the servant, we draw attention
away from the Saviour. There is a very important lesson here - ‘Neither
he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the
growth’ (1 Corinthians 3:5-7). We are not members of a ‘mutual
appreciation society’ - ‘You pat my back, and I’ll pat yours’! We must
learn to point to Jesus, saying, ‘He must increase, but I must
decrease’(John 3:30). Let ‘Jesus take the highest honour’. Let His Name
be ‘the Name high over all’. ‘’Tis all my business... to cry Behold the
Lamb!’ (Mission Praise, 378, 385) - Let’s say it and mean it!
Let us commit ourselves afresh to the service of Christ.
Much of Jesus’ ministry was carried out under the watchful eye of the
Pharisees. The controversy with the Pharisees was intensifying (Matthew
12:2, 14). The Pharisees were out to get Jesus. For all their religion,
they had no time for Jesus. Still, there are the critics, those who try
to undermine our faith in Christ, those who attempt to draw us away from
serving Christ. We must remain resolute in our faith, believing what
God says concerning His Son: ‘Here is my Servant whom I have chosen, the
One I love, in whom I delight’ (Matthew 12:18; 3:17; 17:5). As we read
of Jesus, the chosen Servant of God, loved by the Father and bringing
delight to the Father's heart, we should give thanks for all that God
has done for us in Christ (Ephesians 1: 4-6), and we should commit
ourselves afresh to the service of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:58).
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