Characteristics of God ch 6 con’t
As we have seen this chapter teaches us about the characteristics that Christians should display:
• Love to the Brethren – your work and labour of love v10
• Diligence and perseverance vv 11-12
• Hope – an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast v19
but it also tells us much about God’s character:
• God is not unjust v10
• His counsel is immutable v17
• It is impossible for God to lie v18
A fair God
10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
God is not unfair: he will not lose sight of all that you have done (v 10 – JB Phillips)
How many times have you done something kind for someone else, but they never thanked you? I suspect that most families rarely even notice much of what mothers do for them, much less thank them! At work managers are encouraged to praise and thank their staff when they have done well. Taking people for granted or not noticing their accomplishments doesn’t encourage them to give of their best. On the other hand trite compliments that lack sincerity don’t motivate people either! If we are honest we tend to remember the bad and forget the good!
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones. (Shakespeare in Julius Caesar)
In wonderful contrast God forgives and forgets the Christian’s sin (Isa 43:25 I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins) but remembers our good works! He shows His appreciation when we serve Him faithfully and never overlooks or forgets to reward us when we seek to honour and serve Him (which you have shown toward His name v10) or to do good to our fellow Christians (in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister v10). (We’ve also seen how this chapter also emphasises the importance of real, practical love.)
Lk 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
Lk.18:28 Peter said, "See, we have left all and followed You." 29 So He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 "who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life."
Truly God is no man’s debtor. But, of course, God also knows when our good deeds are done to win praise from those around us. If it is not a labour of love which you have shown toward His name v10, done without hope of recompense then we cannot expect any reward. As Jesus said:
Mt.6:1 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 "that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
It is easy to be more concerned about what others think about us – the praise of men rather than the praise of God – John 12:43, but is there anything that can compare with the Master’s well done? Well done, good and faithful servant ... Enter into the joy of your lord Mt 25:21. Surely that is well worth working for?
We receive many blessings for faithful service in this world, though normally not the riches, fame, power, etc. that the World prizes, but we shall receive so much more from God Himself, in heaven.
An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years and were returning home to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken.
On the same ship was President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from a hunting expedition. As the passengers disembarked there was a crowd of admirers waiting to greet the President. A band was playing, and the cheers of the crowd were deafening.
But when it was time for the missionary couple to step ashore, there was not a single soul to meet them. So eventually they found a cheap flat, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living. (The welcoming committee had become confused about the date on which they were to return!)
Discouraged, he buried his head in his hands and moaned, “God, I didn’t expect a band or a parade, but You could have seen to it that somebody came to welcome us home.”
"Dear, we’re not home yet!" said his wife.
A trustworthy and reliable God
Benjamin Franklin said: “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes!” And the statement seems even more apt today. People used to have jobs for life, unless their firm went bust or there was a major recession, but now we are increasingly moving towards short-term contacts with people having to move between jobs and retraining accordingly. Loyalty to your employer is now rare and seems to count for nothing! People have to move around the country, or even the world, and this strips away the wider family support that we used to be able to rely on, putting increasing pressure on families.
The same is also true of our possessions and relationships. We don’t expect them to last. Everything from mobile ‘phones to carpets has to be replaced every couple of years. Sometimes they have worn out, but more often we want something better or just different. Marriage used to be ‘til death do us part’, but now it is only until I get bored or something better comes along – if people bother to get married at all! Amid this rapid change is there anything secure that we can hang on to? Is there anyone that we can trust? YES! We can rely on God, He is always faithful; He never lies or misleads us; He always does what He promises and doesn’t change.
Some people are erratic. You talk to them and everything is sweetness and light, yet the next time they shout at you for no obvious reason. I hate people like that! You never know where you stand or how to behave. The behaviour of the Greek and Roman gods was erratic or capricious – determined by chance, impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason. One day you do something and it is well received, but the next you might as easily get your head bitten off. It all depends on the mood they are in!
If God were like this then we would never know where we stood. One day He might answer our prayers and the next He might zap us for disturbing Him! We might try our best to please Him all our lives then end up in hell if He were in a bad mood. This chapter shows God bending over backwards, as it were, to reassure us that He is not at all like that.
v17 tells us that God was determined to show the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel. What does that mean? It means that God wants us to understand that He is not erratic or capricious in His behaviour or decisions. We change our plans for 3 main reasons – apart from madness:
• we can’t predict the future and we have to adapt our plans to what actually happens, but Nothing takes God by surprise. Is 46:9 I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.’
• Our plans are thwarted by someone else who is more powerful
Isa 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
• We change our minds because we think we can get a better deal – eg someone agrees to sell a house for a certain price and then realises that they can get more money from someone else. We call this gazumping, but it is common practice in business. No longer is an Englishman’s word his bond – if it ever was! Thankfully our God is not like that! He doesn’t lie or change His mind to get us to do something. vv17-18 tell us that God’s plans and purposes are immutable and it is impossible for God to lie – v18.
Nu 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Our daily experience supports what the Bible says about God’s faithfulness. We rely on the unchanging laws that God has established. We plant an apple-tree expecting it to produce apples. But where would we be if we didn’t know what fruit a plant would produce? Who would plant anything? Where would industry be if chemicals reacted differently from day to day? If the properties of materials were completely unpredictable?
It is probable that science developed in the Western world, at least in part, because of the biblical revelation of a rational and reasonable God. Science did not develop, or developed very poorly, in other civilizations, because the concept of capricious gods precluded it – even in very stable civilizations, such as those of India and China. Johann Kepler (1571-1630) is considered to be the founder of physical astronomy. He discovered the laws of planetary motion and laid the foundation for Newton’s theory of gravity. Kepler stated that, in his astronomical research, he was merely "thinking God’s thoughts after Him," a motto since adopted by many believing scientists.
Isaac Newton wrote in Principia: This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being...This Being governs all things… as the Lord over all. Because they saw that God acted in accordance with certain laws they expected His creation to the same and tried to figure out what those laws were.
Our lives, our world and our modern commerce rely on the unchanging nature of the laws that God has established. The reliability of His laws in the physical realm should give us confidence in His spiritual laws. The purposes of God never change; and all the hope which we have of heaven is rests on this fact.
God wants us to know that we can trust Him. To give us this confidence He comes down to our level. He made a promise to Abraham and confirmed it by an oath which He swore by Himself vv13-18. He could have given Abraham, and us too, no greater assurance for it rests in the nature and character of God. “God said it; I believe it; that settles it!”
God’s promises
"Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." v14
God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath v17
Ge 22:16 "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son 17 "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
God promised that He would bless Abraham. The first part of that promise, the birth of Isaac took about 24 years. The second part is still being fulfilled thousands of years later in both his earthly descendents and his spiritual heirs. The reason that this reference is here is to encourage us for God’s dealing with the father of the faithful (Rom 4:16) are typical of His dealings with the children of faith. God will fulfil His promises, without exception, but it may take a bit longer than we would like!
Jer 33:20 "Thus says the LORD: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, 21 ‘then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant
Possessed of a good income, guaranteeing the supply of every need, it is of little moment that God has pledged himself to provide all needful things for those who seek his kingdom first. Environed by troops of faithful friends, like so many successive lines of defence entrenched in the strong fortress of position and rank, there is less interest in the assurance that God will be the shield and buckler, the munition of rocks, the refuge from the storm for his saints. But when riches dwindle, and friends fail, and health declines, and difficulty, persecution, and trial threaten, then the soul betakes itself to the promises of God, and [mulls] them over, studying them by the hour together, until it wakes up to find mines of treasure under pages which were blank – as moorlands beneath which coal-beds lie.
It would be well for some of us if God would strip us of all those things in which we place such confidence; so that we might be compelled, perhaps for the first time in our lives, to seek in Himself all that we are now wont to seek in his gifts. Oh, blessed loss, which should teach us our true wealth! Oh, happy deprivation, which should reveal our inexhaustible resources! Oh, loving discipline, which should break the cisterns that hold the brackish rain-water, and compel us to betake ourselves to the river of God, which proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb! The lax and cursory manner in which we read pages begemmed with divine promise is largely due to the fact that we have never been put into such straits of sorrow and privation as to appreciate their value. One crushing trial would open up whole tracts of promise, which are now like the shut doors of a corridor in a royal palace.
F.B.Meyer
Conclusion
• We have a just, loving God who shows His appreciation for faithful service. Let us show our appreciation for all that He and others give or do for us.
• We have a trustworthy and reliable God
So let us learn to take Him at His word, relying on His many promises and let us endeavour, by His grace, to be reliable too in our promises to serve, pray and to help our neighbours, particularly other Christians.
