This week, I felt led to take a little different direction. So take this message today as a Word from God.
 
Let’s go over to the 23rd Psalm. Anybody here have any idea what this psalm says?
 
As I like to say about this Psalm that you pretty much only hear at funerals, this is not a psalm that speaks of death; it’s a psalm of life! It is because I believe that it is a beautiful, poetic description of what this good life that God has prearranged and made ready for us to live really looks like. In fact, I taught a long series on this particular psalm a few years ago and we went through each of the things King David said here to describe the kind of life our Good Shepherd wills for all of us have. If interested, I can point you the direction of how to listen to it in its entirety.
 
But today, I just had on my heart to emphasize one verse in this loaded psalm – Psalm 23:5
 
THE HONORABLE HOST
 
Notice that in the last couple of verses of Psalm 23, David is continuing to directly address His Shepherd in this verse like he did at the end of verse 4. However, notice the transition in verses 5&6: Now the example of a Shepherd and His sheep is no longer being used. No, in verses 5&6, he is using the analogy of a person being invited into someone else’s home and being shown great hospitality and honor.
 
So, these last two verses of the 23rd Psalm show us another part of God’s nature. Not only is He that Good Shepherd who takes care of His sheep; He is that Honorable Host who crowns us with His lovingkindness and tender-mercies. Yes, He prepares this table before us and makes all things good and ready! Upon entering, He honors us by anointing our head with oil! He fills our cup up to overflowing! Then our response is, “Surely, my host’s goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life! And I will live in His house forever!” Amen! This is living the good life, my friends!
 
Now let’s look at the beginning of verse 5: David says in Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…”     
 
Now again, it’s important to realize that this is not referring to the sweet by & by; no, it’s referring to the rotten here & now! Sure, there will be a great marriage supper of Lamb, but what David is referring to is the spread the Lord has prepared for us now in this life. How do I know this? Well, look at this verse …
 
David includes the phrase – “in the presence of my enemies.” How many of you know that when we die and go to heaven, that we are not going to be in the presence of our enemies; we are going to be in the presence of God! No, our enemies are present now, here on the earth. So this is where the Lord has prepared a table before us! Amen?  
 
EATING AT THE KING’S TABLE
 
Now as I meditated on this truth about eating at the Lord’s table, I couldn’t help but think of that story in the book of Second Samuel that is a beautiful type and shadow of what we have in Christ - the story of a man named Mephibosheth … 
 
Notice in Second Samuel 4:4 that we have a brief description of Jonathan’s young son. And when the news came from Jezreel that both his father and grandfather were killed, his nurse took him up and fled in haste. We are told that this is when he fell and became lame.
 
Now as we are going to see through this story of David and Mephibosheth, these things are a type and shadow of our relationship with Christ. So, I want to bring to your attention the lesson we can learn from this:
 
First of all, notice his name – Mephibosheth. Now back in their day, names had much more meaning than they do in our current society. His name meant “dispeller of shame.”
 
Now do you suppose this boy’s name might have had an impact on his life? I guarantee you it did. It would be like one of us having our parents call us shameful our entire youth. I don’t care who you are, that will impact your soul.
 
But guess what else it will do – it can impact your life too.
 
You see, a lot of the things people go through in life can be directly attributed to their identity. And I think that might very well have been the case with Mephibosheth. His identity was that of shame and then in his infancy, he was dropped by his nurse and became lame. I wonder how many people have “lame” lives today because of their “lame” identity.  
 
Well, if that’s you, YOU are the very one that the Lord is inviting to His party! Yes, you are the one that the Lord is seeking out to bring to His table to dine with Him forever! Amen!
 
Now back to the Second Samuel 4:4 – Why did the nurse flee with Mephibosheth after hearing the news of both Saul and Jonathan being killed? It was because it was customary then for one, when taking the throne, to kill all surviving descendants who might ever try to reclaim their family’s throne. Therefore, this nurse assumed that David was like the rest of the kings.
 
But she obviously didn’t know David, did she? She was completely unaware that he was different from others. Yes, David was kind. He was noble. He was gracious. But she didn’t know Him to be this way.
 
Do you reckon that there are many of God’s children out there today who are, likewise, unaware of how good, gracious, and kind our God is? It is sad, but a good portion of God’s church do not truly know their God’s true nature. Just as this woman assumed David was like any other man, likewise Christ’s bride assumes their God is like any other god (i.e. quick to judge, harsh, condemning, critical, etc.)
 
So, this misconception of David caused her to do what? To take Mephibosheth up and flee from David’s presence! Likewise, this misconception of God’s true nature has led many Christians when they have missed it and fallen short of His glory to run from Him rather than to Him.
 
But notice that this response of fear was what caused Jonathan’s nurse to run from David and what caused this accident that left Mephibosheth lame. The same happens to us, my friends. When we run from God in fear, guilt, condemnation, etc., this is when we open ourselves up to falling even further into more permanent spiritual conditions (i.e. spiritual lameness).
 
 
 
 
WHO IS YOUR GOD?
 
You see, we attract what we believe. Much of the body of Christ does not realize how our belief system impacts the fruit we receive in our life. And this is particularly true with how we see our God. I am convinced that there is so much more that God desires to do in our lives than we allow Him to. Yes, just as the children of Israel were guilty of limiting God’s will for them in their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, we limit God through our wrong thinking and wrong believing.
 
We have a powerful proverb that teaches us a similar lesson and illustrates to us what Mephibosheth’s nurse did: Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion!”
 
Of course, this first part of Proverbs 28:1 means that those who actually are wicked will flee, but did you know that the same holds true for those who see themselves as “wicked”? Yes, if one sees themselves as a sinner & wicked in the eyes of the Lord, then they will do the same – flee when no one pursues.
 
You see, we are not wicked anymore. If you are a born again, child of God, your nature has been changed and you are not a sinner any longer. Sure, you can still sin after you have been saved, and likely you will. But that does not change your nature.
 
However, notice it is the wicked who flees when no one pursues. And this is exactly what sin consciousness will do in our lives: When we see ourselves as “wicked”—that is, when we are conscious of all of our faults, weaknesses, mistakes and shortcomings— we will flee when no pursues. That means that we will run from God when He is not out to get us. This happened in the Garden after the first sin of man, and it is still happening today when God’s children sin. We sin, and instead of running to God (like we should), we run from Him thinking He is pursuing us to punish us. But the truth is that God is pursuing you when you sin, but not to punish you; He is pursuing you to restore, redeem, and reconcile you!
 
So, the wicked—or the one who thinks he or she is wicked—will flee when no one pursues. This describes far too many Christians. They are running from the righteousness of God because they have an incorrect view of God and of themselves. But, again, God is not pursuing to punish; He is pursuing to pour out His protection and provision.
 
Do you see the perverted thinking much of the church has adopted? We think we are being pursued to be punished, condemned, etc.! We think God is out to get us. No, church, God is for us, so who can be against us! This is what we should believe!
 
But notice the second half of this verse: “But the righteous are bold as a lion.”
 
Now just like it was with the “wicked” in the first part of the verse, this can describe those who actually are “righteous” in regard to their actions, but it can also describe those who see themselves as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
 
You see, this is the truth we need to displace that lie with! The devil just walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, yet we see him as the big, bad lion. But we are the righteousness of God in Christ, and we need to see ourselves as that big, bad lion! Why? Because we are in the Lion of Judah! We are the ones who are hid in the King of the Jungle! Therefore, we should be the bold, confident ones! We should be the ones that are walking about boldly like lions, seeking which works of darkness that we can devour, not the reverse! Hallelujah!
 
Friends, understanding our righteous position in Christ will produce boldness and confidence! Having our state of justification revealed to us will produce the full assurance of faith in our hearts! Hallelujah! We are to be playing the part of the lion, not the devil! We are to be the ones on the hunt; not him! We are the ones with the authority! We are the ones with the position! We are the ones with the name above all names! We ARE the righteousness of God in Christ!
 
So, stop fleeing like the wicked and start pursuing like the righteous! Be bold and be confident! God is on your side!
 
CONTINUE EATING AT THE KING’S TABLE
 
Now let’s go back over to the Book of Second Samuel and look at 2 Samuel chapter 9. In this chapter, we get to see what happened with Mephibosheth later in his life:
 
Chapter nine begins with David saying, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (verse one)
 
Notice, here in verse one, that David said that he was going to show this kindness for Jonathan’s sake. Here, we see a beautiful type and shadow of how God shows us the same “covenant faithfulness” for Jesus’ sake. Amen! In other words, all the goodness, grace and mercy of God that was shown to us was not given to us because of who we are, but because of the Father God’s and the Son of God’s relationship. Amen!  
 
Then notice in verse three that David said that his desire was not just to show any old kindness, but “the kindness of God.” You see, there is a big difference between “our kindness” and “God’s kindness.” Our love is oftentimes conditional; His love is unconditional. Our love is oftentimes merited; His love is unmerited. Our love oftentimes fails; His love never fails! Thanks be to God!  
 
Then, in verse seven, I want you to notice several of the same characteristics of the good life of Psalm 23 that are found here:

1. First of all, David encouraged this man not to fear. This is echoed in both the truths that we need to see God as a good Shepherd with no hint of testing us with evil and that we also do not need to fear any other evil as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
2. David said again that this kindness he was going to show Mephibosheth was for his father’s sake. Remember that David said that He would lead us on the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake - that is, for His own reputation and name’s sake.
3. David told him that he was going to restore to him the land that was his rightful inheritance - reminding us of the truth that we serve the God of restoration, who restores to us the years that we have had stolen from our souls.

 
However, David went on to promise Mephibosheth that he would eat bread at his table continually. The word “continually” comes from the Hebrew word tamid (pronounced “tah-meed”) which means “constantly, always, evermore” but the root word describes continually from an eternal standpoint. So, when you look at this from the perspective of us eating at the Lord’s table, we are invited to eat from this table today in the presence of our enemies, but we will continue to partake of it all the way to the marriage supper of the Lamb and forevermore. That’s a lot of food, amen?  
 
Then notice in verse eight, Mephibosheth’s response to this good news: He said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”
 
So, what we see here is this man had a serious identity problem. To refer to oneself as a “dead dog” means that they see themselves as having no value. This could have been because of what happened to his father’s house, but it also likely had to do with his lameness. You see, sometimes the things that have happened to us in life can warp our sense of value. But what we should be encouraged by here is that it did not change the king’s perspective of him. You see, we tend to think of ourselves as having little to no value and are unworthy, but to God, we are extremely precious and have been made worthy through our “Jonathan”- our Good, Heavenly Father.  
 
Finally, in verse thirteen, we are told, “for he ate continually at the king’s table.” This is the fourth time in this chapter that Mephibosheth eating at David’s table is mentioned. Biblically, the number “four” describes “totality.” Therefore, this table has been “totally” prepared for us! It is a done deal! All things have been made ready and complete! Now it is just up to us to come partake! Amen.  
 
Notice that this beautiful story ends with the phrase, “And he was lame in both his feet.” Now the awesome thing about this whole story of kindness and mercy is that when Mephibosheth sat at David’s table, his lameness was covered. It was hidden. When eating at the table of the Lord there is no sign or indication of our weakness. We are on equal “footing” with Him. Amen!
 
So this is our inheritance in Christ Jesus – to eat at the King of king’s table continually! However, there are just a few things that keep most of God’s children from partaking of this party …
 
One is certainly the unworthiness of feeling like we don’t deserve His grace. So in our hearts, we reject the goodness of God. But here’s another big reason …
 
ACCEPTING THE INVITATION AND NOT LEAVING THE PARTY!
 
In Luke 14:15-24, Jesus used an example to describe how the Lord invites us to His table for a meal and all that were invited began to give excuses, one by one, as to why they could not attend. This angered the Lord and compelled Him to begin inviting those who were less noble - the poor, the maimed, the lame, etc. (Notice here the reference to the “lame.” This will become important later).
 
What’s the lesson here? The Lord has prepared this table before us and has invited each of us to come partake, but we must accept the invitation - not having anything or anyone else be more important than attending His supper.
 
So, just because the Lord has prepared a table does not automatically mean everyone invited will partake of it - not because God is holding back, but because those He invites generally don’t make showing up to that dinner a priority in their lives. Let’s change that! Let’s make eating at the Lord’s table a priority! God is not looking for the able, but for the available. He can and will enable us to do whatever He calls us to.
 
Just as it was said to the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:20 - the Lord is standing at the door of our hearts knocking, desiring for us to open the door, invite Him in, and dine with Him. And this was written to a church, saints! So, evidently even born-again Christians are capable of not experiencing all that the Lord desires for them.  
 
And again, what we see here is that all that God has for us does not just include us eating at the Lord’s table; it includes eating “in the presence of our enemies.”
 
Now David was certainly a man who experienced this truth in his life, amen? The Lord honored him time and time again during his time in King Saul’s presence. Yes, even though Saul was driven by iniquity and constantly persecuted David, the Lord continued to bless David and delivered him from Saul’s hands. 
                             
This shows us that our God delights in defending us from our adversaries. But the key to experiencing this is found in doing the same honorable things that David did in the midst of his persecution. He continued to honor the king. He did not take things into his own hands. He let the Lord justify and deliver him. Even when he seemed to have every right, he did not touch the Lord’s anointed.
 
Now we are all the Lord’s anointed now. Yes, if you are a part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are an anointed king and priest. Therefore, even when one of your brothers and sisters in Christ (who are also loved by God as much as you are) do things that hurt you, you are to respond like David did, letting the Lord defend you. You and I are still to do good to them. We are to pray for them. We are to bless them. Bless and do not curse, knowing this that you were called to inherit a blessing! (First Peter 3:9)
 
But what so many Christians do is this: when their brother or sister does something to them, they fight back. They retaliate. They take matters into their own hands. However, in doing so, they get up from the Lord’s table. And what they need to understand is - even if they are successful at avenging themselves, they are missing the meal. Do you know how many of God’s children are missing out on the party at God’s table because they decided to let their enemies spoil their fun?  And don’t you know that the devil plants people and circumstances in our paths to distract us from staying on the path with God?
 
Church, when people—even God’s anointed ones—irritate us, we don’t need to miss the meal God has prepared for us because of someone else. We cannot control how others act, but we can “sho’ nuff” control how we react. Don’t leave the table for someone who decided not to come to the party! Amen?
 
REAPING KINDNESS & MERCY
 
So, in conclusion, if we continue to read in the Book of Second Samuel, we come to David’s gross sin with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. 
 
Under the old covenant, when people were judged much quicker and far more severe than King David was for his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, what was it about David that caused him to reap unusual kindness and mercy from God? Our quick answer might be, "Well, God favored David." But I believe there were tendencies and characteristics in David that caused David to obtain this unusual favor. In other words, and more specifically, there were things that David sowed that caused him to reap like he did.
 
If you consider the chapters preceding David's big sin in the Book of Second Samuel (which occurred in chapters 11-12), you will see that he was sowing kindness and mercy into people like Mephibosheth and even Hanun (See Second Samuel chapter 10).
 
So, do you think it is any coincidence that David, the man after God's own heart, reaped unusual mercy right after he was sowing unusual mercy? I think not! Be merciful, my friends! Show God’s kindness to those around you! Forgive your enemies and even bless them. This is one sure fire way to partake of all that the Lord has prepared for us at His table. Amen!

REVIEW
 
“Praise the Lord” is a phrase you’ve likely heard many times, but what I aim to do in this series is for it to mean more to you than it ever has before. Yes, I want it to not just be something that we say, but to be something we do to a greater degree than we ever have before.
 
Let’s look over again at the last Psalm we have recorded – Psalm 150 – where the Book of Psalms comes to a dramatic climax. Again, this psalm is a beautiful summary of the common theme we see in the first 149 psalms, and that is the title of this series, “Praise the Lord!”   
 
This Psalm reads – “Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”
 
We saw how the first & last phrase of this Psalm, “Praise the Lord”, comes from the Hebrew word that you’ve certainly heard before – the word “Hallelujah!” Hallelujah contains the Hebrew word halal, which simply means “praise”, and “jah” which is one of the Hebrew names of God, Yahweh or Jehovah. So now you know that this word we utter a lot in praise simply means “Praise God” or “Praise the Lord!”
 
But what we started noticing about this phrase/word last week is that it is a call to action. No, it’s not just there for informational purposes; it’s there telling God’s people what to do. So if I read in the Bible “Praise the Lord!”, what should my response be? It should be to praise the Lord, right? Yes, if the Scriptures say, “Hallelujah”, then I should stop what I’m doing and praise the Lord right then! Amen?
 
So I’d like us to do something fun throughout this series: Every time you hear the phrase “Praise the Lord!” I want the congregation to shout, “Praise the Lord!” And every time you hear the word “Hallelujah!” I want the congregation to shout, “Hallelujah!” Let’s practice right now – Me: Praise the Lord! (The congregation: Praise the Lord!) Me: Hallelujah! (The congregation: Hallelujah!)
 
You see, church, praising God is not just something we are to observe; it’s what we are called to do! I understand we have those in the church today who are specifically gifted to lead worship, sing, or play instruments in a praise service, but I made the point last week that I think it’s interesting that the New Testament doesn’t specifically identify this as a gift or office in the Body of Christ. I don’t believe this is because we shouldn’t have a praise & worship team, but rather because we are ALL called to this office! Yes, everyone is called to be a praiser, not just a select few. 
 
So that’s what we began talking about last week – how praising God is our calling in Christ Jesus!
 
I remember having a conversation with someone before I was born-again, where we were discussing what the purpose of mankind is. We were pondering those universal questions- Why am I here? What is my purpose? Of course, being lost, I was not able to answer these questions, but when I had my encounter with Jesus in 2000, I knew immediately the core-purpose of every single person who has ever lived on the earth – It is to know God! Yes, the primary purpose for every single person who ever has or ever will be created is to have a personal relationship with their Creator, and the predominant activity in that relationship is to praise and worship Him as His creation!
 
But we saw how this is not only God’s primary purpose for mankind. It is also the foundational purpose for all His creation. In the Psalms, many references are made to different created things such as the sun, moon, stars, mountains, animals, etc. declaring God’s praise (See Psalm 69:34, 145:10, 148, and Psalm 150:6). Didn’t Jesus say that even the rocks would cry out (See Luke 19:40)?
 
So all of creation here on the earth is praising its Creator! But we also learned that this is exactly what is going on in heaven as we speak. Yes, if you study the Scriptures that give us a sneak peak into what is going in heaven, you’ll find that continual praise & worship of God is the main activity of heaven’s residents.
 
So if it’s happening with all of His creation in heaven, and it’s happening with His entire creation on the earth, then I believe it is easy to conclude that the praise & worship of God is the primary purpose for everything and everyone God has ever created.
 
So I made the point last week that if this is true, wouldn’t it behoove us, the crown of His creation, to join in? Yes, wouldn’t it be a good idea to begin fulfilling our divine purpose sooner rather than later? You see, there is coming a day soon and very soon when we are going to slip out of these tents that we call bodies and be ushered into the presence of God where, as we’ve seen, singing His praises will be our habitual tendency. Therefore, we ought to begin to do it now when we can do it by faith and please Him all the more. Amen?
 
So we learned that praise is not only our purpose, it is our calling too!
 
You know, when we meet someone new, we might ask them “how are you doing?” but that usually leads us to another question that we are much more interested in learning the answer to – “What do you do?” Yes, we are very interested in finding out what people do for a living.
 
Well, I believe we need to see ourselves as what we were all created to be in Christ Jesus – Praisers! This is what the Bible teaches us: First Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
 
This is who we are, saints! We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and His own special people! But what we are called to do as these things is to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
 
So this is to be our spiritual vocation! Isaiah 43:21 forecasted this by saying, “This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.”
 
And here is one of the main points we learned: Just as sometimes that question is not just “What do you do?” It’s “What do you do for a living?” And what that obviously means is, what is your job/occupation that you earn your income from and live off of.
 
Well, this is something that’s important to understand about being a praiser: not only is it what your spiritual vocation is, but it’s where your spiritual income comes from. In other words, praising the Lord isn’t just something we do to benefit the Lord. No, it is loaded with benefits for the one who “does their job.” Amen!
 
So we looked at the 103rd Psalm that shows us both our response to having this responsibility and occupation and also the benefits of doing our job well. Now Psalm 103 is one of my personal favorite psalms – namely because we see our benefit package in Him.
 
We learned that after saying “and forget not all His benefits” in verse 2, David begins to show what those benefits of our spiritual vocation are.
 
Verse 3 says, “Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.”
 
Now by far, the most important benefit is this first one – the forgiveness of all our iniquities! No, not just some of them; all of them! I see this as the salary portion of praise’s employment package! It’s certainly the greatest and most important part of our job as praisers. But like it is with most people in this world’s workforce, it seems like most Christians are only concerned with their salary. Yes, it’s evident that most believers only know about the forgiveness of their sins. In other words, that’s the only part of their benefit package that they consider. It’s the big one. No doubt about that. But it’s not all that we have in our benefit package.
 
One benefit that the body of Christ does not esteem like it needs to is the next one – our medical/health insurance.
 
You know, if you’ve ever had to pay for your own health insurance out of pocket, then you probably know just how invaluable having health insurance included in your job’s benefit package is. It’s expensive! And oh, how expensive can physical issues be. 

Well, as we are promised in Psalm 103:3 among many other places, we have been given free health insurance! He heals ALL our diseases by the stripes of Jesus, being our Jehovah Rapha!
 
On top of that, some types of medical insurance cover prescription drugs too! And that’s covered under Jehovah Rapha’s insurance program as well: We are told in Proverbs 4:20-22 that God’s Word is “medicine” to all our flesh. So not only are we promised divine healing, but we are promised divine health because we have been given an unfailing medicine that will heal “all our flesh.” Amen!
 
Saints, our health insurance—the stripes of Jesus—have already paid for our prescription. Amen! And in God’s kingdom, there is no co-pay. There is no deductible that needs to be met. It’s already been paid for 100% by our Great Physician!
 
But what else do some businesses offer as part of their benefit package? Well, with some jobs we might get “life insurance.”
 
Well, Psalm 103:3 gives us another benefit of our covenant with the Lord: It says, “Who redeems your life from destruction.”
 
So guess what else we have as a benefit? Life insurance! We have been given the benefit of the God kind of life – which unlike life insurance in the world, can be experienced now! The Bible calls it eternal life, resurrection life, and abundant life! This is the life of God and it’s a part of our benefit package in Him! Amen!
 
But then notice what verse 3 goes on to say and then verse 4 – “… Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
 
Hmmm … So we see here the word “crowns” and then how He satisfies our “mouth” with good things. What benefit does that make you think of? Dental insurance! Lol!
 
I wonder how aware the Body of Christ is that we have the benefits of God crowning us with lovingkindness and tender mercies and also satisfying our mouths with good things so that even our youth is renewed. These are just a few more things that the Lord desires for us to taste and see!
 
So I think you get the point. There are a ton of benefits that the Lord has given us as we walk in our calling of declaring His praises! I’d encourage you to continue looking at the 103rd Psalm as it contains many more awesome benefits of our employment in the “Father’s business.”
 
But we saw how, unlike our jobs, these benefits are not just things we can partake of annually, quarterly, monthly, or weekly. No, these benefits are promises that we can experience DAILY – for as Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!”
 
But let me give you just one more very important benefit of God’s kingdom that we can also experience in our jobs on this earth – retirement planning benefits!

I know a lot of us have taken advantage of things such as 401(k)s, etc. at our jobs which help better prepare us for retirement, but there is no better retirement package than what we have in the kingdom of God. Our future is so bright, you have to squint to look at it.
 
Saints, as much as God desires to bless us in this life, our retirement package is loaded! And I can guarantee you that the more you and I live our lives to praise the Lord through thick & thin, the more we are seeing being contributed to that retirement package. Amen!
 
BEING A GOOD EMPLOYEE
 
So now that we’ve talked about how praise is our occupation in the kingdom of God and how doing our job well holds a myriad of benefits, let’s begin looking at what it means to do our job well. Yes, let’s learn how we can do a good job for our Father’s business that we are called to and employed for.
 
You see, when it comes to our jobs on this earth, there is a difference between being a good employee versus being a bad employee. And when I say “bad employee” I’m referring to those who aren’t necessarily bad enough to lose their job, but just aren’t the employees who do their job in excellence, work hard, and are dependable. The good ones are the kind of employees an employer is looking for, and I can assure you, they are not growing on trees in this world we live in.
 
For example, there are employees who just show up to work. Yes, they don’t call in sick much and they are dependable in terms of being physically present and manning a position. But that’s not what makes an excellent employee. A worker who is esteemed in a workplace is the one who not only shows up, but performs their job function well – meaning, they work hard, doing exactly what their boss expects out of them, and even go above and beyond those job duties.
 
So how does this relate to spiritual things? Well, it can mean that just because I faithfully show up at church every week and even come to extra things that are going on, that doesn’t automatically mean that by being present I’m pleasing the Lord Jesus, my Boss. No, I please Him by doing my job well while I’m here – which would be loving the people present, having ears to hear the message God has given the speaker, and certainly me engaging the Lord during our times of praise & worship.
 
Now regarding the praise service, that won’t be simply looking around and seeing what everyone else is doing. It won’t be me just standing there and watching what those like Bryan & Cameron are doing on the stage. No, it will be me participating! That might be me closing my eyes, raising my hands, lifting my voice, etc. It is me engaging the Lord by looking unto Him and lifting up my voice in song. This is how I don’t just show up to work, but I show up to work to work.
 
This also goes for how I praise Him in my everyday life:
 
You know, just like some Christians think they are doing enough simply by attending church, there are also a lot of them who think that by living a good life & not doing bad things that they are doing their Christian duty. Well, as good as that is, our duty to praise God goes beyond our church services.
 
You see, these praise services are not the only time that you and I are called to engage in praising the Lord. In fact, you don’t even need music playing to praise the Lord. It is something we can and should do all the time.
 
Didn’t King David say in Psalm 34:1 that he was going to bless the Lord at all times and His praise would continually be in His mouth? So this sounds like more than just when praise music is going on around us. This is at all times and continually!
 
So my occupation in the kingdom is more than just me going to church and living a moral life; it is me living a life of praise where I am giving Him glory “at all times” in my everyday life, and also giving Him all my heart during the praise services we have at church. God wants us to do our job well at all times – whether it be at home or at our church home.    
 
So let’s begin talking a little bit about what it means to doing our job of praise well – because I, for one, want my Employer to look at my life and say, “Job Well Done!”  
 
Let’s look at some of the verses in the New Testament where being a good “employee” is talked about, and by looking at these instructions to “servants,” learn how this applies to our occupation of praise …
 
BONDSERVANTS?
 
You see, the apostle Paul liked to deal with very practical issues like the relationship between a husband & a wife, how both a parent & a child should behave towards one another, etc. And beginning in Colossians 3:22, he gives instructions to one of the more prevalent situations in the early First Century church – the relationship of the “bondservant” with their “masters.” Yes, in this verse, he begins addressing the “slaves” who were a part of the Colossian church.
 
Now this might seem strange to hear that there were Christians who were still slaves in their church, but we need to understand the cultural differences between now and then. You see, while slavery is not a part of our society today (and that’s certainly a good thing), in Paul’s day, slaves made up over half of the population of the Roman Empire. In other words, it was a very normal part of society back then. So, what this means is that those who were considered the property of others made up the vast majority of the workforce back then. So my point is that this was an accepted part of society in the Roman world.
 
So how does all of this relate to us? While none of us are slaves today, I believe the way we ought to relate to these commands to “bondservants” is as words to the “employee” or the “volunteer servant.” Yes, the instructions for Christian slaves can be related today to Christian employees. Therefore, as we read the following exhortations, read them in this light—as words to the Christian worker, whether that be as a paid employee in the secular marketplace or simply as a servant in any other capacity. All of the following commands should be applied to any of us who serve others in any capacity.   
 
So let’s look at this verse and glean, not just how we should serve in our jobs or in any other thing we might volunteer in, but how I can serve the Lord in praise …
 
OBEY IN ALL THINGS
 
So in Colossians 3:22 the apostle Paul said, “Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.”
 
The first thing that the apostle Paul tells these “servants” is to “obey in all things your masters according to the flesh.”
 
Now while Paul does say to obey our “masters” (i.e. bosses, supervisors, etc.) “in all things,” we need to balance this statement out with other truths in the Bible. Specifically, we can see from other passages that “all things” does not include breaking God’s commandments and violating His precepts and statutes. We see this in the story of Daniel and three Hebrew boys: They did not obey the king’s commandment when they were told to not pray and to bow down before an idol. However, when it came to something like their dietary laws, they honorably requested that they might abstain from those foods. In other words, they did submit to their authority when it came to just about everything, but refused to violate things that were clearly against God’s commandments.
 
And also, by throwing the phrase “according to the flesh” in there, Paul was making sure that these servants understood that while they might have earthly masters, that is all they are—masters “according to the flesh.” In other words, our true Master is “according to the spirit” and His name is Jesus (which he gets into in this passage).  
 
So when we look at this from the perspective of our job of praising God, obeying in all things our Master according to the spirit means “all things.” In other words, everything He tells us to do is right and appropriate. Therefore, there is no room for questioning what the Lord tells me to do.
 
So when it comes to this subject of praising God, it’s important that I fully obey the Lord in it – which includes not only when I do it, but also how I do it. In other words, if it’s for Him, I need to do it His way and not my own.
 
Let me give all of you employees out there a good piece of advice – When your boss tells you to do something, it’s wise to simply do it his or her way. For example, if they tell you to do something in a certain way or at a certain time, don’t do it your own way or when you feel it’s the best time to do it. Being a good employee means following the instructions of your superiors even if you feel there is a better way to do it. Now that doesn’t mean that you cannot respectfully ask your supervisor if they are okay with you doing it another way, but just blatantly disregarding instructions because, after all you know better, is not best.  
 
So the way this applies to praising God is that you and I need to search the Scriptures to find out how the Lord would like us praising Him. In other words, we ought to study to see what are the specific instructions He gives us to praising Him in the Bible and then do it the way He teaches us.
 
I say this because how many Christians do it their way? I mean, if they do it at all, how many just do it like they feel it needs to be done and never consider looking at how God describes true praise in the Scriptures? That’s kind of arrogant when you look at it that way, isn’t it?
 
And the truth is, church, that God has shown us how He likes to be praised in the Bible and so one thing we are going to do in the weeks ahead is look at some of these things so that we can learn how to work for Him the way He desires us to. Amen?
 
EYESERVICE & MAN-PLEASERS
 
Now the next thing that Paul said to these “servants” in Colossians 3:22 was that they needed to obey their masters “not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers.” What he was obviously saying here was “But don’t simply obey your supervisor only when he’s watching you. Do your job for him or her just as hard when they aren’t watching—for if you only work hard when their eyes are on you, then you are only seeking to please man and not God.”
 
But the truth is when it comes to our service of praise unto the Lord it is definitely intended to be for HIS “eyes” and a “service” unto Him. Yes, our praise of the Lord is to be a pleaser of the Lord.
 
However, I believe a good takeaway from this is that we need to avoid the being “men-pleasers” part and how we don’t want our praise to be done with “eye-service” to the ones around us. In other words, we are not to be concerned with how we look or how we sound to anyone else in the room.
 
I’ve just seen cases where people keep from singing out loud because they are worried about others around them hearing them. In other words, they are self-conscious of their singing ability and hold back because they don’t want others to know how bad they think they sing.
 
Church, that should never be a deterrent from any of us singing out loud in church. No one in here should be judging other’s vocal abilities in here anyway. It’s all unto the Lord, not unto others. And if that is something you are really insecure about, leave the pew where you are sitting and go to a part of the church where you feel more comfortable singing out loud. Again, we want to be God-pleasers! And one of the things He has told us to do is sing, shout, dance, etc. Don’t let flesh & blood keep your mouth shut!
 
Now on the flipside of this, there are also those who have NO problem singing, lifting their voice, jumping, and dancing in front of others. And the way I believe this applies to this specific group of people is to also be sure we are not doing it to be seen of man.
 
This has not been much of an issue here @ HPC in recent time, but I have been in the churches where some “praisers” like the attention they get. So there is a lot of singing where people like to show off their voices, some dancing that seems to be more for those in the room than for the Lord, and some other demonstrative forms of praise that are certainly motivated by being “men-pleasers.”      
 
And this is the truth of the matter—if we only put our best foot forward when others are watching us, then we are proving that we are only interested in pleasing man rather than pleasing God. A person of praise will glorify Him all of the time—when the boss is around and when he is not—because they believe they are really serving God and not those around them.
 
SINCERITY, FEAR, AND TREMBLING
 
Then Paul counters the doing things with eyeservice with the phrase – “but in sincerity of heart.”
 
The word “sincerity” here is defined by Thayer’s as “the virtue of one who is free from pretense and dissimulation.” In other words, this describes one who is genuinely, sincerely, and honestly serving and is void of any self-seeking agenda. This is what God desires from all of us, saints – To be a people who walk in the truth and sincerely serve our authority figures from the heart. It is easy to go through the motions and serve because we either are afraid of the consequences or because we are seeking a reward, but the Lord has called us to whole-heartedly serve sincerely.
 
So when it comes to serving the Lord through praise, it’s important that we do it in “sincerity of heart”—that is, it’s genuine, heartfelt, and sincere.
 
This reminds me a little of what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:23-24 where Jesus said the hour was coming where God was seeking those who would worship Him in spirit and in truth. The truth part might be described as “sincerity of heart.”
 
Then Paul includes “fearing God”: In his letter to the Ephesians, he said it a little differently. He said, “with fear and trembling” (See Ephesians 6:5). This phrase does not mean that we are to be afraid and terrified of our authorities. It just simply means that we are to obey them “carefully, reverently, zealously, and diligently.”
 
For example, if you were personally instructed by some dignitary to perform a specific task, how would you perform your service? I suppose you would perform it carefully, reverently, zealously, and diligently because of who it was that gave you the duty. Well, that is the same mentality we should have when serving our “masters according to the flesh.” Everything we do for our authorities should be done in excellence and for the glory of God!
 
Likewise, when you and I praise God, there needs to be this same attitude where its not just this casual drawing near unto Him, but something that we handle with care. Like, for instance, you and I were asked to introduce some elected official. If your audience were some people of clout and importance, I can guarantee you that you will handle that introduction with some “fear and trembling.” Well, any time we are entertaining the King of kings and Lord of lords, we ought to handle those times with care and revere the One we are praising.
 
AND WHATEVER YOU DO
 
Then in verse 23, the apostle Paul said, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”
 
The phrase “And whatever you do” can be applied to “whatever”, which would certainly include whether we lift our voice, dance, raise your hands, etc. in praise. So whatever we do in life including praise, we need to do it in the following manner …
 
The first thing he said, “do it heartily”- The word translated “do” here is a word describing “work or labor” and the word “heartily” comes from the words ek psuche, which means “out of the soul.” So, this phrase literally describes one working out of the soul as opposed to out of mere pretense and outward conformity. In other words, the Lord desires for all of us to serve with all that is within us—that is, for it to come out of the heart and not just external obedience. 
 
So what the Lord is looking for in us when we praise Him is that we do it “heartily” – that is, out of the soul.
 
I know some of us have been trained in church to not to praise & worship God from the soul but from the spirit, but I don’t believe that’s what the Lord would say to us. Yes, praising & worshipping Him in spirit is the highest & best form of it, but this does not mean that God does not want us doing any of this from the soul either. Yes, He wants your personality involved in praising Him. Let those emotions out! Let your whole heart fully be released when you praise Him! He wants all of YOU to praise Him from the inside out. Amen! 
 
The next thing he said was that whatever we do, do it “as to the Lord and not to men.” And here is the foundation & motivation of both our servanthood and our praise of God: We are not simply serving another human being; we are serving the Lord when we serve others.
 
Oh, that we would have this mentality throughout all our life on this earth—that the things we do and say are all “as unto the Lord and not to men.” I guarantee you that this would change the way many of us lived our lives, including our praise lives!
 
THE INHERITANCE OF PRAISE
 
So this is both how you and I can serve on this earth and serve the Lord via praise. If we praise God this way, I believe that the Lord would say, “That’s a job well done!” And as we know about the Lord, there is no job done well that won’t be rewarded by Him. And that’s what we see in the next verse …  
 
Colossians 3:24 then gives us an awesome promise of what serving the Lord in this way will lead to when Paul said, “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
 
In the Book of Ephesians, where Paul said a lot of similar things about the master/servant relationship, he described this reward part a little differently: He said in Ephesians 6:8, “knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.”
 
Regardless of which verse you are looking at and the specifics of the rewards, it is important to see that it is from the Lord that we will be rewarded for doing what is right.
 
When it comes to working for others, too often we look to man for our raise, promotion, words of affirmation, etc. We ought to avoid that and look only unto the Lord for those rewards. He is the One who exalts one and brings down another! He is the giver of all favor! So, avoid the temptation of making man your source and begin to look unto the Lord as the One who will provide you with all of the favor, honor and reward that you need. Amen?
 
And what an awesome promise this is that we can expect when we do good to others! We will (not might or hopefully) … we will receive the same from the Lord for whatever good we do! And I can promise you one thing: when the Lord returns the favor, it will be pressed down, shaken together, and running over! In other words, you will reap from the Lord in a much greater measure than you sowed it into others!
 
So what about when we praise the Lord? If we do our job of praising Him well, is there a reward in that? You can bet your bottom dollar there is! Just like in your worldly job, you can receive raises, promotions, benefits, etc. from the Lord when you do your job of praising Him well.
 
Just as that common Christian cliché says, “You cannot out-give God!” there is also truth in this – You cannot out-praise God! Yes, the more you glorify His name, the greater your name can become! The more you lift Him up in praise, the more He can give you a “raise.” Great are the benefits of the employee of praise, church!

INTRODUCTION
 
Praise the Lord! This is a phrase you’ve likely heard many times, whether it be in church or in your Bible. It is indeed a very popular phrase in our “Christianese” language.
 
But what I want is for this phrase to mean more to you than it ever has before. That’s the purpose of this teaching – for our church to come to be a body of believers who truly know how to praise God and who live our lives to “Praise the Lord.”
 
Let’s look over at the last Psalm we have recorded – Psalm 150 – where the Book of Psalms comes to a dramatic climax. Yes, this psalm is a beautiful summary of the common theme we see in the first 149 psalms.  
 
This Psalm reads – “Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”
 
Notice how the first & last phrase that we see in this Psalm is “Praise the Lord!” This phrase comes from the Hebrew word that you’ve certainly heard before – the word “Hallelujah!” Hallelujah contains the Hebrew word halal, which simply means “praise”, and “jah” which is one of the Hebrew names of God, Yahweh or Jehovah. So now you know what Hallelujah means, don’t you? It simply means “Praise God” or “Praise the Lord!”
 
But what I want you to notice about this phrase/word is that it is a call to action. No, it’s not just there for informational purposes. It’s there telling God’s people what to do. So if I read in the Bible “Praise the Lord!”, what should my response be? It should be to praise the Lord, right? Yes, if the Scriptures say, “Hallelujah”, then I should stop what I’m doing and praise the Lord right then! Amen?
 
So I’d like us to do something fun throughout this series: Every time you hear the phrase “Praise the Lord!” I want the congregation to shout, “Praise the Lord!” And every time you hear the word “Hallelujah!” I want the congregation to shout, “Hallelujah!” Let’s practice right now – Me: Praise the Lord! (The congregation: Praise the Lord!) Me: Hallelujah! (The congregation: Hallelujah!)
 
You see, church, praising God is not just something we are to observe; it’s what we are called to do! I understand we have those in the church today who are specifically gifted to lead worship, sing, or play instruments in a praise service, but I think it’s interesting that the New Testament doesn’t specifically identify this as a gift or office in the Body of Christ. I don’t believe this is because we shouldn’t have a praise & worship team, but rather because we are ALL called to this office! Now you and I maybe should not be on the stage with a microphone. Like I’ve heard it said before – Everyone can sing. Not everyone should record, but everyone can sing. But everyone is called to be a praiser, not just a select few. 
 
And that’s what I would like us to begin talking about this week – how praising God is our calling in Christ Jesus!
 
PURPOSED TO PRAISE
 
I remember having a conversation with someone before I was born-again, where we were discussing what the purpose of mankind is. We were pondering those universal questions- Why am I here? What is my purpose? Of course, being lost, I was not able to answer these questions, but when I had my encounter with Jesus in 2000, I knew immediately the core-purpose of every single person who has ever lived on the earth – It is to know God! Yes, the primary purpose for every single person who ever has or ever will be created is to have a personal relationship with their Creator, and the predominant activity in that relationship is to praise and worship Him as His creation!
 
But, you see, this is not only God’s primary purpose for mankind. It is also the foundational purpose for all His creation. In the Psalms, many references are made to different created things such as the sun, moon, stars, mountains, animals, etc. declaring God’s praise (See Psalm 69:34, 145:10, 148, and Psalm 150:6). Didn’t Jesus say that even the rocks would cry out (See Luke 19:40)?
 
So all of creation here on the earth is praising its Creator! But did you know that this is also exactly what is going on in heaven as we speak? Yes, if you study the Scriptures that give us a sneak peak into what is going on in heaven, you’ll find that continual praise & worship of God is the main activity of heaven’s residents.
 
So if it’s happening with all of His creation in heaven, and it’s happening with His entire creation on the earth, then I believe it is easy to conclude that the praise & worship of God is the primary purpose for everything and everyone God has ever created.
 
So if this is true (and it most definitely is), wouldn’t it behoove us, the crown of His creation, to join in? Yes, wouldn’t it be a good idea to begin fulfilling our divine purpose sooner rather than later? You see, there is coming a day soon and very soon when we are going to slip out of these tents that we call bodies and be ushered into the presence of God where, as we’ve seen, singing His praises will be our habitual tendency. Therefore, we ought to begin to do it now when we can do it by faith and please Him all the more. Amen?
 
WHAT DO YOU DO?
 
But like I’ve already said, praise is not only our purpose, it is our calling too!?! In other words, praising God is not just something we do; it’s who we are. Let me explain …
 
You know, when we meet someone new, we might ask them “how are you doing?” but that usually leads us to another question that we are much more interested in learning the answer to – “What do you do?” Yes, we are very interested in finding out what people do for a living.
 
So what do you do for a living? Most of our immediate responses would be – “I’m a banker, a cashier, a housewife, a pilot, a lawyer, etc. etc. etc.” But I think we need to see ourselves as more than what our physical/natural occupation is. I believe we need to see ourselves as what we were all created to be in Christ Jesus – Praisers!
 
Did you know that’s what the Bible teaches us? First Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
 
Now I know that a lot of people read this verse like it was being written to Israel because all of these things were how the Lord referred to them, but I want you to notice what Peter went on to say in verse 10. He said, “who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
 
So his audience here was a people who once were not a people. That doesn’t sound like the Jewish community to me – for they had been the people of God for hundreds & hundreds of years to this point. No, this is obviously describing Gentile believers because, during their lifetime, they were definitely not a people, but now had become the people of God through the blood of Jesus’ Cross. Amen? 
 
So First Peter 2:9 is talking to you & I. We are those who were once not God’s people. We are those who once had not obtained mercy. But now, we are a part of God’s people, having received mercy! Praise the Lord!
 
This is who we are, saints! We are a chosen generation! We are a royal priesthood! We are a holy nation! And we are His own special people! But what do we do? What is it that we do because we have been made all of these things through the mercy of God? Well, notice the next part of First Peter 2:9: It says, “…that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
 
The word “proclaim” here is only used this one time in the New Testament and comes from a word that was a combination of the word “out of” and “angel or messenger.” So it describes a messenger like an angel and what comes out of that messenger.
 
Let’s consider angels for a minute: If you had an angel before you and asked him – “What do you do?” – what do you think he would say? He would probably respond with – “I am a servant of the Most High God! I go where He tells me to go! I do what He tells me to do! I say what He tells me to say!”
 
You see, angels were oftentimes, what? They were God’s messengers! Yes, they are God’s representatives that come to tell someone the word of the Lord! So this is what came “out of” them.
 
But what else do you think God’s angels would say that they do? I guarantee you that one thing you’d hear them say is that they praise & worship God! Yes, one of the most important jobs & privileges that angels have is to PRAISE THE LORD!
 
Well, it’s the same with us! We too are called to “proclaim” the same thing – Peter described it as “the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light!”  
 
So this is to be our spiritual vocation! Yes, it is our occupation as His chosen generation, His royal priesthood, His holy nation, and His special people! Our job is to declare the praises of Him! Amen!
 
Isaiah 43:21 forecasted this by saying, “This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.”
 
So I guess when someone asks you what you do for a living, you might say, “I’m an appraiser” because that’s what you are – “a praiser.” You know, there’s a reason they are called “appraisers.” That’s because they are someone whose job is to assess or estimate the value of something. Isn’t that what “a praiser” is doing as well? By praising God, we are showing how much we value God.
 
FOR A LIVING
 
Now sometimes that question is not just “What do you do?” It’s “What do you do for a living?” And what that obviously means is what is your job/occupation that you earn your income from and live off of.
 
Well, this is something that’s important to understand about being a praiser: not only is it what your spiritual vocation is, but it’s where your spiritual income comes from. In other words, praising the Lord isn’t just something we do to benefit the Lord. No, it is loaded with benefits for the one who “does their job.” Amen!
 
Let’s look at a psalm that shows us both our response to having this responsibility and occupation and also the benefits of doing our job well – the 103rd Psalm. Now Psalm 103 is one of my personal favorite psalms – namely because we see our benefit package in Him.
 
Psalm 103:1 starts off by saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name.”
 
So, as it has likely been with all of us when it comes to our jobs, we don’t always feel like getting up and going to work. Sometimes our flesh would just love to call in, roll over, and go back to sleep.
 
Well, it’s like that with the vocation of praise too! There are going to be countless times where it’s the right time to praise Him, but like it is when our alarms go off in the morning to get up and go to work, we must grab ourselves by the ear and rise up & praise Him! Amen?
 
Well, this is exactly what David was doing here: He was giving Himself a little pep talk, talking to his soul, and telling himself what time it is! It’s time to bless the Lord!
 
Now why would one have to do this? It’s because their soul is going to not want to bless him at times. These times are usually when things are tough, when life is throwing you lemons, or simply when your emotions are down. This is when a child of God has to do something like David did here – start talking to your soul.
 
Let me give you a good example of this from the New Testament:
 
Many of us are familiar with trials that the apostle Paul went through and how he was imprisoned on multiple occasions.
 
Well, in the Book of Philippians, we have the backdrop of one of these extremely difficult circumstances. He told this church how his imprisonment had actually turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel (See Philippians 1:12). He talked about how, as bad as this situation he was in was, that one of the hardest things was how he was hearing about people on the outside preaching Christ for spite, “supposing to add affliction to his chains.”
 
So let’s put this into perspective: Suppose you were a successful businessman, and you were arrested and put into a jail even though you were innocent. And this imprisonment was one of the closest things to hell you had ever experienced. Then you learned that there were people on the outside who were trying to steal your business and you knew that they were doing it just to hurt you. That would be a pretty bad day, don’t you think?
 
Well, that’s pretty much what Paul was going through. People were preaching Christ just to spite him. He knew that there were people who were trying to inflict even more suffering on him by taking his “business.” But I want you to notice what Paul said in Philippians 1:18 – “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”  Wow, I just love that!  What a remarkable attitude Paul possessed! Instead of getting hurt and offended by the wrong motives of others, the apostle Paul’s only concern was that Christ was being preached, and that caused him to rejoice.
 
But notice the terminology he used here – “…and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice!” The force of this statement just resounds with passion and conviction, does it not? It is as if he was saying, “I will rejoice in this and, yes, I will most definitely continue to rejoice in it!” But why such a bold statement? What is the cause for such an emphatic proclamation?  To me, it is quite simple—the apostle Paul was giving himself a little pep talk like David did in Psalm 103.
 
I am sure Paul was dealing with the same temptations in his heart to be discouraged and offended like any normal human being would be regarding these things. I am certain that he had to take those “woe is me” thoughts captive. But here in this verse I believe Paul was making this declaration, not just for their information, but to inform his own soul that it was “rejoicing time.” Amen! Yes, he was telling himself— “Paul, you will rejoice in this!  Oh yeah, you are going to rejoice about it!”
 
Saints, this is an extremely effective and biblical way to keep those negative emotions in check. That’s right—sometimes we just need to talk to our soul and let it know who is in charge. 
 
Again, as King David said in his 103rd Psalm: “Bless the Lord O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!”  This opening verse of this psalm was not just poetry; David was actually talking to his own soul.  Yes, he was telling himself that everything within him was going to join together in giving praise to God. Bless the Lord, forevermore!
 
So, what the apostle Paul was doing here to counter the offense and discouragement that he was likely being tempted with was telling those unruly emotions that he was not going to yield to them. In fact, he was telling his soul exactly what it was going to yield to—praise. He was telling his mind, will, and emotions – “You are going to praise the Lord!” In short, he was telling his soul what it was going to do rather than let his soul dictate whether he was going to be happy or not. Yes, Paul chose to both look at the positive side of things and take up the reins of his heart. In so doing, he was choosing joy. Amen?
 
Now back to the 103rd Psalm …
 
David goes on to say in verse 2 – “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
 
So now, not only was David just telling his soul to praise the Lord, he tells it to not forget all of his benefits. 
 
Now don’t let the wording here confuse you. This does not mean that we can forget some of them, but to make sure we do not forget all of them (as I interpreted this statement when I was child). No, it means not to forget any of the benefits that we have as His covenant people. But I want you to also see how what King David said shows us how to not forget any of them. There is a major solution that he gives us in these first two verses to help us not forget any of His benefits.
 
Notice how David uses the phrase- “blessing the Lord”- three times in these two verses. This is a significant part of remembering His benefits…What does “blessing” the Lord mean? The Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “bless” (the way it is used in Psalm 103:1&2) as “to praise, glorify, or magnify.” So, in the context of Psalm 103:1&2, “bless” is basically a synonym for “praise.”
 
So what does “blessing” (or, praising) the Lord have to do with us not forgetting all of His benefits? Well, when you praise the Lord, what are you doing? You are proclaiming the goodness and greatness of God through declaring who He is and what He has done. So, in essence, you are recalling all of His benefits when you bless Him, right? You see, a great benefit of glorifying and magnifying the Lord through praise is that it helps us to not forget His benefits. In other words, it causes us to constantly recount all that He has done for us and be less likely to forget them. And guess what that does? It will cause you and I to experience them more!
 
I wonder how many people miss out on certain “benefits” that they have in this life simply because they stay ignorant of them. I’m sure that many of us have missed out on certain benefits of jobs we’ve had or other things we’ve been part of simply because we weren’t mindful of them.  
 
Well, being God’s child and a part of His kingdom, we have many different benefits that we are meant to take advantage of. So if you and I are employed to praise the Lord, then what are those benefits? Well, Psalm 103 goes to describe a bunch of them …
 
Verse 3 says, “Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.”
 
By far, the most important benefit is this first one – the forgiveness of all our iniquities! No, not just some of them; all of them! I see this as the salary portion of praise’s employment package! It’s certainly the greatest and most important part of our job as praisers. But like it is with most people in this world’s workforce, it seems like most Christians are only concerned with their salary. Yes, it’s evident that most believers only know about the forgiveness of their sins. In other words, that’s the only part of their benefit package that they consider. It’s the big one. No doubt about that. But it’s not all that we have in our benefit package.
 
One benefit that the body of Christ does not esteem like it needs to is the next one – our medical/health insurance.
 
You know, if you’ve ever had to pay for your own health insurance out of pocket, then you probably know just how invaluable having health insurance included in your job’s benefit package is. It’s expensive! And oh, how expensive can physical issues be. 

Well, as we are promised in Psalm 103:3 among many other places, we have been given free health insurance! He heals ALL our diseases by the stripes of Jesus, being our Jehovah Rapha!
 
On top of that, some types of medical insurance cover prescription drugs too! And that’s covered under Jehovah Rapha’s insurance program as well: We are told in Proverbs 4:20-22 that God’s Word is “medicine” to all our flesh. So not only are we promised divine healing, but we are promised divine health because we have been given an unfailing medicine that will heal “all our flesh.” Amen!
 
Saints, our health insurance—the stripes of Jesus—have already paid for our prescription. Amen! And in God’s kingdom, there is no co-pay. There is no deductible that needs to be met. It’s already been paid for 100% by our Great Physician!
 
But what else do some businesses offer as part of their benefit package? Well, with some jobs we might get “life insurance.”
 
Well, Psalm 103:3 gives us another benefit of our covenant with the Lord: It says, “Who redeems your life from destruction.”
 
So guess what else we have as a benefit? Life insurance! We have been given the benefit of the God kind of life – which unlike life insurance in the world, can be experienced now! The Bible calls it eternal life, resurrection life, and abundant life! This is the life of God and it’s a part of our benefit package in Him! Amen!
 
But then notice what verse 3 goes on to say and then verse 4 – “… Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
 
Hmmm … So we see here the word “crowns” and then how He satisfies our “mouth” with good things. What benefit does that make you think of? Dental insurance! Lol!
 
I wonder how aware the Body of Christ is that we have the benefits of God crowning us with lovingkindness and tender mercies and also satisfying our mouths with good things so that even our youth is renewed. These are just a few more things that the Lord desires for us to taste and see!
 
So I think you get the point. There are a ton of benefits that the Lord has given us as we walk in our calling of declaring His praises! I’d encourage you to continue looking at the 103rd Psalm as it contains many more awesome benefits of our employment in the “Father’s business.”
 
But unlike our jobs, these benefits are not just things we can partake of annually, quarterly, monthly, or weekly. No, these benefits are promises that we can experience DAILY – for as Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!”
 
But let me give you just one more very important benefit of God’s kingdom that we can also experience in our jobs on this earth – retirement planning benefits!

I know a lot of us have taken advantage of things such as 401(k)s, etc. at our jobs which help better prepare us for retirement, but there is no better retirement package than what we have in the kingdom of God. Our future is so bright, you have to squint to look at it.
 
Saints, as much as God desires to bless us in this life, our retirement package is loaded! And I can guarantee you that the more you and I live our lives to praise the Lord through thick & thin, the more we are seeing being contributed to that retirement package. Amen!

REVIEW
 
Well, I believe today we will be concluding our series entitled “Imitators of Love” where we have learned more about Love Himself.
 
We started off talking about how the high call of every believer in a nutshell is to imitate our Heavenly Father as His dear children. This is what the Bible calls “godliness.”
 
So, in order to be godly by imitating God in our everyday life, we first have to know who and what we are imitating. So it is imperative that if you and I are going to replicate the Lord’s nature in our lives, then we need to learn what His nature is. And I can assure you, church, He is love. So everything we learn about love in the Bible is what we are learning about the Lord. The Lord is love!
 
And there is a lot to learn about love, amen? In fact, this is part 15 of this series, which I know is a lot, but it’s important that we build this new image of God’s nature not just in our heads but in our hearts. So what we are doing is taking these “legos of love” and building something amazing!
 
We’ve specifically been using the pieces found in First Corinthians 13:4-8, which gives us one of the most concise descriptions of love and, therefore, since God is love, it can be read like so – “GOD suffers long, and GOD is kind. GOD does not envy; GOD does not parade HIMSELF, HE is not puffed up; HE does not behave rudely, HE does not seek HIS own, HE is not provoked, HE thinks no evil; HE does not rejoice in iniquity, but HE rejoices in the truth; HE bears all things, HE believes all things, HE hopes all things, HE endures all things. GOD never fails …”
 
Most recently, we have looked at verse 7, with what seems to be Paul just quickly giving us a few more characteristics of love on his way to wrapping up his point. In it, he says, “(Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
We learned that love “bearing” all things literally describes love as covering, concealing, or hiding something—thus protecting them. In fact, we learned how the root word for this that Paul used here in First Corinthians 13:7, was the word for the roof of a house. Therefore, love covers all!
 
We then looked at what Paul says at the end of verse 7 of how love “endures all things” which describes how love has staying under power – meaning love will put up with and tolerate a lot more in others than our flesh would like to. So love endures all!
 
Last week, we looked at the other two characteristics of love in this verse that says, “love believes all things, hopes all things.”
 
The phrase “love believes all things” describes believing the best in everyone. In other words, love is not cynical by nature. No, it’s not pessimistic, but it trusts by default. Therefore, love tends towards giving people the benefit of the doubt. However, this does not mean that love is gullible and will accept just anything as the truth. What it does mean, however, is that while love might certainly be aware of the truth, it chooses to magnify something else instead. In other words, while love is not blind (contrary to what the world likes to say), it does focus on the positives in the other person more than their negatives. 
 
But I like the Living Bible’s translation because it says that love “will always believe in him (the person they are loving).” The New Living Translation puts it this way – Love “never loses faith (in others)” This obviously describes how love will believe in people, and never quit on them. To me, this is more of the idea that is being expressed here – believing in another person, not simply believing everything they tell you. 
 
Then we looked at what it means that love “hopes all things” and found that the New Testament term hope describes a confident expectation of something good in the future. So when it comes to this description of love, we can see that love has more of an expectation of something good tied to it. Therefore, if I am loving someone else, then I will have a similar hope for them – that is, I will hope, wish, desire, and expect blessings to befall them. I will hope these good things will happen to them like I would that they happen to me.
 
Yes, if I love someone, I will desire that they are blessed, I’ll wish God’s best for them, and I’ll be optimistic that they will receive what He wants for them. But if I “hope all” for them, then that means that I will have a confident expectation of those good things happening in their life.  
 
And we learned that God certainly does believe in us and hope for us!
 
You see, sometimes we think God is done with us because of the mistakes that we’ve made. We think we’ve nullified His plan for our lives because we’ve turned from His plan too many times. But when we consider Israel, we must conclude that God will never quit on us—especially when our covenant is written not in the blood of bulls and goats, but in the precious blood of Jesus Christ! Amen!    
 
Praise God, church, God will never, ever, quit on us! If He began a good work, He will see it through! He is faithful even when we are faithless, and He was, is, and evermore shall be the God of hope! Amen!
 
LOVE NEVER DIES
 
But like I said, I believe we are rounding up our look at God’s amazing love this week. And we are doing this by looking at the last characteristic of love given to us in First Corinthians chapter 13 when the apostle Paul begins verse 8 by saying, “love never fails.”
 
Now this is yet another time when understanding the original language and looking at other translations becomes important. The reason is because when see the word “fails” here, our mind might go towards “failing” in the sense of failing to succeed at something like we fail a test. But that could lead one to believe that Paul was saying that “love never loses” or “love always succeeds.” And while it is certainly true that love is the way to victory and is how to be successful in this life and in the kingdom of God, that’s not exactly what “fails” means here.
 
When we study this word “fails,” we can clearly see how it more describes something ending, ceasing, dying, etc.—kind of like when the Bible refers to a flower failing. Therefore, when we are told here that love never fails, the idea is more of love never dying or love never ending.
 
And you don’t even need to know how to look up words to understand this because his point is even more clear as you go on to read what Paul said in the rest of this verse, where he says, “But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.” So it’s like the translators wanted to use various synonyms for “fail” by saying that these other things like prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will “cease” and “vanish away.”
 
So we can conclude that love will NEVER fail, cease, or vanish away. In other words, it will never end. It’s for this reason that I like the following translations: The New Living Translation says, “But love will last forever” and the Message Bible says, “Love never dies.”
 
So this description of love never ending shows us some important things about how love works in our lives – some of which are contrary to the way folks refer to love.
 
In fact, the Greek word that is used to define “fails” literally means to “fall out”—which is interesting because what is something that the world likes to say about love? It likes to describe one “falling in” and “falling out” of love. But what did we just learn? It’s that the literal translation of this phrase is that “love never falls out.” Therefore, according to the Scriptures, love is never something that we fall in & out of.
 
This is important to understand because how many times have we heard of someone who started off falling head over heels in love with someone and then, after some time, they say those “feelings” that they had for them have changed and that they have “fallen out” of love with them. This is not the love of God, church.
 
No, if we are being honest, what is happening is that person who says this, is falling in and out of “feelings.” But the truth is love is not a feeling. For example, what do people like to say when they “fall out of love?” They say, “I just don’t feel for you the same way I used to feel about you.” This, again, indicates that to them, love is a feeling or an emotion. No! The truth is that when someone says they have fallen out of love with someone, really what they are saying is that they have “fallen out of feelings.”
 
It is actually impossible to “fall out of” the true love of God. Why? Because love is an act of your will and is not an emotion or a feeling! No, real love never ENDS because it’s a spiritual virtue and while the way we feel can certainly change, spiritual realities never change! Therefore, because God never changes, His love is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore!
 
GOD’S LOVE NEVER FAILS
 
Now as we’ve been doing throughout this series, let’s delve into His love as we round up our study. So if love never fails, then that means God never fails – which teaches us that God never ends and, therefore, His love never ends. 
 
In fact, this is what that very popular “praise phrase” that we see throughout the Old Testament is saying – You know, the one that says, “For the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.”
 
You see, the phrase “His mercy endures forever” describes that hesed kind of covenant love (which we will get into here in a moment). But the word “endures” was added by the translators. Therefore, this phrase literally reads as so – His steadfast, covenant love is forever – which is essentially saying the same thing as First Corinthians 13:8 – that His love never ends.
 
So what does this mean that God’s love never ends, ceases, or dies? It simply means that we can never see the end of His love. He doesn’t quit on His people. He keeps on loving us no matter how far out there we get or how long we are out there. His love is forever, and it knows no end. 
 
Church, this is evidently an important truth for us to understand about God’s love because of how much we see it highlighted throughout the Scriptures. Let me give you a couple more places where we see it mentioned in different ways …  
 
One is found in Jeremiah 31:3, where the Lord said to His people through the Prophet Jeremiah –“The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’”
 
This was again another time where God’s people had been disciplined for forsaking God’s living waters. Yet, even in their failure, the Lord said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” And everlasting love sounds to me like a love that never fails, amen?
 
Can you hear it today? Can you hear the Lord saying to you this same thing, church? “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” This is what the Spirit is saying to His church right now!
 
In another example from the ministry of Jeremiah, we’ve seen what the Lord told His people in Lamentations 3:22. This was a verse we looked at last week, but I want you to notice something about this passage of Scripture: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”
 
Now the Lord’s “mercies” is describing that covenant, faithful love of God. So it is through that love that God’s people are not consumed – meaning that it was because of God’s unending love that they had not been totally destroyed. In other words, even though they had messed up and gotten themselves into this situation, through the Lord’s faithful love, He had not let them be utterly destroyed. And why was that? Well, he went on to say exactly why – “because His compassions fail not.”
 
Now compassion is certainly a fruit of love and here we see how this love of God “fails not”—meaning, it never ends like First Corinthians 13:8 declares. So through the countless times that we see His steadfast love & mercy being described as being forever, it is crystal clear that God’s amazing love never fails.
 
COVENANT LOVE
 
But as promised, I want us now to look at this Old Testament word that was used to describe God’s love in many of these verses, because I believe it will teach us a lot about this aspect of love never dying.
 
The Hebrew word that is used in these verses to describe God’s lovingkindness, mercy, & faithfulness is the word hesed.
 
In Exodus 34:6-7, this is how God revealed Himself to Moses when He gave him the Ten Commandments on the two tablets of stone. In this story, we are told – “Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
 
Now when it says in verse 5 that he proclaimed to Moses the name of the Lord, it is important to understand that he was not just declaring a term or title. To us, proclaiming a name might mean simply saying, “Bill, Joe, or Mary,” but in their day, the name of a person was their character, nature, and personality. So what God was proclaiming here was who He was. That’s important when considering what He said next as He passed before Moses …
 
In verse 6, the Lord said concerning Himself – “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth …”
 
So this is who God chose to reveal Himself as to His servant, Moses – As merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and then notice this … as “abounding in goodness and truth.” The word that is used for “goodness” here is the word hesed. So God described Himself as being filled with and overflowing in this virtue. So let’s look at what hesed is …
 
This word is oftentimes translated as “lovingkindness and mercy” and it describes “unfailing, faithful, and steadfast love.” One translation calls it “loyal love” because the core idea of this term communicates loyalty & faithfulness within a relationship. It is for this reason that hesed is closely related to God’s covenant with His people, Israel. Therefore, as it relates to the concept of love, hesed expresses God’s faithfulness to His people.
 
Now while we are not as in tune with the concept of covenant in our society today, I believe that something that we are certainly familiar with can help us understand this concept of hesed – the marriage covenant.
 
You see, while marriages do not mean nearly as much to our modern-day society as they used to, the Scriptures teach us that a marriage is a covenant, not simply a contract. In other words, a marriage means much more to the Lord than it does to most people. Contracts can have a time limit on them, but marriages are meant to be permanent. Therefore, the concepts of loyalty, commitment, and faithfulness are, in the eyes of the Lord, a big part of a marriage. Now this is oh so important when it comes to this part of God’s nature – hesed.
 
You see, I see hesed being perfectly illustrated by a marriage where both partners see their union as a covenant, and because of this, they place a premium on being faithful & loyal towards each other while also being steadfast in their love for one another. And this is certainly consistent with what we see in the Scriptures, because how many times do we see our relationship with the Lord being compared to a marriage?
 
In the Old Testament, we see how God saw Himself as Israel’s husband. Let me show you a couple of examples of this:
 
Isaiah 54:5 says, “For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name;”
 
Jeremiah 31:31-32 also says, "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.”
 
And while we have these verses that clearly say God was Israel’s husband, there are a ton of verses that come from that same perspective. However, they emphasize more of Israel’s failure to be a good wife to Him.
 
Yes, there are countless verses throughout the Prophets in particular, that describe the “harlotry” of Israel even though they were married to the Lord. In other words, these verses describe how they were unfaithful to Him by turning to other gods and simply not loving Him with all their hearts. He often called this “playing the harlot.”
 
HOSEA & GOMER
 
One of our greatest examples of this is found in the Book of Hosea where the Lord sought to illustrate to His chosen people both their unfaithfulness and His heart to pursue them through His hesed.
 
Now the story of Hosea is a unique one, but one with profound truths about God’s faithfulness.
 
In short, the nation of Israel was in the middle of one of those times where their unfaithfulness to God was on full display. Yes, they were turning to other natural means of defending themselves which included other nations & their gods. To the Lord, this was the same as adultery.  
 
So what the Lord told His prophet to do was to go take for himself a prostitute named Gomer to be his wife – for (as Hosea 1:2 says) “the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.”
 
So this marriage to the harlot was meant to illustrate to God’s people how they were like the harlot in His covenant with them. Like we’ve seen, God’s covenant with His people on Sinai was like a marriage covenant. The Lord wanted His people’s heart – for them to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and to certainly remain faithful to Him and Him alone. So whenever His people would turn to other gods, He saw it as them committing spiritual adultery against Him.
 
So during this marriage with Gomer, she and Hosea had three children – all of which were meant to illustrate the fruit of His bride’s unfaithfulness. Yet after even this, Gomer left Hosea to be with another man. However, the Lord told Hosea to take back Gomer who, by the laws of the times, should have been stoned to death. And not only was he to take her back, but he was also to buy her back – showing us the power of redemption. 
 
You see, the man whom she ran to, as she embraced her adultery whole heartedly, required payment to release her back to her husband. The law allowed for Hosea to punish Gomer harshly, but instead, he received her back into his home and paid the man she went with to “redeem” her (See Hosea 3:2).
 
Hosea 2:19-20 puts it beautifully: In it, the Lord says, “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.”
 
This pursuit of Israel by the Lord amidst her unfaithfulness is such a beautiful picture of the Lord’s faithfulness to His church today. It is so easy to see how the Lord might be quick to judge us or terminate our relationship with Him because of how far we can fall from His glory, but the lesson of God’s undying love for us is what is on full display in the Book of Hosea.
 
THE SUBJECT OF MARRIAGE & DIVORCE
 
Have you ever wondered why the Lord dealt so strongly with the subject of marriage and divorce? Why does He put such an importance on the sanctity of marriage? I believe it is for the same reason as we are looking at today – that in the Lord’s love for us, He will never divorce us! This is His attitude towards His covenant with us!
 
Now in describing this, let me say this lest anyone receives any condemnation that is not intended: I (and the Lord) understand that a lot of us have had some difficult prior marriages. In some of these, we had abusive spouses. In others, we had unfaithful spouses. In even others, we ourselves were not walking with the Lord the way we might be today and simply didn’t know what we know now. No matter the situation, DO NOT let the enemy or your own heart condemn you over the past. Just allow the revelation of God’s love to impact your heart and see how this relates to your covenant with Him.
 
We see Scripture after Scripture declaring how great is the faithfulness of our God, how He will never leave us nor forsake us, how He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother, and how even when our mother and father forsake us, He will stand by us. Time and time again, the Scriptures reinforce how the Lord is faithful, even when we are faithless. And faithfulness is best illustrated in the marriage covenant. If a husband is faithful, then that means that He will never leave His bride’s side for another. If he is faithful, then he will never lie to her. If he is faithful, he will never violate her trust by being joined to another.
 
And this is the core reason why God is opposed to divorce. It is because it is completely opposite to how He treats us. He never stops loving us! He will never put us away! Nothing can pluck us out of His hand, and nothing can separate us from His love! Nothing!
 
Just like the song we love to sing… Great is His faithfulness! This declaration was made in the Book of Lamentations where the nation of Israel was in a bad place, having forsaken their Lord and His ways. But, again, He is faithful even when we are faithless.
 
So when it comes to the covenant relationship between Hosea & Gomer, their marriage is a love story, but not the fairy tale kind. Love will always end with “a happily ever after” because it never ends. Amen!  

REVIEW
 
Well, we are on the home stretch of our series entitled “Imitators of Love” where we are endeavoring to learn more about our loving God.
 
You see, we’ve learned that the high calling of every Christian is to imitate God as His dear children (See Ephesians 5:1). And since God is love (First John 4:8), we are essentially called to imitate love itself.
 
So what we’ve been doing is looking at verses where we are taught about the characteristics of love with the understanding that these must be the characteristics of God that we are called to imitate. Therefore, we have been coming to know Him more through looking at these verses that teach us how to love one another. 
 
We’ve specifically been looking at First Corinthians 13:4-8, which gives us one of the most concise descriptions of love and, therefore, since God is love, it can be read like so – “GOD suffers long, and GOD is kind. GOD does not envy; GOD does not parade HIMSELF, HE is not puffed up; HE does not behave rudely, HE does not seek HIS own, HE is not provoked, HE thinks no evil; HE does not rejoice in iniquity, but HE rejoices in the truth; HE bears all things, HE believes all things, HE hopes all things, HE endures all things. GOD never fails …”
 
Most recently, we started looking at verse 7, with what seems to be Paul just quickly giving us a few more characteristics of love on his way to wrapping up his point. In it, he says, “(Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
 
Last week, we looked at the phrases that say how love “bears all things” & “endures all things.”
 
We learned that love “bearing” all things literally describes love as covering, concealing, or hiding something—thus protecting them. In fact, we learned how the root word for this, that Paul used here in First Corinthians 13:7, was the word for the roof of a house. Therefore, the idea of both covering & protecting is what is being indicated.
 
Now this requires some explanation because in some ways, hiding or covering something might not be love at all. For example, if I am concealing truth in certain situations, I might be doing the exact opposite of what love demands because truth is not to be hidden. So I have to determine whether love would dictate whether or not speaking the truth in a situation is appropriate.
 
Now I know there is a large contingent of people who believe that speaking the truth is always appropriate, but that’s not necessarily true either. There are times where love will zip its lips, be slow to speak, etc., and not broadcast something even though it is 100% sure that it’s true.   
 
We learned that the way the way we know when it is appropriate to speak the truth is found in Ephesians 4:15 when Paul taught us how we are to speak the truth in love. So how does this show us when we are to speak the truth? It’s when it can be done in love. In other words, ask yourself the question when you have the thought to speak something you know is true – Who am I loving by saying this, and how am I loving them? Asking this question can keep us from sharing things that aren’t what wisdom would have us share at the moment.
 
We also learned that one characteristic of love is that it will cover sin. In quoting from the Book of Proverbs, First Peter 4:8 says, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”
 
So true, fervent love for one another is not going to expose sin; it’s going to cover it. And what are those things? The apostle Peter says, “a multitude of sins.” No, not just some sin, but a “multitude” of them. That means that it doesn’t matter how many times they have committed the same sin or how many times they have even sinned against us, love will cover their multitude of sins.
 
We looked at one of the greatest Biblical examples that illustrates this, which is found in Genesis 9:20-27—the story of Noah being uncovered in His tent and how Ham was a “ham” by exposing his nakedness.
 
So we learned from this how God covers the multitude of our sins and is our great protector. In fact, while I’m not a big fan of the King James’ choice of words in First Corinthians 13:7, as we’ve seen, the way we think of the word “bears” is a little different than what the word he used indicates, this word does reflect part of what this word means.
 
You see, like a mama “bear”, God’s heart is to protect His cubs. Yes, His great love for us leads him to defend & protect. Amen!
 
We then looked at what Paul says at the end of verse 7 of how love “endures all things.” Now this one sounds a little more like what love “bears all things” seemed to mean, and I made the point that this time, I believe the translators got it right.
 
You see, the word the apostle Paul used here was the Greek word hupomeno, and this word was a staple in the New Testament. In fact, in the early New Testament church, this virtue was treasured and highly valued by Christians. It’s the virtue most often translated “patience” in the New Testament. However, while patience is an “okay” translation, endurance is a much better one because the word literally means to “remain under” which denotes perseverance and endurance. So because of this, some have called this virtue, “staying under” power.
 
So, for instance, you have a lot of pressure put on you, yet you don’t let that difficult thing move you, but you endure it by resolving to “stay under” it. Therefore, I see endurance as more of the picture being painted by this word rather than patience. And one of the reasons I think this is important to understand is because, when it comes to love, there’s a little difference between being patient with people and enduring them.
 
How many times have we quit on a person in our lives because we simply didn’t feel we could take any more? So, like with the definition of hupomeno, we were unwilling to “stay under” the things that they did and just the way they were. Some of us have quit jobs because of a boss who was difficult to endure. Some of us have left churches because of parishioners who were difficult to get along with. Even some of us have left spouses because they were simply intolerable. Now some of those situations might certainly have been acceptable to move on from, but I think that in a lot of cases, we might not have abided by this attribute of love that “endures all things.” The fact of whether or not we are guilty of this from decisions made in the past is not the point. The point is, however, that from this day forward we ask the Lord to direct us into when it is time to endure in love or move on from the situation.
 
I’ve just learned in many situations how a lot of times when I was ready to throw my towel in on a person that by simply enduring through the tough seasons, we were able to make it through them and see a lot of fruit as a result. Therefore, those feelings & emotions that we experience when we are at odds with a person are not to be trusted. They will even try to trick us into thinking God is leading us to do this or that, which usually is in line with what our flesh would want in the situation. But the fact is, feelings are fickle, and emotions are not to be trusted. Just ask the Holy Spirit within you, “What would love do here?”    
 
But our point from this was this is exactly what the Lord has done with every one of us! Did you know that Love Himself has had to endure plenty of things with us? Yes, the Lord has endured at least as much with you as He has with that person you have a hard time enduring. So if I live in that reality instead of being puffed up to think that I am better than those who irritate me, I’ll live in the sober reality that I need as much mercy as they do and will have an easier time tolerating their shortcomings. It’s tight but it’s right.
 
So yes, since God is love, He certainly endures all things with you and I. He does not quit on us when we “act a fool.” He doesn’t terminate His relationship with us when we annoy Him. No, He endures our inadequacies. He puts up with our flaws. He tolerates our mistakes. All because He loves us so! Oh, how He loves us! Yes, His love “endures” forever!
 
EVERYTHING?
 
Now this week, I want us to cover the other two things Paul mentioned in First Corinthians 7 – “… (Love) believes all things, hopes all things …”
 
As I made the point of last week, the word “things” was added by the translators. So this actually reads – “(Love) believes all, hopes all.” This is important because like I said, the phrase “all things” can leave the impression that we are to believe & hope in EVERYTHING, and that’s just not true. Let me explain …
 
I believe it’s rather obvious that God does not expect us to believe and trust in “everything” that we hear from and about others. If I did that, I would believe every rumor, all the gossip, and every lie that people speak about other people.
 
In fact, God spent a good portion of the New Testament warning us that some of the things we hear are false and are to not be believed. First John 4:1 says, “My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world” (The Message Bible).
 
Not only are we to not blindly believe everything we hear, but we also cannot put our “hope” in people either. No, we cannot “expect” (Lit. definition of “hope”) people to do the right thing because human beings are flawed, and we are always capable of letting others down. Now we can look for it and desire it, but according to the literal definition of hope, we cannot have a confident expectation in man. Now we can place high expectations on Him, but expecting things from others is a recipe for disappointment.
 
So it is not that a Christian who is walking in love has stripped himself of all wisdom and discernment – that he or she has forgotten how to distinguish between black from white. Instead, this verse is descriptive of Paul’s view of love, and the main point is that God’s love believes in and hopes for the best – a point we will get into momentarily.
 
So, yes, it’s important to understand that love is what is being described here. So the subject matter is how love behaves towards the objects of its love. Therefore, this verse is not just a blanket statement that we are to believe everything we hear and hope in everyone we come across. This much is obvious. However, when it comes to how we are loving others, faith in people and hope for them are things that love will always do.
 
So let’s begin looking at these two phrases and discover a couple more of love’s attributes. Let’s start with “believes all things.”
 
BELIEVES ALL
 
This phrase “believes all” has different shades of meaning. Let’s look at a few other translations:
 
After translating this phrase “believes all things,” the Amplified Bible adds “looking for the best in each one.” Along these lines, the ISV says, “believes the best in all.” So from this perspective, “believing all” is to believe the best in all. In other words, love is not cynical by nature. No, it’s not pessimistic, but it trusts by default. Therefore, love tends towards giving people the benefit of the doubt. However, this does not mean that love is gullible and will accept just anything as the truth. What it does mean, however, is that while love might certainly be aware of the truth, it chooses to magnify something else instead. In other words, while love is not blind (contrary to what the world likes to say), it does focus on the positives in the other person more than their negatives. 
 
You see, the idiom "love is blind" implies that people do not see the faults of the people that they love. Well, while that certainly can be the tendency, the truth is that love is not ignorant. No, all this means is that love will tend towards overshadowing any negative traits or actions. So the notion is that love will make one overlook or ignore the loved one's flaws, mistakes, or undesirable behaviors. Therefore, the phrase "love is blind" means that when people are in love, they are often oblivious to or tolerant of their loved one's imperfections. So the truth in this is that love chooses to overlook the wrong and focus on the good. Love chooses to pay attention to someone's strengths, rather than their weaknesses.
 
It is for this reason that I like the Living Bible’s translation. It says, “you will always believe in him (the person you are loving).” The New Living Translation puts it this way – Love “never loses faith (in others)” This obviously describes how love will believe in people, and never quit on them. To me, this is more of the idea that is being expressed here – believing in another person, not simply believing everything they tell you.  
 
Which leads us to the next description of love – how it “hopes all.”
 
HOPES ALL
 
While the last phrase dealt more with having faith in people, this one deals with the subject of faith’s partner, hope.
 
Now this particular word is one that requires a deeper look – because our idea of hope is a little different than the Lord’s.
 
This Greek word for “hope” is defined in my study bible as- “hope, not in a sense of an optimistic outlook or wishful thinking without any foundation, but in a sense of confident expectation based on solid certainty.”
 
So based on this definition, Bible hope is not the way we use it in the world today. It’s not “wishful thinking” or having an “optimistic outlook.” No, hope is more certain than that. Bible hope has more of a foundation underneath it than that! When the New Testament speaks of hope, it speaks of having a confident expectation which is based on solid certainty.   
 
I like to use the example that, for instance, someone has been promised by another individual that they would come pick them up at the airport. Well, if you asked that person who was flying- “Do you have someone picking you up at the airport?” and they responded with- “I hope my friend is” what would you think? You would be thinking that they are not sure. You would think that they doubt whether or not their friend will show up, right?   
 
Yes, what you would hear them saying is that they sure would like for that to happen, or they had the desire for their friend to pick them up but weren’t sure if they would come through for them.
However, if we are “hoping” the way the New Testament speaks of hope, we are certain that it is going to happen, and we are expecting it as a result. Amen!
 
That’s a far cry from what we are saying when we say, “We hope something will happen.” If we are speaking elpis (New Testament “hope”), we are saying, “Oh yeah, I absolutely expect it to happen! I’m certain of it!”
 
So what does this mean to say that love “hopes all”? Well, when you look at hope as it is used in the New Testament, this “expectation” is usually tied to some future blessing like Heaven, the Second Coming of Jesus, the Resurrection, etc.
 
So when it comes to this description of love, we can see that love has more of an expectation of something good tied to it. Therefore, if I am loving someone else, then I will have a similar hope for them – that is, I will hope, wish, desire, and expect blessings to befall them. I will hope these good things will happen to them like I would that they happen to me. Yes, everything I hope for from God for myself, I will hope from God for the ones I love – which includes them reaching the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In other words, I will expect them to reach their God-given potential.    
 
Yes, if I love someone, I will desire that they are blessed, I’ll wish God’s best for them, and I’ll be optimistic that they will receive what He wants for them. But if I “hope all” for them, then that means that I will have a confident expectation of something good happening in their life.    
 
DOES GOD BELIEVE & HOPE?
 
Now as we talk about how love will believe in people and how it’s hope is that they will reach their God-given potential, the question begs to be answered – Does God do this? Does God believe in all and hope for all? Sure, He does because if He is love (which He is) and this is what love does (which it does), then God believes & hopes all! No question!
 
I think it is interesting that one might acknowledge that God expects faith out of His people and commands us to hope in Him, yet they don’t think that He practices the same towards them.
 
I understand that is natural to just believe that faith & hope are solely to be aimed at Him since He is the object of our faith & hope, but I can assure you, God practices what He preaches. Yes, He doesn’t give us a standard that He will not live by Himself. So if He is pleased when His children believe in Him and what He has said (See Hebrews 11:6), then wouldn’t it also please Him to believe is us?   
 
Well, the fact is, God’s faith in His creation and His hope in His people is all throughout the Bible if you have eyes to see it. So let’s look at some Scriptural examples that shows how God doesn’t lose faith in me, how He believes the best in you, and how His hope in us never wanes. Let’s start in the Beginning, where we see an example that this was even the case with His original creation:
 
We see in this first couple of chapters of this Book called the Bible that God began by creating this world and all that is in and around it. So, this planet was a good work that He began, in that, after He created it, He said that it was “very good.”
 
But we all know what happened— Adam, who was given authority over this planet, allowed the serpent in and sinned, letting sin reign instead of him. This caused the curse to enter the world, which created a ripple effect to where everything in this physical world is dying. Yes, the sin has brought the curse and death in and, in the natural, our future looks bleak. But the gospel is this: God showed us that the good work He began in the beginning, He will finish in the end.
 
You see, just as the first two chapters of the Bible open up by declaring God creating His original creation, the last two chapters of the same Bible conclude with how God will provide the new creation at the end of time. Isn’t that interesting? So, it as if the entire Bible is surrounded with God’s purpose and plan for His creation—for it begins with God’s original creation and ends with His new creation. Therefore, everything in between is the process of God restoring what the First Adam lost in the fall. And the consummation is the new heavens and the new earth, when Christ will return and reign here from the New Jerusalem. 
 
So, we can see that, with everything from this physical world we live in, to our very own lives, God began a good work and has promised to complete that good work when Christ returns. And what this teaches us is that all that is contained between these four chapters (Genesis 1-2 & Revelation 21-22) in no way indicates that God will not finish what He started. What I mean is this, that all of the bumps along the road where mankind would fail and where Satan would try and stop God’s plan seemed to indicate that God is not taking us to the other side.
 
But throughout the Old Testament, we see God never losing faith in His chosen people…
 
It started with God calling a man named Abram out of the pagan world he lived in and promising to make a great nation from him. He believed so much in this man that He changed His name to reflect what He saw in Him, calling him “Abraham” the father of many nations.
 
So, through a process of events, we get the Twelve Tribes of Jacob, and a nation was birthed – Israel. And they were far from perfect. Even though there were certainly good times in their kingdom where good kings reigned such as David, Solomon, Asa, Josiah, Jehoshaphat, etc., there were also bad times when there were bad kings on the throne.
 
And how many times in the Old Testament did Israel fail God? It can be somewhat discouraging to read how many times they made mistakes and turned from the Living God. Well, we need not make the mistake of thinking that we are better than they were. For one, how do we know how we would have responded if we were in the same situation? Secondly, we already do make similar mistakes. It’s just not as obvious because our lives are not chronicled like Israel’s was.
 
Yet, even though we clearly see their continual failure, their failure was never final. No, God gave them second, third, fourth, etc., etc., etc. chances. Why? Because love never says die. In fact, even though they made their mistakes, which led to them experiencing loss and captivity, this did not mean that God was finished with them.
 
In fact, we see through the Prophet Jeremiah, that even in midst of their failures, God’s faithfulness abounded. Some of our most popular & familiar verses paint a beautiful picture of His faith & hope …
 
In Lamentations chapter 3, we see how the Prophet Jeremiah had almost given up hope because of their circumstances. But then his hope was restored again, when He remembered the mercies of God. 
 
This is that familiar section of verses when he said, “This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’” (Lamentations 3:21-24).
 
So what Jeremiah was doing was recalling how it was through the Lord’s mercies that they were not completely consumed and, because of God’s great faithfulness, we should be instilled with hope.  
 
How about Jeremiah 29:11, where in the midst of Israel’s failures, they had been carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar & Babylon? This certainly seemed like a bleak & hopeless situation. Yet the Lord had Jeremiah write them a letter for Him, and contained in that letter is that very popular verse that says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
 
So by saying, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you …”, it is as if God was saying, “You guys think you know what I’m thinking of you. You act like you know what my plans are. But you have no idea. I, on the other hand, know the thoughts I’m thinking towards you and know the plans I have for you, and they are …”
 
You see, the Lord’s thoughts are usually higher than our thoughts. In other words, we think on this lower level of the earth where we are ready to quit on people at the drop of a dime. Therefore, we think God is thinking like we think. It’s just natural to think like that. Ya think?
 
But no, we see here that even though they had made their own bed – having gotten themselves into this predicament by turning to other gods and then not heeding the original words of Jeremiah – that God’s plan was NOT for them to sleep in it. No! His heart was “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give them a FUTURE and a HOPE.” Amen!
 
So do you suppose this way of thinking has changed with God regarding you? Do you think that perhaps that you are too far gone by your own poor choices? Well, if so, then the Lord is saying to you today – “I know the thoughts I think towards you. Yeah, you might think this is how I’m thinking, but I can assure you my plan is one of HOPE.”
 
You see, God always believes in His people, and He always has hope. He never says die. He abounds in hope, and He wants His people to abound in hope as well.
 
This reminds me of a New Testament verse where God is called the God of Hope. Yes, Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
 
So that means that God has hope to give because He has hope to give. In other words, all true hope comes from Him as He is the God of Hope. Thus the reason we see love described as “hopes all things”—because God is love and He hopes all things.
 
Now let’s look at a few New Testament verses that describe God’s faith & hope in the work that He started in us …
 
Philippians 1:6 says, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
 
Notice that this is something we can all be confident in—that if God started something, He will finish it. It’s not something we have to wonder about. It is without question. If God began it, He will complete what He started. We can absolutely put our faith and trust in this! And the reason we can be confident in this is because we see it throughout the Scriptures: Time and time again, we see in God’s Word that the things God starts, He either completed them already or He plans to finish them.
 
Now regarding Philippians 1:6, let’s look at what the apostle Paul said we can be confident in: He said that the good work God began in them, He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
 
In the case of the Church of Philippi, it was God who started the good work in them. This church was not started because these Philippians willed it. Nor did it begin because the apostle Paul wanted it to happen. The good work that began in the Church of Philippi was because of God.
 
Now I understand that this needs to be clarified because, sure, both the apostle Paul had to be willing to go and preach to them and they had to be willing to hear and believe him, but what we must also understand is that even though our wills are involved in anything God desires to do in our lives, all the grace for these things to happen comes from God and, therefore, all the glory goes to Him as well.
 
Yes, God began this good work in the Philippians by both equipping, anointing, and calling Paul to preach the gospel to them and by gracing the Philippians to hear and receive the gospel. Sure, it could be viewed that if Paul would not have been willing to go to Macedonia, this church never would have been established. But that’s assuming God would not have sent someone else. Sure, we can choose not to go where God sends us and do what He sends us to do, but God is going to accomplish His purposes. And even when it comes to Paul being willing to go, it was all God’s grace that enabled him to be effective in the first place.
 
So, my point is that this good work that began in the Philippians had begun because of God. It truly was He, and Him alone, who had begun this good work.
 
Well, just as He Himself began it, He Himself will complete it: Notice the verbiage in the second half of Philippians 1:6 when Paul says, “…He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
 
This is essentially saying that the same One who began the good work in the Philippians will be the One who completes that good work in them. In other words, God Himself will finish the good work He began. 
 
Now how did He begin this good work in us? It was by His grace and through our faith, right? It is crystal clear that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). So, if this is how we were saved (which the Greek word for “saved” is also translated “made physically well or whole”), then this is how we live the saved life, right?
 
Colossians 2:6 teaches us this: It says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” So, how did you receive Him? By grace! So how are you supposed to walk in Him (speaking of our everyday conduct)? The obvious answer is by grace! God sanctified our spirit completely by grace when we received Him and now, He is wanting to sanctify our soul by grace while we are living in this body.
 
Let’s now look over at First Thessalonians 5:23-24. Paul says in this epistle in verse 23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless…” Notice that Paul put the pronoun “Himself” after mentioning God. Why did he include that pronoun? I believe it was because Paul was attempting to clarify that God was going to be the one doing the sanctifying without any help from us. God was going to do it HIMSELF! He is not going to even let us help Him! Why? Because He wants all the glory! God is going to make sure that our whole spirit, soul, and body is going to be preserved blameless! Notice what verse 24 goes on to say – “He who call you is faithful, who also will do it!” God is faithful to complete the good work that He began in us! He absolutely will do it!
 
My point is that their mistakes did not nullify God’s plan and purpose for them. Sure, it led to some delays, but those delays were in no way to be considered denials—for God remains faithful even when we are faithless (See Second Timothy 2:13). He has promised that in the end, He will restore His original covenant people, and there will be a revival in Israel.
 
You see, sometimes we think God is done with us because of the mistakes that we’ve made. We think we’ve nullified His plan for our lives because we’ve turned from His plan too many times. But when we consider Israel, we must conclude that God will never quit on us—especially when our covenant is written not in the blood of bulls and goats, but in the precious blood of Jesus Christ! Amen!    
 
Praise God, church, God will never, ever, quit on us! If He began a good work, He will see it through! He is faithful even when we are faithless, and He was, is, and evermore shall be the God of hope! Amen!