Milo

24 MAY

The inheritance

‘And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.’ Genesis 12:2
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Colossians 2:1–15

I will bless thee. Here we say, Whoso the Lord blesses shall be blessed. To this purpose the touching petition of Jabez—O that thou wouldst bless me indeed [1 Chronicles 4:10], for thou only art able. For the sum of this blessing see Genesis 15:1—I will preserve thee from all evil and satisfy thee with all good. How safe are they who have the Almighty for their defence; how rich who have the all-sufficient God for their portion. Thus it is with all his people. Then why fear, or why complain? Sure they may be willing to leave the world to those who have no God.
And make thy name great. Abraham’s name has been recorded with honour—and there is an honour to all his people. What is it that gives people a great name in the world?
(i) A noble descent. But the lowliest believer is of more honourable birth than the greatest king, if not partaker of grace. He is born from above, born of God—sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.
(ii) Great possessions. Here likewise they have the advantage. They are joint heirs of Christ and all things are theirs.
(iii) Great actions. Thus captains and warriors who are skilful and successful in destroying mankind, are renowned. But the believer is engaged in a more important and difficult warfare and by the power of grace he overcomes the devil, the world and himself. He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he who taketh a city (Proverbs 16:32). We have in Hebrews 11 a specimen of the mighty acts of faith, and each believer’s exploits shall at last be made known before angels and men. Then their name shall be great indeed, though now by an unbelieving world cast out as evil (Daniel 11:32).

FOR MEDITATION: ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:3–5, NIV).

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 23 [2/3], GENESIS 12:2

May 23rd

Careful infidelity

Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Matthew 6:25.

Jesus sums up commonsense carefulness in a disciple as infidelity. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will press through and say—‘Now where does God come in in this relationship, in this mapped-out holiday, in these new books?’ He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.
“Take no thought …”—don’t take the pressure of forethought upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is infidelity, because worrying means that we do not think that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything else that worries us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the word He puts in? The devil? No, the cares of this world. It is the little worries always. I will not trust where I cannot see, that is where infidelity begins. The only cure for infidelity is obedience to the Spirit.
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.

May 23

“At their wit’s end, they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out.” (Psalm 107:27, 28.)

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”
  Christian, with troubled brow?
Are you thinking of what is before you,
  And all you are bearing now?
Does all the world seem against you,
  And you in the battle alone?
Remember—at “Wit’s End Corner”
  Is just where God’s power is shown.

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”
  Blinded with wearying pain,
Feeling you cannot endure it,
  You cannot bear the strain,
Bruised through the constant suffering,
  Dizzy, and dazed, and numb?
Remember—at “Wit’s End Corner”
  Is where Jesus loves to come.

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”?
  Your work before you spread,
All lying begun, unfinished,
  And pressing on heart and head,
Longing for strength to do it,
  Stretching out trembling hands?
Remember—at “Wit’s End Corner”
  The Burden-bearer stands.


Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”?
  Then you’re just in the very spot
To learn the wondrous resources
  Of Him who faileth not
No doubt to a brighter pathway
  Your footsteps will soon be moved,
But only at “Wit’s End Corner”
  Is the “God who is able” proved.

—Antoinette Wilson.

Do not get discouraged; it may be the last key in the bunch that opens the door.—Stansifer.

23 MAY

The promise

‘And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ Genesis 12:2–3
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Galatians 3:1–18

From the consideration of God’s command [in verse 1] we are led to the promise. For when the Lord calls his people out of the world, he does not bid them forsake all for nothing. A mistake in this point is the reason why they are pitied because they no longer run in the same excess of riot. So children might affect to pity grown people because they are no longer pleased with their childish sports. A part of this promise was personally to Abraham, that he should be the father of a great nation, and that in him—that is to say, as it is elsewhere expressed, in his seed—all the families of the earth should be blessed. This St Paul applies to Christ (Galatians 3). Here the promise first given in general terms, of a seed of the woman, is restrained to One of Abraham’s posterity and it was his especial honour and privilege to be the head of God’s chosen people and the root from whence, according to the flesh, the Saviour of men should spring. Here Abraham began to see the day of Christ, and it was by faith in him, who in the fullness of time was to descend from him, that the covenant was established to Abraham himself.

FOR MEDITATION: ‘A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah, … Jesse was the father of David the king, … the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ’ (Matthew 1:1–2, 16, NIV).
‘Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all’ (Romans 4:16 NIV).

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 23 [1/3], GENESIS 12:2

May 22nd

Now this explains it

That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. John 17:21.

If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17, it will explain exactly why you are where you are—Jesus has prayed that you may be one with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or have you some other end for your life? Since you became a disciple you cannot be as independent as you used to be.
The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God, and this is revealed in John 17. There is one prayer God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus—“that they may be one, even as We are one.” Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?
God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say—‘Do you want to go through this bereavement; this upset?’ He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women; or they are making us more captious and fault-finding, more insistent upon our own way. The things that happen either make us fiends, or they make us saints; it depends entirely upon the relationship we are in to God. If we say—“Thy will be done,” we get the consolation of John 17, the consolation of knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom. When we understand what God is after we will not get mean and cynical. Jesus has prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far off it, and yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him, because Jesus has prayed that we may be.