Healing and the Fear of the Lord VIII

Jesus Heals with shadow-site

Sunday 08/18/13

Topic: The Fear of the Lord & Healing

 

Series – And He Healed them all:

The Fear of the Lord and Health VIII.mp3 

 

Key Text:

Prov. 3:7-8

Psa. 103:17-22

Psa. 25:1-17

The Fear of the Lord and Healing…

A few teachings ago I made the statement that healing does NOT negate the aging of our bodies and that the scriptures are clear on the fact that even now in the New Covenant, death is still residing in our bodies -Rom. 8:10 and that our bodies are in a constant state of present decay –  2 Cor. 4:16.

To illustrate this I used the example of Moses and perhaps I could not have found a worse example to illustrate my point. In fact, what it does is illustrate that for every rule there is an exception. For in Deut. 34:7 it says, “Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.” 

What I was thinking of was Isaac and Jacob, who where both full of days and their eyes were dim before they died.

Gen. 27:1 “Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.””

Gen. 48:10 “Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.”

So one might ask, why would God preserve the sight of Moses and not of Abraham and Isaac?

It is to easy to say, “We OBVIOUSLY Moses was in more faith than the others.” This is an over simplified answer which stands on absolutely no scriptural backing! IT is the kind of answer I might have offered many years ago because my religious “Word of Faith” box required it to be so, NOT because it was actually scriptural. The reason I would have come to that conclusion was due to a misunderstanding of God and healing as well as another passage of scripture which I always quoted as, “God shows no partiality”. So the natural “theology” which flows from this is that IF God did this for Moses and not for Isaac and Jacob then it MUST be because Moses was in faith and the others were not.

What does the Bible say about God and partiality?

 One of the first verses which speaks about this is found in Deut. 10:17,

“For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.”

Now in this translation if appears God is saying that He NEVER treats one person any different than another but always gives the same thing to everyone. however, if you just look two verses immediately before this God demonstrates that He in fact DOES do that – let’s look at it.

“The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.” ~ Deut. 10:15

Hmmmm! God chose the nation of Israel above all other nations. Sounds like preferential treatment to me! But if that is what verse 17 is saying than it makes NO sense to say it RIGHT AFTER demonstrating a preference.

Let’s look at the verse from another translation which uses more accurate word English word choices to translate the passage,

“For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward”

The word “taketh” is a difficult word to translate for it has at least three slightly differing Semantic ranges. however, in the context of this verse it simply means – “without regard to the works and merits of men, their characters or circumstances.”

So it would be wrong to think that it means God does not sometimes do one thing for one person and another for someone else. What it does mean is that God does WHAT He does for His Own reasons and does not consult with man not regard him or his merits in the decision.

WOW – what a difference that makes! Can you see how misinterpreting this passage could lead to some terrible misunderstandings about God and even lead a person to a shipwrecked faith?

Let’s examine another similar passage,

“Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.” ~ 2Chron. 19:7

Here God is speaking to the judges of Israel who aided Moses as the “Judicial branch” of God’s Theocratic society. He tells them, not to respect one person above another. I know that it comes as a tremendous shock to you, but judges can be bought! Not just with money, but with prestige and power. People of high ranking influence might be able to persuade a judge to “look the other way” in order to procure a favor from them in the future. God says here, that they should fear the Lord NOT man, and respect Him NOT them.

Some examples are clarified just by looking up the words or by reading it in another translation. For example…

“Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.” ~ Job 37:24 NKJV

“Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.” ~ Job 37:24 KJV

Outdated Elizabethan English aside, the King James is far more accurate or rather – less misleading, than the New King James in this example. So -1 for style and +100 for accuracy!

The next example we will look at is an example of when and where God DOES NOT show partiality,

“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” ~ Acts 10:34-35

Concerning salvation, God has allowed the Gentile to join with the Israelites whom He singled out under the Old Covenant. While Israel is still God’s chosen people, in another way so are all men under the New Covenant – all who will believe.

The other examples found in Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9 & Col. 3:25 are all variations along the same theme. God does not respect human authority and offer preference based upon it – for all authority came from Him in the first place – God is NOT impressed nor swayed by such things. his judgements are righteous and not able to be swayed by the things which so easily impress man.

After this short sidestep , we spend nearly 45 minutes working through the exact same passages we covered on Wednesday. I felt impressed to take it slowly and examine ourselves and the attitudes of our “always in a hurry” hearts in light of these verses that we might better understand HOW to fear the Lord in our every day lives.

I hope this teaching helps bring clarity to fearing God as we continue to examine it in the light of the health it promises to our flesh.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It WILL BE health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.” ~ Prov. 3:7-8

For more, listen to the audio by clicking the above link.

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!