Daily Bread

Monday, May 07, 2012

Wrestling With Controversy

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Going back in history almost all the way to Pentecost, history tells how the true believers in Jesus wrestled with controversy in their midst over what the gospel means. The controversy erupted before the first general conference of the church was called in Jerusalem, in Acts 15:6ff.

There were aberrant views advanced by "certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed" (vs. 5). These were not apostates; this was not the beginning of the great "falling away" Paul predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4; these were faithful, honest people who did not fully understand at that time "the truth of the gospel" (cf. Gal. 2:5, 14). Their zeal for the law was confused. The faithful and true leadership of the church had to humble their souls and declare that "certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls" (vs. 24). The error threatened to become a lethal heresy, but thank God, was healed at the beginning by prompt action for the right.

The fact that these wrong ideas were promulgated by people endorsed by the one true church leadership required rectification; thank God that at that time church leadership was ready to make the wrong right. The acknowledged leader of the general conference of Acts 15 humbled himself, bit the dust, confessed the truth, and gave the world church of the day a solid and bold leadership in the right because he submitted to self being crucified with Christ.

The fact that he had to admit being confused did not lessen the confidence the people placed in him, but resulted in strengthening the church.

But that was not the end of the problem. The controversy erupted again in a meeting years later. Paul relates what happened: "When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face [and] the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that [even] Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. … When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I … [rebuked] Peter before them all" (Gal. 2:11-14).

Paul was not one of the original Twelve, but he was "a chosen vessel" of the Lord.

Are there "dissimulations" and "dissemblings" in the true church today? In this year of our Lord, we have come almost to the point where such are too late for the day. The judgment is soon to be completed; it's too late for any of us to be confused. There will be 144,000 on the right side. Let's walk softly before the Lord and "take time to be holy," to study, to understand "the truth of the gospel."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 4, 2007.

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Friday, May 04, 2012

A Word that Blew People's Minds

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What does the Bible mean when it says that "God is love"? I love strawberries. Is that God? Hollywood has movies that glorify something they call "love," which in reality is "barnyard" morality. Is that what God is? People love someone today, get divorced tomorrow, and hate each other; is that what God is like?

Our English language (and every one on earth) has only one word for "love," but the Greeks had more than one. The word that John uses in 1 John 4:8 isagape, a word that was little known to the ancient Greeks in New Testament times. But the apostles took that word and injected into it a meaning that blew people's minds. It turned the world upside down--that one little word, because of the tremendous meaning in it.

It's the kind of love that is never transmitted inherently by genes and chromosomes. It has to be imported from outside this planet, from heaven itself, and installed in the human heart (Rom. 5:5). Once therein, it becomes explosive, and finds expression in loving others with the same kind of love "the Father hath bestowed on us" (1 John 3:1).

Agape is: (1) a love that loves bad, ugly, mean people, even our enemies (Rom. 5:8; Matt. 5:43-48). "Impossible!"? Yes, of yourself. (2) It does not depend on the value of its object (we have none), but it creates value in its object. Read Genesis 12:2 and see what God "made" of Abraham. (3)Agape seeks the lost sheep, not vice versa (Luke 15:1-10). There is no story of a lost sheep that must go looking for its shepherd, but there is one about a Good Shepherd who went looking for His lost sheep--that's you and me. (4)Agape is the love that stepped down lower and lower (Phil. 2:5-8) until that last step, "the death of the cross," the death that involved the curse of God (Gal. 3:13), yes, the second death. It's the kind of love that sacrificed everything for us. Went to hell, in order to find us.

It's the real thing; the devil has made imitations, but there is the genuine: it's utterly beyond us to synthesize. All we can do is "look" and wonder. And when we stop to look, we begin to "comprehend" a little of what it means (Eph. 3:14-21). And then eternal life begins.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 8, 1998.

Seminar Invitation

Seminar Invitation

Now on Internet Radio (24/7)

cavespringsministries.org

Appreciating the

THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS

Through the 1888 Message Perspective (part 1)

(Chapter 1, continued)

MAY 19, 2012

Sabbath afternoon (beginning 2:15 p.m. CT, USA)

An 1888 message oriented sermon will be delivered during
the regular Worship Service.

CAVE SPRINGS HOME, PEGRAM, TENNESSEE

(Off Interstate 40 westbound from Nashville, exit 192–turn right, then left on
Hwy 70, 1-1/2 miles to Cave Springs Road, two rights and follow the signs.)

Speaker & Bible Study Leader

Chaplain Craig Barnes

Sabbath Dinner and Light Supper

Plant-based meals will be served at Cave Springs Home
on a donation basis. Please E-mail or call (leave a message)
to reserve a meal ticket.

BOOK SALE (After Sunset)

Lodging

• Available on site

• Commercial lodging available in the nearby town of Belleview

FOR RESERVATIONS: Phone: (615) 646-6962 E-mail:cjmb1888@gmail.com

Note: Internet radio live coverage starts between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m. every Sabbath; at 2:15 p.m. on seminar days (central time, USA).

Stay tuned all day for additional sermons and programming.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

A Prayer That WILL Be Answered

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

You can only learn to love when you believe yourself to be beloved. That is, when your sense of insecurity has been replaced by the assurance that you are firmly enfolded in the arms of Somebody Important. Only then can you dare to let yourself be vulnerable and exposed by loving someone else.

That's why the Bible is so clear on this controversial issue of salvation--that it's "by grace, through faith," specifically "not of works" (Eph. 2:8, 9). In other words, shocking as it may seem, salvation depends on your believing that God loves you, because only if you believe that, can it be possible for you to learn how to love. And learning how to love is the one pre-requisite for entering heaven: "He that loveth not knoweth not God. … He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God" (1 John 4:8, 16). All of our talk about "keeping the commandments" breaks down to nothing if we haven't learned how to love, for "to love, then, is to obey the whole Law" (Rom. 13:10, GNB). If we think that through, we end up realizing that we shall be asked one great question at last: "Have you learned how to love?" All of our great "works" will count for zero.

To glibly quote John 3:16, "God so loved the world" is not enough until your soul can grasp that God has so loved you, yes, and so loves you now, that He gave and has given Something Wonderful for you to believe, that is, to appreciate the gift that was and is still given for you.

To tell the truth, your soul (and my soul, too) is too small to grasp what's involved. My little cup can't drain the ocean dry. But I can let my little cup be full, little as it is. I can kneel and confess my nakedness of soul, how little I know how to love, how unloving I am by nature, and I can ask God in humility, "Please, Father in heaven, open these blind eyes to see Your love for me.

Please be merciful to me in my unlovingness, and teach me like a beginner the ABCs of love."

Then comes the answer: Look! Look! "Behold the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). He has been "lifted up" as on a "flagpole" (Num. 21:8, Peterson), so simply look, let your little soul be stretched outsize to "comprehend" what it cost Him to die on His cross. Ask to be permitted to begin to appreciate the grand dimensions of that love, to see what He accomplished. Maybe I should add--it's a dangerous prayer to pray because it will be answered. It'll mean a new you.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 7, 2002.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Can We Make the Lord Happy--Or Unhappy?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Can we lowly, unworthy mortals do anything that can have an effect on the Lord, the Ruler of the universe, to make Him happy or unhappy?

We read that when King David, the anointed ruler of God's people Israel, had committed a double crime of adultery and then murder to cover it up, but "the thing that David had done displeased the Lord" (2 Sam. 11:27). When we read the entire story we see how the displeasure of the Lord was realized in the terrible disasters that befell David's house; not that God did them all directly, but He was forced to withdraw His former blessings on David. But the fact that God was "displeased" with David did not mean that now God hated him or cursed him forever. David had plenty of troubles thereafter, but the Lord still loved the poor sinner.

David's two penitential psalms make clear that he knew that he had come within a tiny fraction of losing his soul forever: "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me," David pleads with anguished tears (Psalm 51:11). Also, David's Psalm 32 is the prayer that every one of us sinners can pray over and over again when we remember that a wise writer has said that the books of heaven record the sins that we would commit if we had had the opportunity.

That means that it is our privilege to pray the Lord to forgive that long, long list of sins that we would have committed if we had had the opportunity! That is "corporate repentance," repenting of sins that we may not have actually done in the flesh but which we would have done if the Lord had not held us by the hand and kept us from diving into that deep, bottomless hole (cf. Prov. 22:14).

No matter how you or any of us looks back onto his life, we can humbly thank the Savior that He has held us by the hand in times of peril. For myself, I look back to my teenage years and just humbly thank the Lord for saving me from utter ruin. I could never have become a minister of the gospel if He had not saved me. I think over and over of Isaiah 54:17: "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord." Yes! Whatever "righteousness" there ever was at any time, it was "of the Lord"! Just the mercy and much more abounding grace of the Lord Jesus (cf. Rom. 5:20).

Eternity will not be long enough for me to praise Him!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 6, 2008.

Monday, April 30, 2012

A New Motivation That Never Ends

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you ever noticed that the Bible spends more time talking about what God has done for the world, than telling what we must do for Him?

For example, there's John 3:16: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." Big, big gift!

But it doesn't go on giving a list of things we must now do for Him. It simply says, "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish"--himself (the verb form admits the idea of we sinners perishing--ourselves, that is, going on in a process which is in one sense mass suicide, self-perishing).

After all that tremendous giving on His part, God simply asks us to appreciate what He has done, to let our hearts "behold" the grand dimensions of the love He has given us (cf. Eph. 3:18). "Look!" "Ponder." "Measure." "Consider." "Stop and think so you can appreciate to the point of broken-heartedness." All the good works possible, follow.

Then Psalm 51 comes into the picture; instead of being like the Pharisee who thanks God that he isn't as bad as "this publican," instead of thanking Him that you haven't done as badly as King David--committed adultery and murder, etc.; instead of that pride, you receive from the Holy Spirit the gift of conviction of sin, corporate sin; you realize that the sin of someone else would be your sin but for the grace of Christ. You realize at last that you are no better than King David at heart; you have no righteousness of your own.

If Jesus, the divine Son of God could be "made to be sin for us who knew no sin" (that is, as He hung on His cross, He bore the corporate guilt of all the sin of the whole world), then surely we can bear the corporate guilt of the sin of King David: we may now have a closer link with Jesus who bore the corporate guilt of us all.

And, dear friend: a closer link with Jesus means a closer link with eternal life. Don't despise the gift of corporate repentance. Esau did, and he "sold" his precious "birthright."

When the love (agape) of Christ can "constrain" us (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15), then there is no end to the works of righteousness that love will constrain us to do for the Lord. But that is not motivated by a desire for reward in heaven nor is it motivated by a fear of hell: God Himself is agape, and "agape casts out fear" (1 John 4:8, 18). It's a new motivation that never ends.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 10, 2008.

Friday, April 27, 2012

A Choice David Himself Had to Make

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The story of Saul, the first king of Israel, next to that of Judas Iscariot, is the saddest in the Bible. The problem was initially the fault of the people. They had demanded of God that He give them a king like all the nations around them. God selected the best man available in the nation. The prophet Samuel anointed him, and all went well for a time. He proved to be politically and militarily a success.

When the Lord directed him to take a step that would establish Israel forever a secure nation, that is, to annihilate the Amalekites, King Saul disobeyed, and lied. Patiently, the Lord tried to help him, but he became stubbornly rebellious. Then the Lord did the most terrible thing He can do to any man or woman--backed off and left Saul to himself. Sent no lightning bolt from heaven to destroy him, just turned His back and walked away.

But God could not forsake Israel. They needed a king whom the Lord could be with, so He instructed Samuel to anoint young David.

Saul yielded his soul to become insanely jealous, and "the anointed of the Lord" persecuted young David. But he still respected Saul as such. A few people believed in David and supported him; but the youth bore a heavy burden: Why was "the anointed of the Lord" against him? Could it be that the Lord also was against him? Had he misinterpreted Samuel's very humble "anointing"? Could he trust the "Spirit of prophecy" of his day when absolutely everything was stacked against him?

David's nadir came at Ziklag in a disaster that seemed to say he was totally forsaken of the Lord. His own few men talked of stoning him (see 1 Samuel 30). The Lord had to let David suffer being apparently forsaken, else he would never have been able to write Psalm 22! The Lord did appear to leave him; but in his anguish, David did the right thing--which you and I must do: "David encouraged himself in the Lord" (1 Sam. 30:6).

In principle, it's what the future "Lamb's wife" will do when she "makes herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb." It's something the Lamb cannot do for her, and this was something the Lord could not do for David at Ziklag. There was a choice David himself had to make,

something to do himself--believe!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 5, 2006.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A Magnificent, Life-changing Promise

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When we come to our day's end and we're about to get in bed, we kneel to pray.

On our knees, we are quiet, subdued, in the presence of "our heavenly Father.” We think back: have I honored my Savior today? Have I done and said what He would have done and said in my place?

Maybe when we gave something to help someone today, now we wish we had been more generous. When we said "Good morning” to someone, now we wish we had paused just a moment to look that person in the eye and truly pray for him a GOOD morning, the beginning of an eternity of "goodness” which David said "shall follow me all the days of my life” (Psalm 23:6); now we wish we had shared that "goodness” more liberally.

When we had contact today with someone discouraged, defeated, enmeshed in Old Covenant despair, we wish now that we had known how to inject into our little conversation some saving, some vital truth of the New Covenant gospel, that would have "made [him] free” (John 8:32). Yes, we wish that we had had that "truth” at our mental fingertips as Jesus always had something to say that was life giving!

Well, He made a magnificent, tremendous, life-changing promise at the last Feast of Tabernacles He attended: "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inmost heart will flow rivers of living water” (cf. John 7:37, 38).

When we lay our head on our pillow and think just a moment before drifting off in sleep, we may not be "alive” enough to "hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt. 5:6). (The only truly happy people in the world are they!) But we do sense a yearning for some "bread” for our own starved souls; we can't help but pray another little prayer before going to sleep, "Father, forgive me for wasting some time this precious day in watching useless TV or reading that vain novel. Please give me grace to be so hungry for the bread of life that nothing else can satisfy me!”

The Lord has solemnly promised, "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). Thank Him a thousand times for that promise. Now believe it and trust in Him.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 29, 2007.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Is Character Perfection Possible?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Is it possible that sinners (like all of us are born to be!) can overcome sin and become truly Christlike in character? Can "the righteousness of the law" (perfect obedience, perfect loyalty) ever be achieved in this life? The Bible quite clearly says: "all have sinned, and continue [present tense] to come short" (Rom. 3:23). Our very nature is sinful; and even "saints" can't help showing that they are sinners. Nobody is perfect. So, is perfection of character a possible dream?

The Bible insists on a Good News answer--YES! God sent His beloved Son into the world on the special mission to "save His people FROM their sins," not IN them (Matt. 1:21). Romans 8:3, 4 says that He was "sent ... to condemn sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." The word "righteousness" used there means the righteous character of those who "walk after the Spirit." (It's dikaiomata, the imparted righteousness of saints (Rev. 19:8), whereas dikaiosune always is the imputed righteousness of Christ.)

Hebrews 13:21 says that the Savior will "make you perfect in every good work to do His will." And Revelation 14:1-5 describes a people at the close of time who "are without fault before the throne of God," who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." Not part way, but totally. They will refuse "the mark of the beast" and will receive "the seal of God" (Rev. 13:16, 17; 7:1-4).

Are they fanatics? Extremists? Strait-laced grumpy "saints"? No way! Jesus got in on the perfection debate Himself on the Good News side. He said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). In saying so, He gives us the key to unlock the perplexity. His context is learning to love like the Father loves, who sends His rain and sunshine on the just and on the unjust, who loves bad people, even His enemies. Jesus' idea of "perfection" is simple: learning to love like that! John learned the idea from Him, for he also says that if you've learned to love like that, you "know God," you're "born of God," He "dwells in" you, you have "His Spirit," and you yourself "dwell in God." Furthermore, you overcome fear (which goes along with sin), and you end up "perfect" (see 1 John 4:7-18).

True, you and I were born totally bereft of such love (agape); but there's a filling station where the Holy Spirit "sheds it abroad in our hearts" (Rom. 5:5). Or to change the metaphor, it's the simple matter of going to school to learn it, "the school of Christ." The "best," proudest person must matriculate through the kindergarten.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 12, 1999.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Revival and Reformation (part 2)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What's the difference between a revival and reformation in the church that is Old Covenant in nature and one that is New Covenant? We noted yesterday that the great reformation under King Josiah in 2 Chronicles was Old Covenant; why?

Should we not be able to tell the difference today? Suppose the world church today experiences a grand revival and reformation that is Old Covenant, would that hasten the coming of Jesus, or further delay Him?

What are the differences?

(a) Old Covenant reformation is decidedly temporary. In the case of Josiah's, the moment he was dead, his sons began leading the people back to rebellion against the Lord and the people willingly, mindlessly followed like sheep going astray. No root, no foundation. From then on it was disaster all the way down to total national ruin. They had learned no long-lasting gospel truth under King Josiah. That wasn't the poor man's fault: he had simply inherited the Old Covenant yoke, which the nation of Israel had fastened upon themselves at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:8; Heb. 9:1). The apostle Paul was probably the first Israelite to discern clearly the significance of their Old Covenant history when he said, "The law was our schoolmaster [slave driver?] to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (as Abraham was, under the New Covenant; see Gal. 3:16-25).

(b) Numerous Old Covenant revivals and reformations have come and gone in the world church for the past 150 years; King Josiah all over again.

(c) They have often been inspired by and imported from the popular ecumenical movements, the Keswick Movement in the 19th century and now, the popular revivalism.

(d) Old Covenant revival and reformation is motivated by a desire to receive God's blessings; New Covenant revival and reformation is motivated by heart-thankfulness and appreciation for God's blessings already realized and received.

(e) Old Covenant revival is therefore egocentric in nature; and whatever is egocentric in motivation has to be legalistic in its origin. In contrast, New Covenant revival and reformation is based on an experience of identity with Christ that transcends fear of being lost or hope of reward (1 John 4:16-18).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 12, 1999.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.