We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
Psalm 16:11
Romans 10:13–14
Isaiah 40:8
Psalm 23:5–6
Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.12.24)
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
Devotional - Luke Humphrey
Last week we saw where the Shepherd leads his sheep. This week, we see the way he provides for his sheep. He does so as our host.
He prepares a table.
To be God’s sheep doesn’t mean that we don’t experience hardship—we saw in verse 4 that God leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. And it doesn’t mean that we don’t have enemies. But it does mean that God will provide for us in the midst of our enemies.
Here David rejoices in experiencing the provision and blessing of God—God sets a wonderful banquet before his people. Even in this life when we have trials and tribulations we can feast at God’s table. God provides physical food and most significantly spiritual food to nourish us along the way. And he does so with generosity.
He bestows honor.
David says that God anoints his head with oil. God doesn’t grumble or complain about his guests but he honors them—that’s what the anointing would have communicated. This honoring is all the more significant when we think about how difficult we can be as sheep. And yet God—being the source of all glory—bestows honor upon his people.
He dwells with them.
David concludes this amazing psalm by pointing to the greatest of blessings for the people of God: the presence of God. At the end of the day we should not ultimately desire God’s protection or God’s provision—those are lesser blessings. We should desire God’s presence. Dwelling in the presence of God forever is the place of highest and greatest joy, which means that God himself is the greatest gift that he gives to his people.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11 )
“What is idolatry?
Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Psalm 23:3–4
Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.12.17)
“He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ”
Devotional - Luke Humphrey
Psalm 23 is all about the character of God. Specifically, it’s about the character of God in being a shepherd for his people. In these verses we see where our shepherd leads us. And the answer might surprise us.
He leads us in paths of righteousness.
First, we see that as God shepherds us, he leads us in paths of righteousness. This means that God leads us down the pathway that leads to life and fullness of joy. The path of wickedness leads to death, but the path of righteousness is the way to life itself. Our Shepherd wants us to experience the best of what he has for us. And this comes not through financial prosperity or through earthly comfort but through righteousness as we follow his commands.
He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.
Second, God leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. And this comes as a bit of a surprise to us. The path of life often takes us through the valley of the shadow of death. Why does God lead us this way? I think the second half of verse four shows us the reason:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
God leads us through dark paths to communicate to us his continued presence. And when we see this for ourselves, we are able to fight against fear because we are able to see who God is in the darkness: he is our protector. David’s life is not free of death and suffering—anyone familiar with 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel can see how much suffering David experienced, often at the hands of those closest to him. But in the valley of the shadow of death, God is with him. And through his continued presence God is leading him down paths of righteousness that lead to life itself.
“What is sin?
Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law—resulting in our death and the disintegration of all creation.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Psalm 23:1–2
Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.12.3)
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ”
Devotional - John Norris
The only way to be free of sin—its guilt and its power over us—is by calling it what it is. Hiding from our sin, pretending it didn’t happen, or focusing on something more positive might feel better for a while, but not forever.
In Psalm 32, David describes what happened when he tried to keep his sin a secret:
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. (Psalm 32:3–4)
Hiding from our sin is poison. It will dry up our strength and rot us from the inside. In fact, in 1 John 1:8, John is warning us that denying that we have sin might be evidence that we don’t know God at all!
So, what does John propose? Confession—that’s verse 9; not to a priest, but to God Himself. Don’t hide your sin. Face it and confess it for the evil it is. And in case we need convincing, John gives staggering assurances to those who will:
Instead of anger, they will receive forgiveness. Instead of God’s wrath they will receive God’s cleansing. Why would we not confess? Here we are being promised forgiveness for what we’ve done wrong AND God’s continued help to remove the sinful desires that remain in us!
God is faithful and just. He has justly punished our sin in Jesus, and so He will faithfully apply Jesus’s death to our sins to take away our guilt and to make us more like Him.
Don’t believe the lie that hiding will make you happier. Kill the temptation to stay away from God or to hide from your sin with these verses. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
“Did God create us unable to keep his law?
No, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of creation is fallen; we are all born in sin and guilt, corrupt in our nature and unable to keep God’s law.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.11.26)
“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!”
Devotional - Luke Humphrey
The book of James makes it very clear that the human tongue is an incredibly dangerous organ.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:5–8)
Each one of us carries around in our mouths the ability to destroy those we interact with on a daily basis. We speak words of fire and set ablaze those around us. We utter poisonous barbs and paralyze those closest to us.
And there is a reason why no one can tame the tongue: because no human being can tame the human heart. After all, as Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matt. 12:34)
And this is the connection that David makes in Psalm 141 and this is how we can use this verse to help us in the fight of faith. David is praying to God. And he prays specifically that God would set a guard over his tongue and over his heart.
When we stop to meditate up on this text we can see the radical implications that it carries: David need’s God’s grace to guard his heart. David does not trust himself to love the right things or to have the right desires. He knows that his heart could be inclined to evil and that he is powerless to change it on his own. So he prays. He asks that God would work a miraculous work of grace and keep his heart from being inclined to evil; that God would be the one who protects his tongue from uttering destructive words.
No human being can tame the tongue and no human being can tame the heart. But God can. There is no aspect of our lives that are “off limits” to him. And this is good news because it means that he can help us when we feel most powerless over our own desires.
So, if you find yourself consistently struggling with sinful desires or speaking sinful words, join David in praying that God would work in grace to protect and preserve you at a heart level. He has the power and the grace to do it.
“Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly?
Since the fall, no mere human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly, but consistently breaks it in thought, word, and deed.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.11.19)
“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.”
Devotional - Luke Humphrey
Christians are weak people. We acknowledge this before God. We are not the strong ones in the world; we are not the powerful or the rich or the famous. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. (1 Corinthians 1:26–28)
If you’re looking for people who have a CV of strength to show to the world, then don’t look at Christians.
And yet, in Psalm 125 the psalmist describes those who trust in the Lord as mountains which cannot be moved. How is this possible? How can the weak and the foolish and the poor be steadfast and stable as mountains?
The answer doesn’t come by looking at the strength of Christians—it comes by looking at God. Verse 2 shows us who the mountain is: the Lord surrounds his people as the mountains surround Jerusalem. We who trust in the Lord are unshakeable and steadfast because of Him, not us.
Tim Keller points out in The Reason for God that,
“It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.”
That’s what Psalm 125 is all about. You may feel that you are weak and just barely holding onto trusting the Lord. But your steadfastness is not based upon the strength of your faith—your faith is not the mountain. Your steadfastness is based upon God surrounding you and protecting you. So take heart and hold on in hope.
“What does God require in the ninth and tenth commandments?
Ninth, that we do not lie or deceive, but speak the truth in love. Tenth, that we are content, not envying anyone or resenting what God has given them or us.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.11.12)
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Devotional
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”
Those are Jesus’ amazing words to Peter directly after he predicts that Peter will betray him. What he says next in our passage is meant to give our troubled hearts peace as we trust his promise.
"In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Jesus wants us to be convinced that we have a place in his Father’s house, that our future eternal destination is God’s house. If the reason he goes to the Father is to prepare a place for us, we can be sure he will come and take us there. He always completes his work.
Jesus doesn’t require us to find and work our way to the Father’s house. He both prepares the place, through his death and resurrection, and takes us to the place. The best thing about this place, the most essential thing about it, is that it’s where he is, and he wants us there!
Jesus’ promise gives our troubled hearts peace as we stop trusting in ourselves and trust him, who has secured and prepared the place for us in his Father’s house. It gives us power to endure suffering with hope as we anticipate the joy of being with him. As we grow in assurance of and desire for our home in the Father’s house and Jesus’ return to take us to himself, we will happily lay down our earthly lives in gospel proclaiming self-sacrifice as we follow Jesus. As he said in John 12:26,
“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.”
“What does God require in the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments?
Sixth, that we do not hurt, or hate, or be hostile to our neighbor, but be patient and peaceful, pursuing even our enemies with love. Seventh, that we abstain from sexual immorality and live purely and faithfully, whether in marriage or in single life, avoiding all impure actions, looks, words, thoughts, or desires, and whatever might lead to them. Eighth, that we do not take without permission that which belongs to someone else, nor withhold any good from someone we might benefit.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Man cannot even keep the Ten Commandments. And yet he talks glibly about keeping the Sermon on the Mount, and of imitating Christ. . . . And if a man cannot keep the Ten Commandments, as they understand them, what hope have they of keeping the Ten Commandments as they have been interpreted by the Lord Jesus Christ? That was the whole trouble with the Pharisees, who so hated him and who finally crucified him. They thought they were keeping the Ten Commandments and the moral law. Our Lord convinced them and convicted them of the fact that they were not doing so. They claimed that they had never committed murder. Wait a minute, said our Lord. Have you ever said to your brother, “Thou fool”? If you have, you are guilty of murder. Murder does not only mean actually, physically, killing a man, it means that bitterness and hatred in your heart. . . . And he taught the same, you remember, with regard to adultery. They claimed that they were guiltless. But wait a minute, says our Lord, you say you have never committed adultery? “But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt. 5:28). He is guilty; he has coveted, he has desired. You see, as our Lord comes to interpret the law, he shows that an evil desire is as damnable as a deed. A thought and an imagination are as reprehensible in the sight of God as the act committed.
Source: New City Catechism, Question 11
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.11.05)
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Devotional - Sunny Christian
The image of a branch gaining all its sustenance and strength from the parent vine is a beautiful description of man's total dependence upon God, without Whom we can do nothing, for in Him we live and move and have our being.
When Jesus Christ, the Son of God walked the earth, He demonstrated this truth, for He lived His entire life in utter dependence upon the Father.
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)
Jesus lived as God intended man to live - in utter dependence upon God. Though Jesus Christ was fully God, He lived His life so that the life of God could be lived through the Son of Man in His humanity. He drew all His strength from His Father in heaven, demonstrating how you and I should live our lives as God's children - drawing all our strength from our Lord Jesus Christ, for without Him we can do nothing.
As Jesus Christ walked in this truth, and His early disciples pass this flame onto us, we too are to walk our daily lives in absolute dependence on this truth; we are to do only the things we hear from Christ our Savior as He has spoken to us in the Scripture so that His life may flow in and through us.
Until we humbly confess that in and of ourselves we can do nothing, we will unsuccessfully attempt to produce good fruit in our own strength and power.
Church, let us meditate on this vital principle - that JESUS is the vine and we are the branches. We are to abide in HIM and allow HIS Spirit to live HIS life through us, just as He abode in the Father during His earthly ministry, and did only those things that He heard from the Father - for apart from Me you can do nothing. This verse is plain and the last phrase is straightforward - Christ is and will always be our source of our strength to be fruitful for God. Indeed, God has given us everything in Christ; He (Christ) is all we need for life and godliness. Therefore, church, let us abide.
“What does God require in the fourth and fifth commandments?
Fourth, that on the Sabbath day we spend time in public and private worship of God, rest from routine employment, serve the Lord and others, and so anticipate the eternal Sabbath. Fifth, that we love and honor our father and our mother, submitting to their godly discipline and direction.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.10.29)
“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”
Devotional - Luke Humphrey
There are many ways to combat the sin of anger. Proverbs 19:11 gives us two compatible approaches.
Logic
First, the wise teacher uses logic to combat the temptation to hasty, sinful anger. It makes good sense to be slow to anger—it's logical. How often has our hasty anger gotten us in trouble? How many times have we said something in a momentary rage that we wish we could take back? "Just look at it objectively," the teacher says, "it only makes sense that we should be slow to anger."
We can resist anger by using our heads to reason our way out of the temptation.
Glory
The second way to resist is through the heart—it is a glorious thing to overlook an offense. The teacher calls for us to see glory as it truly is.
When we refuse to inflict pain upon those who have wronged us, we show ourselves to be worthy of the respect of others. Often our rush to anger is a way of getting glory back for ourselves—we try to force people to bend to our wills—but being self controlled and overlooking an offense is the path to glory. Because it is the way of God. When we overlook an offense and are patient with others, we reflect the glory of our Heavenly Father who is merciful and slow to anger.
Logic and glory come together to guard our emotions and to train us in patience. May God help us to use these tools to pursue holiness.
“What does God require in the first, second, and third commandments?
First, that we know and trust God as the only true and living God. Second, that we avoid all idolatry and do not worship God improperly. Third, that we treat God’s name with fear and reverence, honoring also his Word and works.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.10.22)
“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. [7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.]”
Devotional - Hanni Moussa
These verses invite us and entice us: they invite us to turn away from the idolatry of sea-reliance and to place our trust where it belongs; and they entice by the promise that, if we do so, we will reap untold benefits—a straight path! The verses say the same thing twice using different words: relinquish control and let God be God, be truly wise by fearing Him and let that fear be manifest in how you live by turning away from evil.
When we lean on our own understanding, that is, seek to be in control of our lives, we do not acknowledge God as providentially governing our affairs. Even though we may not say this out loud or even think it explicitly but, in effect, we see ourselves wiser than God and therefore more worthy than He is to be in charge of our own paths. God is deposed and we are enthroned, and it's idolatrous. We must guard our hearts from self-reliance because it makes us into our own false gods and because it will shatter our souls as we run headlong over and over into the unshakeable walls of God's sovereign control over His world.
We are naturally very resistant to this way of thinking, especially when we suffer. But resistance is futile. It is better to suffer and surrender than to suffer and resist. Surrender opens the floodgates of God's grace, joy, and strength, and resistance only multiplies our frustration and deprives us of our greatest resource—God Himself.
The more we surrender to God, the more we receive of the straight path promise. This is not a promise of an easy, comfortable life but the promise of a path that God walks with us.
May we see this as an amazing promise of grace that is so attractive that, day by day, we trust the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our understanding.
“What is the law of God stated in the Ten Commandments?
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below—you shall not bow down to them or worship them. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not covet.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.10.15)
“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”
Devotional - Luke Humphrey
All of us live around sinners. All of us are surrounded by acts of wickedness and evil rebellion against God. There is nowhere that we can run to escape this because we carry our sin around with us in our very flesh. And the Bible does not expect us to try to hide from sinners—in fact, the Apostle Paul assumes that we will regularly be engaging with those who rebel against God's ways and God's person (1 Cor. 5:9–10).
This is why it is so helpful to have a firm principle of commitment that we can hold onto in order to keep us from being drawn away from the path of righteousness. Proverbs 1:10 give us that firm commitment: if sinners entice you, do not consent. The temptations of sin and of sinners are real—there is an enticing nature to them. But the response of righteousness is a firm commitment to not give in—we will not say yes to sin.
This is not mere willpower. Many of us lose the battle against sin because we assume that it is only a matter of time until we fall and we give into sin yet again. But Jesus died in order to free us not just from sin's penalty but from sin's power. Because the crucified and risen Christ has poured out his Holy Spirit into our hearts, we can hold fast to the path of righteousness. As the Apostle Paul writes:
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
Walking by the Spirit starts with a commitment to walk the path of righteousness—a commitment not to give in when sin and sinners entice us away from this path.
“What does the law of God require?
Personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience; that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbor as ourselves. What God forbids should never be done and what God commands should always be done.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.10.08)
“9… “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’””
Devotional - John Norris
God has no rivals. He has no competition. No one is His equal.
On the one hand, that’s easy for us to understand. God must be very strong, and He must, by the fact that He’s God, be very big. If he were to be locked in battle with an enemy, our expectation is that, because He’s God, He should win.
But imagining God’s power as the ability to punch harder, jump higher or run faster than everyone else doesn’t touch the essence of God’s power.
In Isaiah 46:9–10, God is clear: the thing that sets Him apart from every other would-be competitor is that He declares the beginning from the end. What he wants to happen (“My counsel”) always stands.
His power is not just that He can do things better or faster than anyone else, it’s that whatever anyone else does, He has already declared from the beginning.
He will accomplish all His purpose. Not a single detail in the history of Creation will fail to conform to His exact declaration from the beginning. His control is complete, and His power is perfect. As Ephesians 1:11 says, “[He] works all things according to the counsel of his will.” That’s what it means to be God.
“How can we glorify God?
We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.10.01)
“4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Devotional - John Norris
These verses are like the bullseye of the New Testament’s message.
The Bible is primarily about the goodness and lovingkindness of God. He saves. And His salvation is not because we work hard enough or do enough good to deserve it. We don’t deserve salvation. It is mercy: undeserved, freely-given kindness. In this story, He is the good one (not us); He’s the kind one (not us).
These verses are clear: all of this mercy is poured out on us richly through Jesus. He did the work of salvation for us when died on the cross to take what our sins deserve; He rose from the dead so that His new life could be given to us. He did it. That’s why our salvation is mercy—a gift—and not by our works.
Now, this salvation is made ours when the Holy Spirit gives us new spiritual life. That’s what the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” is. It’s the Holy Spirit giving our sinful, dead hearts life, so that we can see what God has done for us in Jesus, and love it. Our hearts are “born again.” We can love the things that God loves; We can hate the things that He hates. This is a gift of the Spirit.
All of it is given to us, not because of our works, but because God is good, and God is kind.
“What else did God create?
God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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Weekly Fighter Verse & New City Catechism (2021.09.24)
“4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”
Devotional - Luke Humphrey
The God of the Bible is completely unique, and Isaiah 64:4 tells us why: he acts for those who wait for him.
There are many different religions and many different “gods” that are worshiped. But not one of them has the ability and the authority of the God of the Bible.
The Ability to Act
The God of the Bible has the ability to act. When we wait for him, we do not wonder whether or not he can do something. Nothing is too difficult for God. He can do all things and nothing can withstand his power. He created the universe by the Word of his power and he sustains it merely though speaking. His ability is unmatched among the gods of the nations.
The Authority to Act
But he not only has the ability to act, he also has the authority to act. The ancient pagans believed that gods were restricted by their geographic boundaries—that they had authority to act in particular places but not in others. Many of our home cultures believe the same. We may speak of the spirit of the river or the spirit of the forest. But God’s authority is unlimited. He rules over all things.
Isaiah was writing to a people going into exile. They were to be carried away from their homeland and taken to a foreign country. But even there, God acts on those who wait for him. He is not limited by authority and he defers to no other gods.
The Character to Act
And because of his character, we can wait with confidence that he will use his ability and authority for good. The gods of the nations are often capricious or despotic, but that is not the way that our God is. He never makes a morally wrong decision or compromises his perfect integrity. He is pure and holy and good. And that means that his power is connected with his goodness, his authority connected with his love. And those who wait upon him will not be put to shame.
“How and why did God create us?
God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to his glory.”
Fighter Verses
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New City Catechism
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