Servants served, by servants, of and for the Suffering Servant

Servants served by servants of and for the Suffering Servant.

Have you ever played or watched baseball? Imagine a beautiful summer day; birds are chirping, sun is beaming, your just outside squinting to keep the light out of your eyes, smelling BBQ from the surrounding area. You are the outfielder and on defense and you see the pitch…its thrown…*crack*…you hear the ball and the bat meet and everyone in front of you looks up…It’s a fly ball coming down straight at you; you know its there, you see it, kind of, but its in direct view of the sun! pause

Served by the prophets (1 peter 1:10):

This is what the prophet’s saw. They saw the sufferings of Jesus, the gospel; everything that they saw was like looking for it in the light. When they saw it, it was surprising to them that they got a glimpse of the ball in the way of the sun (2 peter 1:21).  Matthew 13:16-17 talks about us being blessed because our eyes see and ears hear what many prophets longed to see and never saw it. We are so blessed to have seen what we are seeing. Our position in Christ as we get to see the gospel in our face should be much more then ‘whatever’. In redemptive history, many righteous men were killed for us to be able to freely worship and preach the gospel freely without being cut in half.

A quote from TD Jakes: "I am a fret for this generation as we stand together with all of the saints of the ages in heaven and as they stand before God and some will say 'I was stoned to death, I was crucified upside down, my children were killed in the fire, and through all of that I did not deny you and the worst thing this generation will say is 'somebody talked about me'"

Let it not be said of us that we forgot the saints of the ages and take our position in Christ for granted. Let it not be said of us that we forget that we live in a time where the Messiah has been revealed and openly proclaimed.

Served by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:11):

Just as the prophets served us, the Holy Spirit ‘served’ or breathed into (2 Timothy 3:16) them so they could be a prophetic witness. They did not prophesy on their own, but spoke directly from God through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21). It is a complete privilege to be served by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us on this side of the cross. Through the Spirit-empowered witness of those who saw and heard Jesus, subsequent generations also see and hear (Karen Jobes, 1 Peter, 103).

Served by the Apostles (1 peter 1:12)

Luke 17:7 highlights the title of this article. Servants (us) served by servants (apostles, prophets, Holy Spirit, Angels) of and for the suffering servant. They, along with us, are called to preach the gospel and make disciples, for the benefit of those who they preached to and those to come, not for themselves. We are nothing but gardeners to the One that grows the garden (1 Corinthians 5:3-7). We act like spoiled NFL players. We throw the ball to the wide receiver, they catch the winning touchdown, and we want all the credit for the catch, want more money, want to be on the cover of the magazine, and all the recognition. Forget about the team or the coach or even the one who caught the ball. We are nothing but preachers of the gospel, all the glory belongs to Christ! We are nothing but servants/slaves of Jesus Christ (James 1:1, Jude 1, Romans 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1)

We are unworthy servants of the Lord invited to sit at the table of the King. Wow.  

Served by the Angels (1 Peter 1:12)

(ref. Dan 8-9, Luke 1; Hebrews 2; Galatians 3:19) the angels did not even know everything concerning the salvation that was to come. They were longing to see Christ kill it. They longed to see the unfolding of Christ’s kingdom as they saw Christ kill it throughout all of history! Luke 15:10 shows us that the angels are even watching as sinners repent and rejoicing when God does another work in someone’s life!

Implications of the Suffering Servant

Christ was not Michael Jackson on this earth. He was no rock star/superstar; He came to suffer. The angels and the prophets centered their attention on the suffering and the glories of the Messiah. Because of this suffering, we get the opportunity and extreme privilege to be at the table of the king. Its through this suffering that we claim the gospel that we have today. Its through this suffering that our sins are covered over, not to be held against us in the sight of God. Its through this suffering of Jesus that we are seen and loved by Christ. Its through this suffering that we get Jesus. Let us not forget about how we have been served through history that we may even now be called a child of God. Let us not take our privileged position for granted but allow it to humble us, remember the sufferings of Jesus, the sufferings of the prophets and apostles, and how we must also suffer just as Christ suffered. If we suffer every day for our whole life on this earth, it will still only be a ‘little while’ (1 peter 1:6) compared to an eternity in heaven with our Father. Stand firm in these discouraging times saints. 

Psalms 23:1-3

Psalms 23:1-3


1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.



Translation...In The Lord is where I graze, I can not lack anything or become empty. I am stretched out and lying down in fresh grass. He leads and guides me to a watering place, brings me to a place of rest and refreshes me. He restores my life, self, living being, passion, appetite, emotion, and brings me to a place of justice, rightness, for his purpose and intent.


Where do we find our peace and comfort? Where do we look to for all that we need? We see in this Psalm that The Lord is our ultimate shepherd. Leading us and guiding us to the best of grass for us to eat, the most peaceful refreshing water that we can drink, and gives us an end time reality of ultimate peace, ultimate joy, and ultimate perfection for His name sake,for his purpose and intent, for His glory.



We look at the passage and see that this shepherd brings us places where there is plenty of food to eat. Sheep are dumb animals and have a hard time drinking running water. The reason being, if they slip and fall in, their wool is so soaked with water, it makes them too heavy to get themselves out and they ultimately die; so we have a shepherd that brings us not only to what we need, but brings us to what we need where we can safely enjoy and be refreshed.



So the Psalms writer gives us a list of why we do not 'want' and why we need not worry about this great shepherd.



1.He makes me to lie down in green pastures

2.He leads me beside STILL waters

3.He restores my soul

4.He leads me in the paths of righteousness



What more do we need? food? provided...water? provided...restoration and newness? provided...righteousness in the sight of the Father...provided. Don't be anxious for what you will eat or drink! It is provided! Seek first the kingdom of God, and restoration and righteousness will be added, and we will enjoy the bread of life and the living water for eternity. He is leading us and guiding us, giving us himself, the living water and the bread of life that we may eat from and be full, lack nothing, be restored, and he leads us, restore us, giving us everything that we need for his purpose and intent so that one day we can ultimately worship Him the the most perfect possible way.



We find our hope in that one day we will be fully refreshed, fully filled, never become empty or hungry, fully restored, and worship the Holy God in the full splendor of his majesty...as for now, we are protected by a strong and mighty shepherd, giving us all we need in him. He is our peace and our comfort.



Grace and Peace

Reflections of 'Good Friday'

After being delivered to Pilate and the crowd choosing Barabbas, the innocent Mann was delivered to be crucified…

A flagrum was a whip that consisted of small particles of bones and metals that were in leather strands. Roman soldiers would beat criminals with this until they were near death. According to the Jewish law, if a man was guilty, “the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. Forty stripes may be given him, but not more…(Deuteronomy 25:2-3)” The victim, in most cases, died from the beating so the number was changed to 39 so the criminal would receive ‘one from death’. During this beating, the skin on the criminal was stripped off of his body, leaving flesh hanging out and excessive bleeding, uncovering muscles and bones, causing the criminal to be extremely weak. This was usually the end of the criminal’s sentence…but this day, this Man was different. The soldiers stripped the man down and put a scarlet robe on him, twisting together a circular object with sharp thorns, resembling a crown, pressing it far down on the head of this man.  (Matthew 27:27-28) He was mocked, given a reed, as the soldiers laughed and bowed down to him saying “Hail, King of the Jews!” He was spit on, beat with the reed, and then stripped down again.

            So I think; why the scarlet robe and the crown of thorns?

Genesis 3:17-18, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.”

Isaiah 1:18 “Come not, let us reason together, “says the LORD. “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

This man took this scarlet robe ON his body, being correlated with sin in Isaiah 1:18.  The thorns that were used for a crown, reflected the fall representing the curse of the ground. This man symbolically and literally, took the sin and the curse on himself. (2 Cor 5:21)

Prior to this man being placed on the cross, he had to carry a tree up to Golgotha an estimated 650 yards. The part of the tree that he carried was the cross bar, also being known as the patibulum, weighing from 80-110 pounds.

Because it was illegal and so brutal, crucifying someone had to be done outside of the city walls. So this man had to walk way outside of the city walls, with his own crossbar, on which he will be killed. When they got to the top of the mountain, the patibulum was dropped on the ground and the man laid down on it. The nails that were used were about 7 inches long and were forcefully hammered through the wrist into the wood that he laid on. The nails were placed in between the bones and no bones were broken or fractured. At the base of the cross was a ‘sedile’ which was this man used to support himself with. His feet were then nailed to the stipes, keeping the knees bent. The man started to suffer from symptoms similar to ‘hypovolemia’ (described in Psalms 22:14-15) and it happens from the severe loss of blood. The cross was lifted upright; causing severs strain and pull on the wrists as the weight of his body pulled on the shoulders and elbow joints, dislocating them. Because the arms were stretched out, it made it difficult for the man to exhale or even take full breaths. Dr. David Terasaka gives this explanation also pointing out that this could have been the reason why he only made short statements while on the cross. In some of the last hours, because the muscles received limited oxygen and there was a major loss of blood, this mans body underwent severe cramps. The lack of breathing then caused areas of his lungs to collaps, carbon dioxide in the muscle tissue, fluid built up in his lungs, then the heart got overstressed and ultimately failed. Finally, the solider trusted the spear through the side into the side of his heart, letting blood and water to pour out.

What a severe and gruesome death and punishment for such a criminal; but who would let something like this happen? Who would receive such a beating?

This man is Jesus; the Lamb who was slain; the substitutionary atonement. “Christ’s death was a substitutionary sacrifice. Christ died as a substitute for the covenant-breaker…Christ died in the place of the sinner. Because of covenantal violations, men were condemned to die. Christ took on himself the curses of the covenant and died in the place of the sinner…”-O.Palmer Robertson. We so often skim over ‘Good Friday’ and because we talk about the death of Christ so often, we sometimes forget the point, Christ actually suffered and died a gruesome, painful death. Christ became sin, suffered, died (twice-physically, and separation from God, Matthew 27:46, Isaiah 59:2), endured and bore the entire wrath of God until His wrath was satisfied.

So why do we call this “Good Friday”? “Christ’s atoning death turns away the bad news of Gods wrath and brings us to the good news of God’s saving grace”-Richard D. Phillips. We are overjoyed because “we have been justified (made righteous, legal term, as if we were caught red handed, but declared not guilty) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” –Romans 5:1 Without that severe suffering and death, without Jesus, we have no peace with God; we have no joy in salvation; we are declared guilty; we are dead, and will endure wrath of God and complete separation from Him, His sustaining hand, and the beauty of His grace. Thank You Jesus for your suffering and death that makes us righteous.

We all have sinned and fallen short of his glory (Romans 3:23) but we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24, Ephesians 2:1-10) all because God knew we would sin, so he put forward Jesus as a propitiation (hilasterion- translated as ‘mercy seat’), or blood covering, of the sin that we committed (Romans 3:25). “This means that God set forward Jesus, his Son, to pacify his own wrath toward our sin.” –Phillips

Resources Used:

David Terasaka, M.D.-Medical Aspects of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

O. Palmer Robertson-The Christ of the Covenants

Richard D. Phillips-What is the Atonement

ESV Crossway Study Bible

Easter Sunday Memories

Waking up this morning I was quickly reminded of all of the years that I spent waking up early in the morning, opening up Easter eggs, putting on the white suit that was specifically bought for this occasion, and preparing for the big Sunday service. As mom would cook that good ol Easter morning breakfast, pancakes, eggs, beacon, and still smell the collards that are on the pot for dinner. Getting everyone to rally up in the cars and head off to the church…

This morning was different; I was quickly reminded of the way the Godhead provides for himself; Jesus being the sacrificial lamb; being crucified outside the city walls with the trash; taking on the scarlet robe on his back and thorns on his head symbolically and literally taking on the sin on his body and the curse of the fall on his head(Isaiah 1:18, Gen 3:17-18); Jesus becoming sin & being crushed by the Father;  the entirety of Gods wrath being poured out and satisfied; the sadness and depression; but then that empty tomb; the holes as the disciples touched and felt in the hands of the risen Christ; Jesus getting up and defeating death; showing up to his disciples and more then 500 people showing off his glory and strength;

WE RALLY AROUND THE ‘GETTING UP’ THE ‘ANASTASIS’, OR THE RISING AGAIN!

Be overwhelmed with Joy this morning about the resurrection of Jesus! As Paul told Corinth, if Christ has not raised, then even our faith is in vain…but He did rise on that great getting up morning.

We at Epiphany Fellowship are overjoyed and excited to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with you today! As we prepare our hearts, minds, and bodies for upcoming service, may your joy be overwhelmed.

Grace and Peace 

Finding our comfort & favor in foreknowledge and father

1 Peter 1:2

who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:   Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

I think of excited parents…decide to have a child after taking time to enjoy each other and spending time with each other, taking time to go on vacations, saying that they want to have some children. They want to have children who they are going to care for, watch over, and carry on their legacy. So they ultimately decide to start to have children. So they go to Ikea, buy bedroom sets, paint the walls in the baby room, put up childproof things, and just really get ready and prepared for this child. Deciding, choosing, and taking action.

Foreknowledge… prognōsin

This is the idea of foreknowledge (or previous determination)…Before we ever were, God sovereignly decided that he was going to have us, make us his, and provide for us whatever we needed in a life of suffering as a believer; so much so that the Holy Spirit dwells with us to give us that. **read also Romans 8:29**

The believers of Asia minor could relate to this because they were born again and regenerated, so Peter encouraged them in his introduction with this foreknowledge that God’s ultimate love CHOSE THEM. That baby never chose to be a child of his parents; but they ultimately decided that they would have child and love on them…so before the foundation of this very earth, God chose that we would show off his glory…and this is not a political or informal word, but immensely personal and relational… FIND CRAZY FAVOR IN THIS…we have been chosen to worship…

Peter reminds us that the favor of God is not a one time thing, but has a continual increase of all his saving grace, all his peace, all of his truth, and is never-ending. What does this mean to us? That we have been intimately decided upon, before even the foundation of the earth that we walk on, that we would receive complete benefit, favor, and grace of salvation, to show off his glory on this earth and to ultimately worship him for eternity being fully overwhelmed by his glory. FIND FAVOR AND COMFORT through these difficult times and struggles on this earth brothers and sisters. We don’t ask for cars, money, and a bunch of earthly blessing because these things are not everlasting…but we ask for and are encouraged by his never-ending, everlasting love and favor. 

Worship, pray, and meditate on this today…because of his favor, we can be comforted through and in these discomforting times.

Daily devotions from the worship closet

Suffering is not optional for the believer

1 Peter 2:20-21

“If when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps”



As we look at the book of peter, we see his continual encouragement to stand firm during trials. As believers, this will happen. All of us that have our faith in Jesus, have been called according to his purpose will endure persecution. In the same way let us stand firm in the power of his might, not of our own power, looking forward to the vindication of the Father! We have been elected according to his sovereign will, and have been empowered to stand firm.



Just as the Lord suffered, we followers of him must also suffer but we often time look at a stubbed toe on the way in to church as suffering for the gospel; wrong...the suffering that we will endure comes from confessing Jesus. This idea of persecution is translated by Webster’s as such…‘To oppress or harass with ill-treatment, especially because of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs.’ Like Jesus….wow…



Also, let us suffer, not as an evil doer (1 peter 4:14-16) but rather for the sake of proclaiming the name of Jesus, boldly, wherever we go!



As we take time to pray and in our devotion time today, let us ask for the courage of Jesus to empower us, giving us comfort and strength. Comfort to endure, and strength to press on. It may look bad, but…it looked bad on the cross. It looked like the enemy won. We might be in that season of ‘look bad’ but Jesus got back up on the 3rd day, showing off and proclaiming his authority may we endure the suffering and await vindication of our Father! In the midst of it looking bad, let us understand the encouragement of Christ; getting back up and winning. We one day will also win in Christ, when the Christ returns, for his church, making things new, restoring, reviving, and renewing. This is what we look forward to brothers and sisters! Be encouraged. Grace and Peace.

Call to worship part 1

Why Call to Worship? Part 1

Background-Why was Psalm 32 written?

You see David writing this psalm, having such emotional and open declarations. Why would he say that happy are the ones who sin is forgiven? By experience? This psalm is a Maskil of David, which is a poem designed to teach and convey instruction. We look to 2 Samuel 11 where David saw a woman that was taking a shower, liked what he saw, and decided he wanted her even though her husband was one of his soldiers. David got her husband killed after hanging out with him, had his wife up to his house, made her his wife and had a child. But, you see in verse 27, “But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” He gets rebuked, fasts, prays, repents, asks forgiveness, and the Lord forgives him. He knows his sin is ridiculous and he should be killed like his son who died, but the Lord forgave him. David writes this psalm from experience and with joy.

So we look to the psalm, which is also a thanksgiving hymn, where the worshipper gives thanks for sins being forgiven. It served as a special source of prayer and reflection.

Notes on Psalms 32:1

• ‘Blessed’ (אַשְׁרֵ֥י)(’aš·rê) here literally means ‘happy’ so to read it, happy is the man whose transgressions is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

• Why Happy? Happy are we because our sins are forgiven! We have been pardoned, freed from guilt, and promised as a child of God to have peace and joy in heaven for eternity. The believer is happy and overwhelmed by this truth!

• The ‘blessedness’ that is here is not for the man that has kept the law and has been diligent. Otherwise, it would never come to us, but rather, it is for us, the lawbreakers who have by grace alone, which is rich and free, been forgiven.

“Pardoning mercy is of all things in the world most to be prized, for it is the only and sure way to happiness.” --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

There are two words that talk about our sinfulness: Transgressions and Sin

• Transgression (פֶּ֫שַׁע)(peh'-shah)-this word means a breach of trust or rebellion, a rebellious act (also seen in Gen. 50:17, Ex. 22:9, Psalms 36:1, Proverbs 17:9, Micah 7:18)

• Sin-( חֲטָאָה) (chataah)-immoral act

• Our sin is a direct rebellion against the true and living God. As we sin, we directly rebel against his statutes, taking advantage of his ever abounding grace.




There are two words that are often used for the idea of (a) atonement: Covered and forgiven.

• We are covered by his blood, and forgiven by his grace. Christ covering, atonement is the (b) propitiation, making an end to sin, so we are blessed, HAPPY, having joy unthinkable!

• Covered (כְּס֣וּי) (ke.sui)-to cover…this is the idea that sin would be totally covered, hidden, not being seen, concealed, so that it would no longer be in the view of God. This idea means that the believer would be visible but the sin no longer visible.


• ‘Whose sin is ‘covered’ means cannot at all be seen. You see this covering like the ark was covered by the mercy seat. Feel the extent and power of this ‘covering’ that hides our sin forever from the sight of the all-seeing God.

• Forgiven (נָשָׂא) (nasa or nasah) literally means to be lifted, or to be taken away from, as burden being removed. What a load of our sin to be, by Christ through his love, mercy, and his life, to be lifted.

Parallel Verses
Romans 4:7-8: Paul quotes Psalms 32:1-2 in his explanation of justification through faith and discussing how Abraham was justified by his faith not his works. Paul says that it was not the work that Abraham was doing but because he had faith, it was counted to him as righteousness. He alludes to David here saying, “Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works…” What do we then see here? It is not our works or deeds why we have been removed from the punch of Gods wrath. The word ‘deceit’ refers to deceiving man or God about a their own sin. When the spirit is mentioned, it reinforces the idea of not only having the right words, but the right intentions.

Conclusion:
Happy are we when our rebellion is lifted away, when our immoral acts are hidden from the sight of God. This is why we are worshipping: we worship because we are happy and have joy unthinkable. We are worshiping because our sins are covered away from the wrath of God, and the burden of our sin is lifted. This is why Psalm 32 is our call to worship. Thank you Jesus for your work on the cross that lifted our burden of death, removed us from the wrath of God, and covered us by your blood poured out!