Let Another Take His Office

As I was reading Ps 108 today verse 8 stood out to me. "Let his days be few and let another take his office". In this chapter of Psalms David is basically venting to God about people that have wronged him and what he desired would happen to them. Verse 8 has a star by it in my bible which means the publisher thought that this verse would be fulfilled during the time of the Jesus. Well this verse and the verse that follow it speak of Judas and what happened to him after he would betray Jesus.

Let his days be few - well he killed himself shortly after betraying Jesus
Let another take his office - well we know that another person took his place as one of the apostles. Matthias was chosen to take his place.

Here is the wisdom I received from these verses and the story of Judas? When I think of the word office I think of a place or a position of authority that is given to you by God. I'm not going to list all the positions of authority that we see everyday. Granted some are man made authority and some are God given authority. Authority can be defined as the right to do something. Believe it or not Judas was chosen by Jesus to be one of His disciples and later became an Apostle. Jesus chose and gave Judas the right do represent Him, on earth and later when He would return to heaven after His death. Wow what a powerful office! When I think of the Apostles and what they did while Jesus was one earth I think about Luke 10:1 "After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before His face into every city where He Himself was about to go." Also after His death we See that the apostles would plant and built the structure of the church that Jesus said He would build in Mt 16.

The tragedy is that Judas forfeited his authority for 30 pieces of silver. We see this throughout the Bible in the stories of Sampson, King Saul, and Esau who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat.

How do we loose our God given authority or the right to do something? Well just like Judas, the way we loose or forfeit our authority is by betraying Jesus. Betraying Jesus is to sell out our relationship to Him by choosing to quit following Him and His way and to follow our own way. We sell out by going back to a lifestyle of sin and self seeking. We leave and quite being a disciple that is seeking to learn and follow all that Jesus commanded. I think of the places of authority or offices that are dearest to me and that I respect the most, The Church of Jesus Christ, Ministers and Father (parents). In Mt 28:18-20 Jesus said "all authority has been given unto me in haven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey all the things that i have commanded and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age. As Christians we have been given authority to go and do something and that is to make disciples that are learning to obey all that Jesus commanded. What happens when we sell out and not doing what Jesus commanded us to do. Just like Judas we loose our office and it is given to another. Ask yourself an a honest question are you walking in life with the authority that Jesus gave his disciples in Mt 28. If your not than maybe your not a disciple of Christ but a follower of Religion or the traditions of Man. Fathers do you have authority in your kids life or has it been given to another? Are they following you as you follow Christ? Lets look at the results mentioned in the next verse in Ps 109 that speak of someone who has betrayed Jesus and lost his or her office.

Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow- Children can be fatherless even when a father is present in the home. This is epidemic in the church and in the world. What about the father son relationships in the church where older men are fathering younger men how to be godly? See Eph 5 of how a husband is to treat his wife. Again although husbands are present in the home the wives feel like and are basically widows. Results of Forfeited authority.

Let his children continually be vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread from desolate places - a vagabond is someone that is tossed about or tottering. Eph 4 talks about when Gods ministers properly equip Gods people that they would no longer be tossed about by every wave and wind of doctrine. How stable and established are those God has given you charge over. A picture of a beggar should be self explanatory. Are we giving fresh bread (the word of God, see Jn 6) or are they beggars sitting is desolate places.

Let the creditors seize all that he has and let strangers punder his labor - what a picture of the most of the church world - in credit up to their eyeballs buying stuff that will never fulfill, stressed out and selling out our flocks and families so that we can pay the next bill. Husbands think about
another man or woman coming into your family because of divorce and neglect and plundering all that you worked for. Raising your children and sleeping in your bed.

Let there be none to extend mercy to him, let there be any to favor his fatherless children

Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. - Posterity is the end of ones life - Being cut off is being gone or remembered no more. This is the greatest result in my opinion - the generation after you is lost or gone. Thousands and thousands every year of the next generation are leaving Christianity all over the world.

May you examine yourself to see if you have lost your authority in your family and in your life. We all need to examine the church and began to ask the honest questions and what can bee seen clearly that the church has become something that God never intended it to be and she has lost her authority in this world. Yea I'm talking to your church and your denomination. The church that Jesus is building is not built on or by man's authority but its built on Jesus Christ and His word, It's filled with His Spirit, and is filled with His love and it is going and making disciples that follow and obey all that Jesus commanded. It's is submitted to His authority and the authority of each person in His body. My spirit this morning in not ON of arrogance or finger pointing but of humility and compassion asking all who read this blog to examine yourself and ask the hard questions. And if you find yourself having lost God's authority REPENT or change and start by seeking Jesus and his commandments and following them and asking God to have mercy on your soul and to change your heart. He will because He did it and is doing it for me.