Tag Archives: Galatians

An answer to an emailed comment (2)

Posted on March 16, 2015 by | Comments Off on An answer to an emailed comment (2)

New message receivedThis morning before I headed off to class, I checked my email to discover a comment from a disgruntled reader who used the prayer list contact form to send me a few comments about this blog. Normally, as I have shared in the past, I do not respond to many of these types of emails because there is normally no point in doing so. Since reading the comments and after taking the time to teach my morning class, I was able to clear my head and to pray about how to handle the situation. I now feel the need to answer the complaints that this person had against this blog. My answers are based off my understanding of scripture and the common-sense approach I take towards my faith.

What right do I have to have such a hard stand against lifestyle choices?

This is a question that faces all Christians and it usually has to do with the traditional and fundamentalist view on homosexuality. Although the person I received the comment from did not name if this was what they were upset about, I am simply taking a guess based on the sensitivity of this topic. To be completely honest, the Bible teaches us, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). For me, it is not my place to question what the Bible, what the Lord has set as being acceptable and unacceptable. As a Christian, I have to accept the reality that the apostle Paul wrote about in two places in his first letter to the church in Corinth: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:20) and  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men (1 Corinthians 7:23). Paul also urged through his letter to the church at Rome, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1). With these verses alone, it is important to understand that if we make the claim to be a Christian then it is not by our own rules, standards, or morals we are to live by. Even the apostle Peter understood the calling for the children of God to live to a higher authority than themselves:  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Peter 1:13-16).

When we seek to follow after the Lord and live according to His standards, not out of a demand for our obedience, but out of our love for Him, we begin to understand just how sinful we are. As Christians, we should forsake our sins – this means to turn away from them and ask for forgiveness, and avoid the situations that could cause us to yield to that temptation. Too many simply focus on the Biblical view of homosexuality, but there are other sins, other “lifestyle choices” that God finds just as distasteful that both Christians and the lost engage in. God finds gluttony (overeating) sinful: For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple (Romans 16:18), and For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags (Proverbs 23:21). Then there’s the list of sins that Paul mentions often in his writings, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21). All of these are sins and lifestyle choices that people often make and when we consider what the apostle James wrote, For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10), it is clear that all sins are equal in the sight of God. Homosexuality, overeating, adultery, and the other “lifestyle choices” mentioned by Paul are all sins – equally.

As a Christian, my goal is to hear my Lord and Savior tell me those words Jesus told the crowd in a parable: Well done, thou good and faithful servant… (Matthew 25:21b); I don’t want to be ashamed and stand amid ashes when I stand before Jesus. Paul wrote to the church in Jerusalem: Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth (Hebrews 12:4-6). In other words, I should resist the temptation to sin as a child of God; when I choose to continue in sin, I choose the rebuke and chastening of the Lord. The apostle John wrote, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Yes, God will forgive us of our sins when we ask forgiveness but the consequences of our choice to sin will remain.

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When God uses others to teach us

Posted on January 7, 2015 by | Comments Off on When God uses others to teach us

God uses othersEvery Christian has experienced what today’s post is about. God uses others to teach us important lessons about our faith, about ourselves, and about others around us. There are times when we will be the one that God uses to teach others. In either case, we must be ready to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and to seek out what it is that the Lord wants us to learn. The apostle Paul, a person that the Lord still uses to teach Christians about the faith, wrote: Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. (Galatians 6:6). In the end, with every lesson that is taught to us, the Lord will always get the glory.

God will often bring people in our lives for us to gain some understanding about ourselves, our relationship with the Lord, and our relationship with others within the body of believers. According to various research groups, roughly 85% of all people are visual learners. Yes, they may read about something, but real understanding comes from watching. They need to be shown for the lesson to become real and to truly understand what the Lord is teaching. I think what the apostle Paul wrote, And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works (Hebrews 10:24) actually fits into this area nicely. No person who ever accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior ever learned how to minister and teach others immediately after they were saved. We can, however,  learn what it means to truly minister to other people by watching how older-in-the-faith Christians minister to others. By watching them, we are being provoked to do the same good works, just as the apostle Paul wrote.  No one instantly knows how to be a servant of Christ simply because they have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. It is learned behavior.

Paul also writes that as Christians, we have an obligation to teach other Christians that may not be as mature in their faith the things that we understand. He wrote, Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Exhort means to encourage or to teach through encouragement. Again, we are to minister to the needs of others by teaching those who may not be as strong in the faith as we are, or who may not fully understand how they are to behave as Christians. we must be ready at any time to teach the things that we know about the Lord to others without stumbling or confusion. There are those who we will come across in our lives who are saved but may have not developed a close relationship with the Lord or those who are lost that the Holy Spirit has been ministering to bring them to salvation. When we are asked questions about our faith, we are placed in a teaching position: But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15) Just as God uses others to teach us, God will also use us to teach others.

There are several places within the writings of Paul where he encourages those who are more mature in the faith to become teachers of those who are still young. In his letters to Timothy, Paul encourages him to accept the responsibility of teaching what he understands about his faith. Paul writes in his first letter: If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. These things command and teach (1 Timothy 4:6-11). In several verses of his second letter to Timothy, Paul continues to encourage him: And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2) and And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient (2 Timothy 2:24). Not only does Paul encourage Timothy to teach others, but he reminds Timothy to be patient and to teach others so that they will be able to go out and teach what he teaches them.

When we are led learn, we must realize that we are not to discard the person teaching us because they do not fit into what we think they should look like. The Lord is very clear that those who will teach us may not come from a position of authority above us, but may come from among us, or maybe in a position subservient to us. He also clearly teaches us that when it comes to the leading of the Holy Spirit, those who teach us may even be younger than us, which is not what many people expect. Even Job found this out the hard way in the form of a rebuke from a young servant boy: And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding (Job 32:6-8). Paul even waned Timothy not to allow people to discredit his message because of his age: Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity (1 Timothy 4:12). He also instructed Timothy to not consider social status when teaching others: And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort (1 Timothy 6:2).

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Beware of the pitfalls of the “modern” faith

Posted on November 19, 2014 by | Comments Off on Beware of the pitfalls of the “modern” faith

Water_safety_sign_Dangerous_currentThis morning, while waiting to have my blood drawn for lab work at the local VA health clinic, a gentleman and his wife sat next to me. He noticed that I was reading the Bible on my smartphone and soon, the three of us were having a conversation about faith and church. For about ten minutes, we were able have an uninterrupted conversation that seemed more of an affirmation to me than any great revelation. All it takes is to think back just twenty years ago to become aware that some things that are happening in our churches and some of the viewpoints held by “Christians” are not in line with biblical doctrines.

The Bible not regarded as the absolute authority

The couple I was talking with were in their mid nineties and the first things we discussed was the role of the Bible. Both the man and his wife were lamenting how far our society has moved in their lifetime. The couple shared how they were now in the process of trying to find a new church home because they no longer felt that God was welcomed in the church where they had been members for the last thirty years. The lady even said that their pastor no longer exclusively teaches Bible on Sunday morning, but will use contemporary writings, poetry, and short stories to make his points. Immediately, I thought of what the apostle Paul told Timothy: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works (II Timothy 3:16-17). Paul also wrote to the early Christians and reminding them, For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4). Even in his day, Paul was having to encourage the early Christians to study the Old Testament. He understood that the Old Testament is the foundation on which the New Testament stands. Paul also gave a warning for the early Christians to stay true to what the apostles had taught:  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8).

It is essential that any sermon or message have at its core a biblical foundation. It is the Bible that gives the church authority and it is the Bible that defines the purpose of the church. While the Bible – the Word of God – can live outside the church and is not dependent on the church, the church cannot live and function as the church of God if it is not on a biblical foundation. When the Bible is supplanted by humanist philosophies and is taught from behind the pulpit, it does not bring glory to God. Jesus told the crowd around Him, No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13). This is especially true for the church. It cannot proclaim that it has the moral authority from the Lord when it is teaching philosophies of the flesh. It is for this cause alone that many of our churches in America are failing. They no longer stand firm on the Bible and have adopted worldly teachings and philosophies to grow their membership.

The Bible is what we are to use as our measuring stick. Not only are we to weigh ourselves according to the scriptures, we are to weigh what is preached to us and what is done around us. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). It cuts through the sin and corruption of the flesh; the apostle Peter wrote, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you (I Peter 1:23-25). Our very salvation depends upon the Word of God! In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:1-5).

Within the book of Revelation, I do honestly believe that this is what happened to the church at Laodicea: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Revelation 3:14-17). In my mind’s eye, this is the church that appeals to a large following – they have every kind of outreach ministry under the sun, they have hundreds attend their services, they have a great contemporary music program, never financially struggle, and with all that, spiritually they are naked. Rather than take firm and biblical stands on doctrine, sin, and social issues, they reach out with a feel-good sermon that appeals to the vanity of human emotions. Jeremiah wrote, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) We can be deceived by our own emotions – which is why God has made salvation independent of our emotions.

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