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Bible.07: By Living According to Your Word

In all 176 verses in this psalm about God’s Word, one in particular gives us the cure for sin and selfishness: we need to be “living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9).  Great!  But, someone new to Christianity can be overwhelmed by the hundreds of translations out there.  How can they each read differently and still be God’s Word preserved to us through the centuries?

I. Galatians 4:4-5.  After the canon was established, the gospel continued to be spread in Greek that, thanks to Alexander the Great who conquered a few centuries earlier, was a perfect and precise language to preserve God’s Word.  The gospel spread faster by use of the Roman system of roads and preached at synagogues that existed wherever at least ten Jewish families resided.  A few decades after Constantine made Christianity a legal religion and the “masses” were forced to leave paganism to flood the churches, Jerome translated the Greek Scriptures into Latin that would hold dominate for the next 1100 years.  Latin was not very perfect or precise but careful copying by the Masoretes and monks got us to the invention of the printing press in 1455.

II. Acts 12:4.  The greater availability of God’s Word spurred on the Reformation a half century later but also stirred Erasmus to translate the Bible back into Greek.  The problem?  He didn’t have access to the over 5,900 ancient copies of the New Testament that we do today, and so he largely drew from the Latin Vulgate.  His “textus receptus” was the basis for many of the early English translations, including the King James Version (KJV).  It is the filtering of the Greek Word, pascha, through the Latin and the compromises with the pagan masses come into the church that the KJV renders that word ‘Easter’ instead of ‘Passover.’

III. Psalm 119:9-16.  Later translations and the rise of textual criticism relied on better research and bring us ever closer to the originals, of which none still exist.  In 1947, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written about the time of Christ, confirm this in all the Old Testament books but Esther.  We can be confident, then, that the translation you have in your hand or on your phone will allow you to be “living according to [God’s] word.”

The big question is “will you?”  Most of us have more Bibles and various translations available to us than Erasmus could ever have dreamed of, yet we spend much time in other pursuits rather than studying God’s Word to live it out in our lives.  We must live according to God’s Word so that we can one day live–according to God’s Word.

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Bible.06: As They Do the Other Scriptures

The cross is the dividing line in history.  If the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, then the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.  So, how did we get the 27 books that fill the ‘canon’ or ‘rule of faith’?

I. 2 Peter 3:15-16.  God inspired and preserved the New Testament.  The new covenant was prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and spoken about by Jesus in Luke 22:20, but what a confusing time the 1st Century must have been for Christians wondering who and what to believe as God’s Word came first orally through various gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 2:13) to its written form (1 Corinthians 14:37).  Peter calls Paul’s letters ‘Scripture’ along with other books at that time.

II. Matthew 13:24-25.  The enemy has always operated by sowing weeds, and so the time of confusion during the 1st Century was no different.  While Christians wondered what was from God and what was not, the enemy sowed perversions (gnosticism), false teachings (Acts 15:1), and heretics like Marcion who declared just the writings of Paul and Luke’s gospel as authoritative.  This, though, caused the church to re-evaluate what books they already considered authoritative and used in their worship services.  The declaration of later church councils on the 27 books we have in the New Testament today did not “give us the Bible” but rather confirmed what Christians had already been using for centuries.

III. 2 Timothy 3:16-17.  We have all we need from that which we know to be ‘Scripture’ as it thoroughly equips us.  God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness “through our knowledge ….”

This means we can study and obey the New Testament.  Let us not be ignorant or unstable, twisting them to our destruction.  Rather, let us let God speak to us about His Son on the cross who rose from the dead.

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Buries His Hand in the Dish

O those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer …

I come from a long line of work-aholics … therefore, I’ve always struggled in this area.  Work first, play later–but later there’s always more work to do!  Because I’ve always filled every moment of every day with tasks to accomplish, I’ve never really learned to relax or develop hobbies.  Industriousness, after all, is praised in the Bible:

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise …. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest — and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man” Proverbs 6:6-11.

But so is rest!  “There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest …” Leviticus 23:3.  I know, I know, that’s Old Testament Law and meant for the Israelites, but does that mean that we in the New Testament age should never rest?

I suppose that many in my position as an evangelist of a small church in a remote area of the U.S. surrounded by all of the cultural opulence and abundance of the 21st Century might go the opposite direction and be lazy in leisure and luxury.  I cheer inwardly when I read the many proverbs against this, like … “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth” Proverbs 26:15.

But maybe it’s because that’s someone else’s problem, not mine!  We had a cat who would eat lying down with her head in her dish, munching every once in a while when she was not napping there.  We mocked her for it, but she didn’t care–she was a cat!

It’s easier to point out the sins of others than deal with our own weaknesses.  Isn’t that what the self-righteous Pharisee said about the humble tax-collector too ashamed to lift his eyes?  “God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11).

Maybe that’s the point.  In this polarized age of immersing ourselves in what we agree with, we cannot do that with God’s Word.  We have to let the double-edge of the Sword come back on us (Hebrews 4:12-13) and let ourselves be taught, corrected, rebuked, and trained (2 Timothy 3:16-17) by the passages that make us squirm the most.

So, I think I might go read a book … right after I mow the lawn.

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To the Interests of Others

The man in the WWII hat shuffled towards the door of the bank I was exiting, and even though I was in a hurry, I waited and held the heavy door open for him.  Surely my general courtesy could extend so far.  Then, he stopped in the doorway, thanked me, and asked if I knew of a Volkswagon dealership in the area.  I didn’t and it would have been so easy to politely tell him that so I could get to my errands, but instead I took out my smartphone and googled the information for him right there.

I. Philippians 2:1-8.  So often we tell ourselves that we love others and, of course, love God when we really are just looking out for our own interests.  God says that if we love others, we first love Him by making His joy complete by being like-minded and one, focused as one on the goal of heaven.

II. 1 John 3:16-18.  We need to love others like Jesus did us: dying for our sins and rising for our redemption.  This means action and sacrifice!  We understand this as parents, but we must extend this to others, some who have done nothing for us or may even be enemies (Romans 5:6-8).

III. 1 John 2:3-6.  When Jesus took on flesh, He did not take a vacation among His creation.  He emptied Himself of His Godness and became like us in every way, so that He could suffer, die, and rise from the dead–for us!  We are to have that same attitude; we must obey to walk as Jesus did.

This time the sacrifice of my time took about half a minute, and I was able to tell this elderly veteran what he needed to know.  Referring to my phone, he said he might have to get himself one of those “frizzly-frazzly” things.  Though it may cost, how do you look out for the interests of others?

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But If It Loses its Saltiness

Most lessons on salt from the Bible have to do with its unique ability to flavor, preserve, and create thirst–all qualities Christians should possess for the world around them.  But what does salt have to do with the cost of discipleship?

I. Luke 14:1-35.  It costs much to have saltiness, for someone to stay on the narrow path.  There are sacrifices that need to be made and hard choices to endure … and God doesn’t take excuses.  Rather, He looks for a disciple who will put God’s Kingdom first in His life–or is worth his, erm, salt.

II. 2 Peter 2:20-22.  There are ways that Christians lose their saltiness.  In just the example from Luke 14, we see that they can exert worldly strength over godly weakness, exalt self, look to be repaid here, believe excuses will justify contrary behaviors to God, not put God’s Kingdom and righteousness first, not carry his cross, or place too much emphasis on material goods.

III. Luke 12:32-34.  We must hold onto our saltiness.  Our eternity depends on it.  In the Old Testament, which was a shadow of the reality to come, salt was required when offering sacrifices (Leviticus 2:13).  So, how much more should we include salt in ourselves offered as living sacrifices to God in the New Testament time (Romans 12:1)?

We must hold onto our saltiness–persevering through our many trials and living for God!

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The Missionary

The Missionary   [I wrote this towards the beginning of my now twenty year mission]

 

Today I removed a stump.

I loved a child who knew not love.

I was her father for she had not one.

She played with my kids and ate dinner not from a box or delivered by a car.

She bowed her head at a table with a family

and heard the man who took her in submit himself to God in prayer.

My wife held her and hugged her and rocked her and told her that she was loved.

The child learned that Jesus was hope and not a vain epithet muttered in angry hopelessness.

She stayed the night because there was not a place for her at home.

 

The roots of the stump ran generations deep.

Did I uproot it in one day?

No, but countless days, chopping and straining against the gnarled behemoth.

And still, shoots from the old wood may spring forth and dominate.

For now there’s a hole.

Not much to show, it seems, for my effort.

But a place to plant a seed.

 

Around me are the holes of many absent stumps

with sprouts from seeds I have planted.

Tomorrow it may be rocks I must remove

lest the roots beshallow and the plant be scorched.

Or maybe tomorrow I will pull the life-choking thorns that spring so readily

from this hard ground now that there are holes in the canopy.

 

The Master Farmer has sent another to share in the toil!

When I have fallen, he has lifted me up.

When the cold gripped the rugged land, we kept each other warm.

When wolves attacked, trampling and tearing at the tender shoots,

we were not overpowered but stood back to back.

Twice, herbicide was sprayed across the rough field.

How we mourned the dead!

How we struggled daily to purify the soil and nurse the sick.

 

We look now at the field and see holes–

empty places where the old growth once shielded seed from the Son,

empty places where boulders once laid unyielding,

empty places where thorns once sucked life.

 

We also see poking through the debris and amongst stumps, rocks, and thorns yet to be pulled–

young plants.

Some have thickened in their trunks, having persevered through countless storms.

Most have blossomed and are nourishing fellow plants.

They are leading and loving, giving and growing.

 

But from the distant watchtower those who squint see only the holes.

“Where are the new and mighty trees? Have you not cast any seed?”

What can I answer?

Today I removed a stump.

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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem

O how it hits a parent’s heart to hear his child cry out, “I hate you!” yet that is exactly how it hits God when we turn away from Him by sinning.  How do we know?  A passage in Luke tells us so ….

I. Luke 13:22-35.  The question that is asked strikes right to the core of God in the flesh, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”  God, who doesn’t want anyone to perish but come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), knows the reality that few will find the narrow path that leads to eternal life.  And, as Jesus pauses on His way to Jerusalem, we hear the Creator lament that He has often longed to gather those made in His image, who are far from Him because of sin, together.  Here, we glimpse the heart of God.

II. 1 John 4:10-12.  Next, we glimpse the hand of God.  Because He loves us, He will not take away our choice to love Him back.  We must be like Jesus at Gethsemane, who willingly submits to His Father’s will (Luke 22:41-43).  Speaking as God, Jesus admits that He has often longed to gather those He created together, but they “were not willing.”  A good and loving God, He longs to give us many blessings–even eternal life–but we keep ourselves from receiving them because we are not willing to love Him back by our obedience.

III. 1 Peter 4:1-6.  We must return to the arms of God.  If we suffer in our bodies, we are done with sin and live now for the will of God.  We certainly have “spent enough time” in all sorts of sin and selfishness.  How much more do we need?  Aren’t we sick of our sin and the separation from God that it brings?  God calls us to repent–to turn our lives, our attitudes, our ways back to Him.  Once we become willing, He will gather us like a hen does her chicks and bless us in every way (Joel 2:12-14).

God’s love for us is unconditional and deep.  He’s already demonstrated that by His Son on the cross.  And, though He loves you, unless you turn to Him by repenting, He cannot remain just and claim you.  Won’t you return to Him?

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Stand Before Me in the Gap

What better time to talk about leaders than Father’s Day!  The pioneer man facing a snarling wolf in the doorway of a log cabin while shielding his family within is an iconic picture of fatherhood … and just what Jesus did for us.

I. Ezekiel 22:6-31.  God’s people of the Old Testament had sinned greatly over the centuries, and so God was going to sweep them away into captivity.  A statement at the end of this passage tells us that He looked for a man to stand before Him in the gap, but that He found none.  None at that time were without sin and could save His people from the spiritual wolves growling at Jerusalem’s door.

II. John 10:11-15.  Only Jesus could, and He does by His work on the cross.  Only the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who is the Lamb that was slain is worthy (Revelation 5:1-12).  He is the Good Shepherd who lays His life down for His sheep.  It is a serving and sacrificial leadership that He demonstrates.  No wonder that the Son that is given is called “Everlasting Father” Isaiah 9:6-7.

III. Joshua 1:1-18.  Like any good father-leader, God, though He is able, is not going to do it all for us.  Just taking over from Moses, Joshua was told repeatedly to “be strong and courageous” when entering the Promised Land and facing the difficult trials that awaited him.  It was enough that God told him that He would never leave or forsake him.  So it is with us as we face the wolves at the doors of our lives and protect those around us (Matthew 28:18-20).

There are spiritual gaps everywhere: in the people we know, in the church, in our families, in our marriages, in ourselves!  The spiritual wolves are snarling at them, ready to destroy and devour.  God is still looking for those, made perfect in Christ, to stand before Him in the gap with the same servant/sacrificial leadership that Jesus had.  Are you strong and courageous?

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Bible.05: That is Written About Me

The starting bid on ebay for a “signed” copy of the Bible was $1,000,000.69.  That’s ridiculous for anyone who knows anything about the Bible–even if Jesus purportedly used a blue Expo marker and dotted the ‘i’ in ‘Christ’ with a heart!

Yet, God in the flesh did appear to two disciples on the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets” reportedly “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”  Besides being an incredible Old Testament study that most of us would have loved to be a part of, Jesus here confirms the inspiration and authorship of 39 books and reveals their purpose: Him.

I. Acts 2:16-36.  The Old Testament was the only Bible that 1st Century Christians had, outside of up-to-the-minute revelations through the Holy Spirit, to proclaim and confirm the gospel.  A look at the gospel sermons used in the New Testament shows how deeply they mined this resource.  God inspired and preserved the Old Testament through the centuries.  On stone, clay, leather, and eventually papyrus scrolls and codexes, the recording of God’s Word was commanded and maintained by God’s servants until the time of Ezra who, returning from the Babylonian captivity, organized these writings.  Just before Jesus was born, the Greek translation of the Old Testament (that He most often quoted from), the Septuagint, was written and the Qumran community stored away every book but Esther in clay jars near the Dead Sea.  When these were discovered in 1947, the careful copying of the Masoretes through the centuries would be proved true.

II. Romans 15:4.  So, what’s a New Testament Christian’s relationship with the Old Testament?  Why do we still have Genesis through Malachi attached to our Bibles?  The Old Testament deepens our understanding of the gospel (Hebrews 9:1-15).  Without it, we would not truly know God holiness, man’s sin and separation from God, God’s grace in taking a people and giving them priests, a temple, sacrifices, and laws.  We would not understand God’s plan to redeem sinful man from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses & Aaron, David, Ezra, and Jesus.  We would not learn from the past (1 Corinthians 10:1-13) and so know better how to live our lives in Christ.

III. Matthew 5:17-18.  The New Testament is a fulfillment of the Old Testament.  An illustration I use is that it was my law when our kids were young that they couldn’t go near the road.  Now that they are grown, they go there all the time but do not break my law.  How?  Safety has always been at the heart of it.  When they were little, they did not know how to be safe near the road, but now they do.  The book of Hebrews compares the covenants and explains how the new is, in every way, better than the old.  Jesus, God in the flesh, fulfills all (Hebrews 8:5-13).

And so, the expression, “the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed,” is true … and it’s all about Jesus (Luke 24:44-49).

 

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Not Even Solomon

The song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands …,” really puts God’s sovereignty and love for His creation into perspective.  It’s when we believe ourselves abandoned or rejected by God (because of our sins or insignificance) that we turn to our own resources to handle the struggles of life.  Worry is a reliance on self while concern is a reliance on God.  Worry, then, is really a submission problem.

I. Luke 12:4-34.  We worry because we fear the devil or what others think more than we fear God.  We think too much of ourselves and too little of God’s love or our worth to Him.  Possessions and things that are temporary are too important to us.  But, God tells us that … worry is a selfish focus, He will provide for us more than ravens, worry causes us great harm, and He will take care of those things we are powerless to control.  The world that doesn’t know God worries, but we must trust Him!

II. 2 Chronicles 9:5-28.  Everyone can see the simple yet intricate beauty of a lily, yet Jesus tells us that Solomon during the golden age of Israel, with all of his wealth, position, and power, had nothing compared to God’s attention to this temporary flower.  Since nothing is impossible with God or beyond His notice or concern, we can take heart that He finds such great worth in us and takes better care of us than lilies!  Made in His image, we are more precious to Him than anything in creation.

III. James 4:7-10.  Since this is so, we must submit ourselves fully to Him.  If we seek His Kingdom first rather than our own interests, we will have an upward rather than a downward focus … and He promises that He knows our needs and will take care of them.  He tells us that to do that, we must have our treasure stored in heaven rather than here, so that our hearts will be focused on eternal things rather than temporary.  To submit we must trust God fully and let Him handle all of life’s struggles.

There’s an expression that has been around awhile: let go and let God.  To truly let Him take control of our lives, we have to truly let go of any facade of control that we think we might have.