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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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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.

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Bible.04: But Men Spoke from God

A parent leaves a kid at home with a note that reads “Clean your room!”  The kid respects the parent’s authority and so obeys the command, but if he interprets the note how he wants by stuffing toys out-of-sight in the closet or clean clothing under the bed, is he truly pleasing to his parent?  No, of course not!  Yet, even if we all can agree that God’s Word is authoritative over our lives but interpret it however we would would like, can we be pleasing to God?

I. 2 Peter 1:19-21.  Authority came from the Father to the Son to men inspired to write God’s Word for us to obey.  Just as a cop cannot interpret the law however he wants, we cannot make God’s Word mean whatever we would like it to or best suits our lifestyle.  Rather, we must discover what God intended for us to understand and obey.

II. 1 Corinthians 11:17-29.  Good Bible study techniques must be applied.  Who’s speaking?  To whom is the passage being spoken?  What is the type of literature and language being used?  What testament and book does it appear in?  What’s the general, specific, and historical context?  Is there a clear command?  For an example, take the issue of when to take the Lord’s Supper.  Is there an approved example (Acts 20:7)?  Is there an inference about how often Christians met (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)?

III.  Ephesians 5:19.  We must treat biblical silence as prohibitive rather than permissive.  We can get into much trouble when we say, “God didn’t say we couldn’t ….”  Once we open a door, where does it end?  If I order coffee at a restaurant, I expect the waitress to bring me a mug of black coffee.  If she puts in several packs of sugar and whitens it with cream, I would not be pleased.  Those things are innovations (something new introduced) rather than an expedient (a means to get to the command).  Thus, the mug is an expedient for me to have coffee in the same way that a songbook or pitchpipe would aid us in singing.  An addition of a guitar or choir in worship, however, would be an innovation.

So, to please the parent, the kid should ask himself, “How would mom want me to clean my room?  What would she want me to do with these toys and clean clothes?”  God’s inspired Word, just as the parent’s note, can never mean what it never meant.

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In the Way He Should Go

My grandfather used to say, “You don’t wait until a tree is full grown until you prune it.”  When kids are bad, we blame the world, coaches, teachers, “failing schools” … or even the kids themselves.  But, rarely do we blame bad parenting.  Far too often parenting is negligent, permissive, or authoritarian, but biblical parenting is the way that our heavenly Father parents us–authoritatively, a process that, out of love, outlines the consequences for our choices but allows us to make our own choices.

I. Genesis 2:20-24.  God created parenting.  In the verses, we often use to show how marriage is between a man and a woman, the concepts of “father” and “mother” are mentioned.  How strange they must have sounded to Adam and Eve who had neither!  But, here God institutes not only marriage but the concept of family and parental roles.

II. Ephesians 6:1-4.  Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, but fathers are to instruct their children in the Lord.  Parents must actively train their children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6).  The Israelites were told to do this (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) but forgot while they conquered the Promised Land with disasterous consequences (Judges 2:10-13).

III. 1 Timothy 3:4-5.  Even an elder must have parented in the style of our heavenly Father over us, so that he can shepherd Christ’s church in that same parenting style.  A kid that doesn’t accept correction brings grief to his mother (Proverbs 29:15) and breaks his mother’s heart (Proverbs 15:20).  Rather, when a child does not turn from the way he was trained (Proverbs 23:25), he brings joy!

This is a difficult topic as no matter our kids’ ages, we realize we all have made mistakes in parenting that we regret.  Where it is not too late, we can change.  Where it is, we can apologize.  But, there are still kids in our lives (in the church especially) over which God has given us influence.  How’s your example?  How are you training the children in your life?

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Too Good for God

There are certainly many sections of Scripture that most of us would admit we skip or at least skim.  When the unpronounceable names and unfathomable numbers pile-up, we shrug, not knowing these people, and look for the next bit of story.  But, every once in a while a spiritual gem can be mined from these passages.  This week while skimming (I admit it!) such a chapter in Nehemiah that mentioned who was rebuilding the wall next to whom, I found one that made me almost fall out of my chair:

“And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.”
Nehemiah 3:5.

First, let’s look at the context.  In successive waves, starting with the best and brightest who had skills or could oppose him, Nebuchadnezzar had brought the inhabitants of Judah into captivity in Babylon, where they would become ‘Jews.’  Seventy years later, Cyrus allowed all those who would want to return to go back and make a life out of the burned rubble of Jerusalem.  They didn’t need to and many chose not to.  Those who did, we would think, would have a pioneer spirit, willing to do whatever was necessary to survive and serve God who, in His mercy, had allowed them to return to the promised land.

But not these nobles!  As the very defense of what little life they and their neighbors had managed to scrape together was at stake, they “would not stoop to serve their Lord.”  It was beneath them.  These nobles would be that friend who you take camping who sips iced tea from a lawn chair while you pitch the tent.  They are Mr. and Mrs. Howell on Gilligan’s Island.  As some who returned were alive when the city and temple were destroyed, it’s hard to imagine that they believed they were coming back to the Golden Age of Israel under Solomon when the Queen of Sheba was so impressed with what she saw that surpassed the reports that she proclaimed, “Behold, the half was not told me.”  No, this Jerusalem required sweat and the rolling up of sleeves.

Sadly, we have those in the church who believe themselves ‘too good for God.’  While many labor around them rebuilding the walls of broken lives, these ‘nobles’ will not stoop to serve the Lord.  Too wrapped up in their own lives to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, or teach the lost, they only warm a pew for an hour on Sundays and gain a smug checkmark on the attendance roster.

But, the way up is down on our knees.  If God is so beneath us that stooping to serve Him is detestable to us, then how can we expect Him to lift us up?  After all, if Jesus, who was God in the flesh, could stoop to wash feet and then die on the cross for us, can’t we follow His example?

 

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Faith Under Trial

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1.

Faith, by very definition, means that we are trusting in God during a trial of uncertain outcome.

Abraham could see no clear way that his barren, ninety year-old wife could bear him a son, yet this same chapter says he “considered him faithful who had made the promise.”  Faith, then, depends on how well we trust solely in God’s solid-rock character that does not change despite our circumstance.  Talk about ‘faith under trial’–it is only under trial that we know if we have true faith.

This came home to me in 2012 when my wife, never a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer.  Now into our sixth year of various chemotherapy and radiation treatments, even a four-hour surgery last May to remove an egg-sized brain tumor, my faith as a husband and caregiver, elder and evangelist, in particular is still under trial.

If I get a cold, I am reasonably assured that if I take a regimen of medicines over a short window of time, I will be better soon.  Colds come and go, often with no serious life-altering effects.  It is a very low-level of faith indeed (even if at the time I feel like I might die) to believe that I will eventually get well.  But cancer?  We have been living with excruciating uncertainty for six years!  Will she live or die?  Is today a go-to-work or lie-on-the-couch day?  Will she feel too queasy to eat supper tonight or is there a specific craving that I have to run to the store to find?

That kind of trust over that period of time takes incredible faith.  “God’s got this–He always has,” has become our mantra that reminds us, sometimes daily, that He is the only One who has ever been in control anyway.

It was always during the difficult times that Jesus would rebuke his followers for lack of faith.  It is not easy to be a Christian.  When the squall comes up on our Sea of Galilee, we believe God to be asleep and so not in control.  We may even accuse Him of not caring.  But, our lack of faith is showing.

After Jesus’ hard teaching about His body being real food and His blood real drink in John 6, many “turned back and no longer followed him.”  When Jesus asked the Twelve if they too would leave, Peter answered with words that should encourage all to find faith under trial, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”

There’s no one else.  Our lives depend on us having faith under trial.