Tuesday's slice of bread

A weekly post premised on this: Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord (Prov. 16:20)

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Location: Florence, Kentucky, United States

married to my best friend, writer, teacher, avid reader, occasional poet, volunteer

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The Risk of Having a Faith Hero

Hebrews 11 is often seen as highlighting
Heroes of the faith, and so it does, but
A closer look reveals it was not the man nor the woman whose faith rendered them of note,
But the One in whom their faith rested.
How risky it is to look to a man or a woman,
However strong their faith.
Look, rather, to the One in whom they put their faith:
Safe with the Savior!

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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Guilt, Repentance, Salvation, Sanctification

Guilty: sometimes we feel it when we aren't; other times when we are, we don't feel it.

Guilt is a tough matter to deal with.

Only One has never been guilty of anything because only One is holy. And that One has made that holiness the standard by which all of us are to live. Well, none of us has or has even cared to try.

Sin is more appealing and so much easier to accommodate. When "everyone" is doing whatever it is, when there is no reason to mortify sin, why not just do as we please?

The conscience is a tender thing, but one which we can over time do our best to silence, much like silencing the smoke detector by removing the battery. Of course, silencing a smoke detector can cost lives.

When I was much younger, I had a tendency to take responsibility for bad things, even if there was no way I could have had a hand in them. I had to learn the difference between one kind of guilt and another. I learned I was guilty of enough, responsible for enough, without taking on unwarranted guilt feelings, but that took some time--much time.

Sin is in our DNA. Not sinning, not wanting to sin, is a matter of Divine intervention, or we will sin ourselves to death, dying in our sleep due to that silenced smoke detector, the Holy Spirit of God.

Guilt is real. God calls us to account for our sins. And He knows each one of them, both of commission and omission. He knows our hearts, our motivations--completely--from the first cry to the last. There is no higher court to which we can appeal.

In Hebrews 9:27 we read, it is appointed for us to die once and then face judgment. All of our opportunities to be made right with Him come in this life and in this life alone, and none of us knows when this life will end; it is dire to face His eternal fire.

Sin being in our DNA means we have to have a changed nature, not merely a changed external wardrobe, a new heart not merely a new behavior, and we can change neither because we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2). Grim and grimmer, isn't it?

Those who chafe at God's decision that salvation should be granted through only one way ought to also remember that He is not obligated to save anyone.

It is only because He chooses to save any, that salvation is even available.

For those who chafe at the idea that we are not the free choosers, remember that unless His grace frees us in that one way He has made, we will spend both this life and the life to come enslaved to Satan, under whose bonds we were born, who is the present prince of  the power of the air, who often presents himself as an angel of light when he is no such thing, and who can do only what God permits and approves (see Job 1-2).

Oh, would that you who chafe at the way of salvation see the cost of it borne by the Holy Lord of all that it might be accomplished according to the Father's good pleasure.

Chafe not, but plead to know such grace, such saving grace, such costly grace.

The Necessity of Repentance

Ecclesiastes 7:20: "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins."

James 2:10: "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."

Romans 1:18-20: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them."

Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Isn't any faith in God enough to be right with Him?

James 2:19: "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder."

How can I be made right with God, then?

Only by faith in Christ and His completed work, seeing these passages as true:

Isaiah 53:6: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way, and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

John 1:11-12: "He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed on His name, He gave the right to become children of God."

John 3:16-21: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

John 3:36: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."

John 6:44-45: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me."

Acts 4:12: "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Romans 10:13: "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come."

2 Corinthians 5:1-2: "Working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time, behold, now is the day of salvation."

What do I do after I have repented and called on the name of the Lord? What will I have?

Here are some of the things you will have:

Certainty: 1 John 5:13: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."

Recognition: Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Comfort: Jeremiah 31:3: "The LORD appeared to him from far away. 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you.'"

         John 1:1, 14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Growth: Colossians 2:6-7: "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

      1 Peter 2:1-3: "So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up into salvation--if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." A hunger and thirst for righteousness should drive you to ongoing intake of the Word.

Activity: Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Warning: Colossians 2:8: "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."

     2 Peter 2:1-3: "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not  asleep." This calls for the necessity of learning the Word well enough to begin to develop discernment.

      2 Timothy 4:3-4: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." Be careful of the kind of teaching you sit under. Be like the Bereans who checked for themselves what the Word taught (see Acts 17:11).







Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Family Resemblances

I have been going through old photos recently and can't help but notice family resemblances. There are obvious physical similarities. But beyond those, we also share common nonphysical interests. Because of our common interests, we are a close-knit family. But more important than that family tree is another tree, and a more important family likeness.

Root; source--establish or tear out

"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in low, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 3:17-19; NASB).

"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:17-19; ESV).

I decided to look this up--root it up?--after a Bible study some years ago. It seemed that being rooted and grounded in God's love provides both source and establishment of our life and our growth and our fruitfulness.

Psalm 1:1-3

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields it fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers."

Jeremiah 17:7-8

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

Psalm 92:12-15

"The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."

Our fruitfulness comes from our continuing connection with the True Vine, who is Christ, pruning by His Father, and is really the fruit of the Spirit.

Jesus said in John 15: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes so that it may bear more fruit....Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me, you can do nothing" (verses 1-2, 4-5).

What is this fruit? Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23a: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."

And there is more: "Against such things there is now law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another" (Galatians 5:23b-26).

Our walk--our daily life in Christ--reflects this daily crucifixion--humility instead of boastfulness, compassion instead of challenging, generosity instead of envying--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control--as the Father prunes us to make us more fruitful to His glory.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Discernment: Text and Context

One of the easiest things to do is to latch on to a Bible verse and take it out of context. Someone I knew wrecked more than one family by doing this. No doubt this has happened to others along the way, also.

Someone shares a verse such as this from Philippians 4:12: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and runs with it, without looking at the verses which precede it. How did Paul learn this?

"All things" is comprehensive, but out of context it's not appropriately applied. It is not unlike "all things are lawful"; since when?

Another misused verse is Philippians 4:19: "But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."  Some months ago I saw this placed in conjunction with a pile of money, as if there is some magic in this verse--we just need to use to insist that God provide.

Then there is Mark 16:17, part of the final passage in Mark, which strong external evidence from scholars indicates was not even part of the original inspired book: "These signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

1 John 5:15, if disconnected from previous verses, can also be misapplied: "And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him."

We must be careful not to take texts out of context lest we run aground on the rocks of wrong application. As bad as it is to take everyday statements out of context, it is hazardous to our eternal health to do so with Scripture.