Who is God? Part 1
One of the oldest questions ever asked since the creation of the universe must have been, “Who is God?” From the dawn of civilization, people have posited the fact that this creation must have a Creator. They understood that all this did not come from nothing. According to the Bible, this Creator made Himself known to His creation in the Garden of Eden. But because of man’s rebellion in the Garden, he has been separated, cut off even, from his Creator. Yet, God did not leave Himself without a testimony. Through over 40 writers on three continents over thirty-five hundred years, God gave His people a personal testimony of Who He is. Over the next few entries, I hope to share some of God’s self-witness, His personal testimony, if you will. This is by no means an exhaustive list but some of the more necessary attributes of God.
Eternal. God has always been and will always be. Try wrapping your mind around that. Aristotle said He is the uncaused Cause. He has no beginning. He has no end. He is self-existent. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God (Psalm 90:2).” God could not be created because there would be something greater than Him. God’s power of being is within Himself. This is why He identified Himself to Moses as, I AM. He is. He is being. He is life. From Him comes all life. There never was a time when God was not and there never will be a time when God will not be. He is eternal. Because He breathed into us the breath of life, there will never be a time when we will not be either.
Holy. God is consecrated unto purity. God is set apart from His creation. He is the utter otherness, wholly different. He is absolutely pure and sinless. Habakkuk 1:13 starts, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…” “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16).” There is none lik
e Him.
Immutable. When I ask people what this means, most of the replies I get involve God not being quiet or us not being able to ‘mute’ Him. Perhaps this speaks more of the effects of society on us with mute buttons on cell phones and remote controls rather than a vocabulary issue. Immutable comes from the Latin prefix “im” meaning not and “muta” meaning change. Immutable means God does not change like the wind. He is not like man who can be swayed with persuasive arguments or eloquent pleading or emotional leanings. “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed (Malachi 3:6).” There are times in the Bible when God seems to allow Himself to be “persuaded” when all along He knew what He was going to do. Abraham with Christ regarding Sodom, Moses and God regarding the Golden Calf, Jesus and Bartimaeus, etc. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. That’s the blessing. Who wants to serve a God who is fickle–who is for your today and against you tomorrow? Who wants to approach a God whose mood you cannot predict?
Righteous. God is not fair but He is just. Fair means everyone gets what they deserve. If He was fair, we would all be burning in Hell right now. But, He is just. He is just because He treats us, not based on what we deserve, but based on His great love for us. In His justice, He will balance the scales. We live in a world where justice seems to be perverted. The righteous are mocked and mistreated and the unrighteous seem to get away with murder, literally. The scales will be balanced. We will be rewarded or punished based on what we did with the gifts and the life He gave us. The righteous will rewarded based upon how well we fulfilled the mission He gave us more so that how praised we were before people or how well known we were. I’m convinced that a person who is on their knees, in some room where no one sees them, praying for revival, praying for their nation, praying for their church, praying for the persecuted, praying for their national and spiritual leaders will get more accolades from God than someone who is on the TV leading ‘hundreds to the Lord’. Jesus praised the woman who gave two mites ($.01) more than the Pharisees who were praised for their great giving (Luke 21:1-4). I believe this will be the case because sometimes what we do is for show. Sometimes the work we do is with the wrong motive or the wrong heart. God’s judgment will be just because it will not be based upon what He sees but will be based upon God’s perfect standards and He revelation of our motivations.
No one’s mission field is too small or gift is too small or calling is too small. If you are called to be a parent, then raise your child the best you can in the fear and admonition of the Lord and your reward will be a great as that of any preacher. Martin Luther King, Jr. is reported to have said, ““If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” Let the same be said of us of our work for Christ.
Not only will His judgments be fair but His rewards will be fair. Romans 8:18 says that “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” In the end, the scales will be balanced and we will see that it was worth it all.
Apologetics 101
The word, apologetics, sounds a lot like apologize. Though they both have the root word “defense” in common, they mean two entirely different things. Apologetics is the act of defending ones doctrine or beliefs. It comes from 1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…” The word, defense, is translated from the Greek words, pros apologia, which means an answer for or a defense of.
Let’s look in depth.
Answer for. There are times when someone may inquire as to what you believe and why you believe it. Why are you a Christian? Why do you believe that Jesus is God? How do you know Jesus was raised from the dead? What do you think your religion is the right one when there are so many? If God is so loving, why did He create Hell? People who want to know more about our faith may ask these questions or questions like them. We need to be prepared always to have answers for their questions. Jesus was asked many times about religion and His doctrine (John 4:1-26, John 14:5, Matthew 19:1-10, 16-26), yet He never shied away from honest questions and neither should His disciples.
Defense of. Jesus had said earlier that the devil was the ruler of this world (system). C. S. Lewis once said that Christians live in enemy-occupied territory. Because the world system is ruled by the devil and occupied by sinful humans, Christians will face persecution (John 16:33). Part of this persecution is the need to defend our faith against skeptics and mockers. Instead of dealing with inquirers, we are dealing with inquisitors. How do you know Jesus is the only way? What makes your religion the correct religion and makes everyone else’s religion false? How do you know there is a God? Why should I believe the Bible when it was written by a bunch of shepherds thousands of years ago? What difference can Jesus who lived two thousand years ago make in my life today? These are all questions that unbelievers and deniers of the faith will ask, not for information but in an attempt to expose us as frauds. Whether standing before mockers or kings, Christians should be able to give a coherent defense of what they believe and why they believe it. The Psalmist writes in Psalm 119:41-42, “Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord— Your salvation according to Your word. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word.” Later he writes, in verse 46, “I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, And will not be ashamed.”
Argue with. Some in the faith believe that the word, apologia, not only means to defend or give answer to, but also to argue with. It does not. At least, not in the colloquial sense of “to argue” meaning to contend, combat, or strive against, as in a verbal tug-of-war. Christians are not called to argue with anyone to prove a point. You can present an argument, a logical statement of position, without arguing. The idea of defending the faith is so people can enter into the Kingdom because they can see that our faith is not an illogical, blind faith, but one of reason and evidence. You will never argue anyone into the Kingdom. At best, you will turn them off. At worst, you will fortify an enemy of the Cross.
The importance of studying.
God has called and commissioned us to be His witnesses. Part of being a witness is to be able to give an answer to questions that people have about a faith we claim to be so dear to us. In some regards, giving an answer or a defense is giving a testimony. People may be able to argue with facts but they cannot argue with a testimony (unless it is a false one). If you know Christ personally, if you have been transformed by the Holy Spirit, no one can argue with that—unless your life does not reflect it—then it is a false testimony. But if the testimony is real, what argument can a person give against it?
How do we present a cohesive answer or defense of our faith? Any lawyer will tell you that the key to a good defense (or prosecution) is preparation—knowing the ins and outs of the case and the law pertaining to the case. Similarly, a Christian is able to adequately defend him- or herself or to give an answer only by knowing the Word of God and knowing the God of the Word. We should prepare ourselves to give an answer or to defend what we believe, lest we either put Christ to shame or prove ourselves to be false witnesses of Christ.
This type of studying is often called, self-feeding, as compared to being fed. Being fed by others is easier, but studying God’s Word for yourself not only allows you to study what you want at your own pace, but it also allows you to get from the Word the interpretation and application the Spirit gives and not someone else’s. Then you truly own what you’ve learned because you got it directly from the Source (John 16:13-14, 1 Corinthians 2:11-16).
In conclusion, I believe the Apostle Paul said it best: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15, ESV).”
Remember Those in Prison
Hebrews 13:3
Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.
I’m going to tell you about something that I find myself guilty of. The writer of the Epistle (letter) to the Hebrews tells us that we are to remember (pray for) those in prison (chains) as though we were in prison with them. I do not do this nearly often enough. Like most Christians, I see it as an over-there problem. Those who truly consider themselves Christians need to stop seeing assaults against Christians, Christianity, and Christian morals as a “their” problem and begin to view this as an “our” problem. The writer goes on to add, “…and those who are mistreated because we are in the body.” Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, when one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. When one part of the body rejoices, the whole body rejoices. When we see Believers persecuted overseas, we need to pray for them like it is our next door neighbor who is being persecuted. We need to pray for them with the same intensity we would pray with if it were our own family being persecuted; even like we, ourselves, are the ones being persecuted.
In my message to First Baptist Church in Caney, I said:
As we read daily headlines of schools attacking the freedoms of Christians, employers limiting the freedom of Christians, people with ungodly agendas harassing Christians, how can we not expect more severe persecution of Christians to come to this country? The same people who are on the college campuses now attempting to silence Christian and Conservative viewpoints are the same people who will be in government tomorrow. What laws do you think they will pass/enforce?
This world is not our home. We are ambassadors, even missionaries, on assignment. As the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us, “We are looking forward to a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.” So as Jesus taught us, let us pray, “Our Father which is in Heaven, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is being done in Heaven.” Let us all remember to pray for those who are being persecuted, whether here or abroad, not for deliverance but for faith and stamina to represent God well in the face of adversity.
Learning to Live with Prosperity
Have You Learned to Live with Prosperity?
‘…for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:11b-13
Many of us believe that if we were to win a million dollars, we’d be set for life (even though a million dollars isn’t what it used to be). We would pay off our debts and live off the interest. However, history has taught us that that would not likely be the case. Statistics show that most lottery winners are broke and/or in bankruptcy within 5 years after receiving a lump sum payment. This is likely due to the fact that once we receive the money, all reasoning go out the window. We think our money to be as endless as the sea. Instead of paying off our debts, we buy newer and bigger houses, new luxury cars, take trips, and maybe payoff a debt or two or give some to charity.
I believe this is one reason why God doesn’t bless many of us with wealth. He knows we do not know how to handle it. What would look like a blessing to some could turn out to be a curse to others. Many athletes, entertainment icons, and corporate moguls end up filing bankruptcy shortly after their source of funds dry up because they had not learned the most important principle of money management—to live within their means. Most of them, like us, are usually living either from paycheck to paycheck or living today on tomorrow’s paycheck. When those funds are exhausted, they find that there are still expenses due. Large houses require staff. Luxury vehicles often require expensive maintenance. Entourages need to be paid. Standards of living need to be maintained.
This is likely why I have not been granted much wealth. God knows that I would not have been a good steward of it. {I know better now.} Instead of using it to become debt free so I can be used unencumbered for the Gospel ministry, I would likely have used it to acquire more stuff. Jesus reiterates this truth. If we show ourselves to be faithful in what little we have been given, we show that we would be faithful in the much He would give us.
So how do we learn to live in prosperity? I believe the answer is two-fold. First, we need to ask God to change us so that we will not use His gifts foolishly but wisely. Second, we need to develop an action plan that we will commit to should we be blessed in such a way. We must commit to give at least the first 10 percent to our local church or to the Christian ministry that feeds our spirits. Next, we must to commit to putting a percentage into a savings or investment account. Set money aside for our children’s education. Finally, we list all our bills that we are going to pay off and commit to paying them off. Enjoy the remainder, if any.
Would we be faithful in using any windfall that God blesses us with wisely or foolishly? Are we wisely using the blessings we are currently given? If we take an honest assessment of ourselves, I believe we will understand why we do not have more than we do. But it does not have to stay that way. God does not hate the wealthy but He will not curse us with wealth if it will lead to our destruction. But if we will commit ourselves to Him, I believe it would be His good pleasure to bless us so we can be a blessing.
I believe this saying sums it up: “It’s not what you do with the million if fortune should ere be your lot, but what are you doing at present with the dollar and quarter you got.”
Provoked to Jealousy
A false gospel has permeated the American culture. It is the false gospel of prosperity, the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, as some call it. I call it a false gospel because those who preach it do not preach the entire counsel of God—only the appealing part. They teach how God longs to bless His people. They teach how God desires to give them the Kingdom. They teach how God’s people are to be the head and not the tail, lenders and not borrowers. But they neglect the part that comes before—in order to be blessed by God, one must be obedient to God.
God does desire to bless His people. Inherent in that statement is the fact that one must first be His people. What does this mean? It means one must be adopted into His family by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. It means one must acknowledge his or her sinfulness, repent of that sinful life, and submit to Jesus’ Lordship. In order to be blessed, one must be His child, His obedient child.
God told the Israelites, who were His people, that they were to follow His commandment and to keep His statutes. If they did this, He would bless them exceedingly. “…He [would] bless [their] bread and [their] water; and [He would] remove sickness from [their] midst. 26 There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in [their] land; [He would] fulfill the number of [their] days. 27 [He would] send [His] terror ahead of [them], and throw into confusion all the people among whom [they came], and [He would] make all [their] enemies turn their backs to [them] (Exodus 23:25b-27). Why would He do all this? It was to win the world back to Himself by provoking them to jealousy. When the foreign people see the blessings of the Israelites they would ask, “Why are you so blessed?” They would point to God as the Source of their blessings. When their gods were unable to bless them like the Hebrew God, they would come back and say, “tell us about your God.”
A similar scene happened in the Book of 1 Kings. Solomon’s fame had gone out around the world. The Queen of Sheba came to see the man about whom the whole world was talking. The problem was that by then Solomon was not still close to God so when the Queen came, Solomon did not influence her towards God; rather she influenced him away from God.
In the New Testament, Paul tells us that God’s plan hasn’t changed. He still wants to use His people to provoke those outside to jealousy. Paul tells us in Romans 11:11 that God has taken the Kingdom to the Gentiles as to provoke the Jews to jealousy. When they were to see the blessings of God upon the Gentiles, it was meant to cause them to turn from their ways, recognize Jesus as the Messiah, repent, and turn back to God. This part of God’s plan is still in effect.
As believers we are to be walking billboards of the blessings and the glory of God. We are to both display God’s physical blessings and His spiritual ones. He does want to bless His people. I am convinced that God searches the earth looking for people He can bless. But He only blesses the obedient (Exodus 23) and the faithful (Matthew 25:14-30). His blessings are not just for us but as a testimony of His goodness and a witness to His faithfulness. They are to lead people to seek not just His hand but His face.
Do you want to receive the blessings of God? Be a blessing to others. Share what you do have-time, talent, and treasure. Let your joy be evident to all. Put your faith and your praise on display. Let your life be a witness for God’s honor and not dishonor. Provoke those who have no peace and joy to jealousy so they will ask you, “What’s up?” When you become a willing channel for God’s glory, and not your own, it will be your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
Is There Unfairness in God?
I was listening to a radio broadcast some time ago and I heard a person ask the host a question: Is God unfair in making people spend an eternity paying for sins committed in a finite existence? As I thought about this, I thought about the folly of the question (not the questioner). [He was actually asking a question that was posed to him.] My answer to that question would be this:
First, let’s set aside the fact that eternity has no timetable or measurement as we know it. Suppose you live 100 years and you sinned all of those 100 years then you die? Should you just spend 100 in torment? 200 years? 100 years for each sin? Then when you were released, where would you go? Since outside of Hell (or the Lake of Fire) is the Kingdom of God, that sinful person would then be released into a real hell. He or she would be forced to live an existence they resisted their whole life: living in an eternal worship service!
Secondly, the person who was released from torment would be released with the same spiritual deadness and rebellious nature that they entered Hell with. So when they come out, they would not be more God-honoring but likely more God-hating because of the eons of torment they had to endure. Setting aside the fact that God cannot be in the presence of sin, and that a sinful person cannot abide in His presence, would they then have a desire to worship God? They would more likely decide to go hang by the Crystal Sea than to abide in the presence of God.
Third, the original questioners premise was wrong. Hell was not created for man. Hell was created for the devil and his angels who rebelled against God. When we joined in their rebellion, we earned the right to join in their punishment. Since both angels and people are eternal in nature, the rebellious ones will spend eternity apart from the God who loved and created them.
Romans 9 asks the question, “Is their unrighteousness with God?” Paul answers, “Certainly not!” God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and compassion on whom He will have compassion. What that says to us is that God is not unfair in causing us to pay eternally for sins committed in this life but that God is gracious in giving us any way out of the punishment for the sins we have committed in this life. Instead of trying to find injustice in God toward us, we should be thankful to the justice He meted out to His Son on our behalf so that we would not have to spend an eternity separated from Him, which is the real torment.
God Bless America?
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.-Psalm 33:12
We all want God to bless America. This is the land that we love and we want to see it prosper. But I fear her days of prosperity are behind her. As we draw near these last days, I am reminded that people have mentioned that America does not appear to have a significant role. When I first heard this twenty years ago, I thought maybe they were misinterpreting something. Now as I look at the moral and fiscal decline of our nation I can understand why we will have no significant role in the world’s future evolution.
A few days ago a friend of mine remarked about how the fiscal decline of our nation is paralleling its moral and spiritual decline. How true it is. There are many places in the Bible where God states that obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings a curse. In fact, one of my favorite passages in the Bible is Exodus 32 where God promises to bless Israel so that all the nations of the world would be provoked to jealousy. Through this, He would win the nations back to Himself. However, because Israel refused to comply, God also told them in the Book of Deuteronomy of the calamities that would come upon them. Deuteronomy 28:15-69, in part reads:
“But it shall come about, if you do not [o]obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the [p]country.
17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 “Cursed shall be the [q]offspring of your [r]body and the [s]produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
19 “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 “The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all [t]you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.
****************
43The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.
I believe there are a couple of reasons why this happens. First, because we remove God from our society, we also remove godly principles that make for a productive, operating nation. When we lose sight of God, we lose sight of fiscal responsibility and personal accountability. We are borrowing millions of dollars a day to keep our nation operational and sending millions of dollars in relief to other nations, yet our schools are in shambles, our roadway infrastructure is in need of an overhaul, our military is nearly depleted, and we have millions living at or below the poverty line. Our prisons are overcrowded. We are spending millions in earmarked projects studying things that have no value, essentially building thousands of bridges to nowhere. Why? We are doing this for the second reason: because we have, in effect, evicted God from this nation, He has evicted reasoned thinking from this nation.
Wisdom is gone. As Romans 1 tells us that because we ‘refused to honor God or be thankful to Him, He has allowed our thinking to become empty and our hearts became darkened (). We profess to have wisdom but in reality it is foolishness.’ If we look at our society we have put many Band-Aids on serious wounds thinking we are solving the problem. Like Israel and King Saul, we have elected officials based on their outward appearance but not on their character. We gave people fishes instead of teaching them to fish (entitlement programs). We pay our teachers little and tie their hands on discipline and wonder why our education system is lacking. We treat the people whom we call upon to serve and protect our nation worse than we treat convicted felons. Through entertainment media, we indoctrinate people against sin with videos of violence and programs of promiscuity and vulgarity. We curtail parents’ ability to discipline and teachers’ ability to discipline and wonder why they fight the police. And the list goes on.
Though Psalm 33:12 was original written to the Jews, it is applicable to us. If a nation honors the Lord and keeps His commands, it will be blessed. Our own history has shown that to be true. But once God came under attack with Engel v Vitale (which ended prayer in school), Abington School District v Schlemp and Murray v Curlett (which ended mandatory Bible reading), and later misinterpretations of “separation of church and state” policy, this nation has begun to go downhill fiscally and morally with the Vietnam War; entitlement programs; the free love movement; strike down of DOMA and the rise and “protection” of the sexual issues like homosexuality, pansexuality, and transgender identification; Obamacare; and the like.
God bless America? How about America bless God?
GOD’S GRACE
It is through the writings of the Apostle Paul that we best come to understand the doctrine of Grace. Through Paul’s teachings, we understand that Grace comes by faith, and that the faith that brings Grace comes from God and not from ourselves. We do not work for Grace. If we did then it is not Grace but it is something we earned and therefore not a gift. Paul would open each of his letters to the various churches and to his friends, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon with a blessing of grace and peace. How did Paul come to understand the doctrine of grace? He experienced it.
Saul, Paul’s Jewish name, was a man of two worlds. He was a Jew whose father was likely a Roman because Paul claimed Roman citizenship many times in his writings. He was not only a Jew but a member of the ruling body known as the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the keepers and teachers of the Jewish Law. As a Pharisee, Paul was zealous for the Jewish faith. He was zealous to the point that he was present at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1). He was a persecutor of the church leading men and women to prison and death (Acts 8:3, 22:4). He not only persecuted the church but likely blasphemed Jesus as a heretic and as well as those who followed him (1Timothy 1:13). Though he was such a man, God spared him and used him in a great and powerful way.
God, through His infinite love and great mercy, decided to extend his generosity to Saul by visiting him one day on his was to Damascus. When going to Damascus to arrest the Christians there to bring them back to Jerusalem to be tried and imprisoned (or worse), he was intercepted by Jesus who appeared in a light brighter than the sun. He spoke with a loud voice that knocked Paul off his beast (Acts 9). Through this powerful voice, He asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul responded, “Who are you, Lord?” The voice came back, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” From that day on, Paul was on fire for Jesus and for spreading the Gospel. Why? Because he realized that he had been spared the wrath of God. He realized that he was fighting against the very God he was trying to defend. He realized that his actions warranted death but God had mercy on him. As a result, he could write, “ that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge…(Ephesians 3:17b-19)”
God’s Grace to us is powered by His love for us. He loved us enough to create us and to desire fellowship with us (Genesis 1:27-28). He loved us enough to tabernacle with us when we were lost in the wilderness of sin (Exodus 40:34, 1 Kings 8:10-13). He loved us enough to tabernacle in us through His Spirit because of the blood of His Son (John 14:15-18, Acts 2:1-4). He loves us enough to allow us to one day tabernacle with Him in the Eternal City (Revelation 21:3). It was God’s Grace that elevated a murderous persecutor and blasphemer like Paul to the role of Apostle, planter of numerous churches, and writer of nearly one half of the New Testament. It was also God’s Grace that elevated a lowly rebel like me to the heights of a saint, a priest, and a king (Revelation 5:10).
Have you experienced God’s grace in your life? Paul, Moses, Abraham, all can tell you that it doesn’t matter what type of background you have. It doesn’t matter what sins or wrongs you have committed. It doesn’t matter how bad you have been or you think you have been. He offers you mercy instead of wrath. He offers you adoption instead of separation. He offers you love. He offers you faith. By trusting in the work of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary, you, too, can experience the same grace Paul experienced—the same grace every believer has experienced (and continue to experience). God offers grace that leads to eternal life rather than justice that leads to death. Which will you choose?
The Bible – God’s Living Word
This past Sunday, I asked my students in “Sunday School” if they have heard the analogy that the Bible is like an onion. A few of them raised their hands while one of them blurted out, “Like it has different layers.”
“Exactly,” I said. I went on to explain how each time you read the Word it can say different things to you. Later that day, I was thinking of an example I could give them of this. My mind went back to a time when the Lord took me deeper into His Word. During one of my Quiet Times, the Lord took me to John 4. God used this passage to teach me several things. I thought it was a good illustration of how one can dig deep (and even deeper) into God’s Word.
John 4 recounts Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at a well. In this passage Jesus sends the Disciples into town to buy food while He spent some time alone with the woman (a social taboo in many ways). A look at this passage will show three different levels of digging into God’s Word.
Level one, which I call “the surface,” is what one can glean simply from reading the passage. On the surface, the passage is simply a conversion story. It recounts how Jesus meets a woman and through conversation leads her into the realization that He was the promised Messiah she’d been looking for. He does this by overcoming her objections and revealing Himself to her by recounting for her his life story—something only God can do.
Level two goes a little deeper. A level two reading reveals this telling to be more than just a conversion story but a lesson on how Christians are to treat non-believers if they intend to win them to Christ. First, Jesus went to where she was. If the saints are to win the lost, they have to go where the lost are. They can’t just sit in a holy huddle waiting for the lost to come to them. That just is not going to happen. Second, Jesus knew of her past and he let her know that he knew of her past, but He did not demean her for it. Jesus understood that sinners will act like sinners. It stuns me when saints are shocked when sinners act like they do. It’s their nature. It’s all they know. How ironic that saints expect sinners to act like saints while saints think it ok to act like sinners.
A level three study of the text reveals to us the heart of God. Jesus, being God, had to go through Samaria the Bible tells us. The Jews normally would go out of their way to avoid this area but Jesus made a beeline through it to meet a woman at a well during the hottest part of the day. This woman would go to that well during this time because no one else was there. At that time, there would be no leering eyes and muttered talk. This woman was looked down on even by the Samaritans. She was, in effect, the lowest of women among the lowest of society among the lowest of people groups, at least according to Jewish thinking. But God went directly to her and met her personally. Likewise, God calls us to go to the unlovely and the unlovable to demonstrate His love and concern. Who around us is considered the unlovely? Who is considered the unlovable? Who would we consider to be not worth our time or not worthy of heaven? What person or people group has God placed on our heart? Jesus went to this woman and this woman, the least of her people, became His first evangelist, introducing her people to Him while the Disciples stood idly by. God said He would take the foolishness of this world to confound the wise and the weakness to confound the strong. He did that with this woman. Like Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, the Disciples, Paul—just to name a few—He used this woman to lead an entire city to the Lord. What Billy Graham or Mother Teresa is in our midst waiting to know of the love of God and of the salvation available through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?
These are by far not the only applications of this passage. I’m certain that as I study it again, God will lead me to other truths. He may have led you to other trusts while you were reading this post. If so, please share so we can all grow from your insights.
Why does the reading of the Word of God produce so many applications? It does so because it is God’s Word. God is living and dynamic and so is anything He creates, including His Word, which, according to Hebrews 4:12, “is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart, NASB.”
My Commentary on First Timothy 1:12-20
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Paul closed out his previous instruction by saying that the Gospel was entrusted to him [among others]. He then proceeds to recount his own shameful past and how he was a recipient of the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing he does is give thanks to Jesus who gave him strength and appointed him to the gospel ministry. Why did Jesus save and call Paul. In Paul’s own words: He considered me faithful. Jesus knew that Paul was zealous for God just on the wrong side of the Cross. He knew that once Paul was saved, that same zeal would be used to promote the Gospel was than persecute it. Was He not right? Paul started numerous churches and is credited with writing nearly half of the New Testament. Talk about faithful.
1 Timothy 1:18-20
In this passage, Paul encouraged Timothy to be faithful. He said the purpose he gave this instructions was in keeping with the prophecies that were made about Timothy. The Bible does not say when these prophecies were made but they apparently spoke about how God would use Timothy to strengthen the believers and refute the false teachers.
His instruction to Timothy was to engage in battle and not just sit on the sidelines. Those who teach false doctrine needs to be rebuked. Those who attempt to divide the church need to be confronted. The Word of God needs to go forth. The command of Jesus was to make disciples and that means teaching the Word to the hearers giving them a foundation upon which to stand against false teaching.
Timothy’s motivation was to teach from faith and a good conscience. Paul said there were some who rejected their faith in the oracles and providence of God and the desire good conscience and, as a result, their faith (walk with God) was destroyed. He then goes on to list two such people, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who were known for their blasphemies. Paul said he had delivered them to Satan, or rather he has asked God to show them the error of their ways.
Cyber-Discipleship 