Week 12, Day 2: Turning Back
Today’s Reading: Jude 1:1-25, 1 Corinthians 1:1-31
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
There are times in inspired scripture that it seems that God is trying to use “shock value” to get our attention. This is a tactic that works! Think about how often you are drawn to listen to something on the radio, or watch something on TV because the introduction or “lead in” to it was shocking. It gets our attention, and makes us pay attention to the message. The same thing is sometimes true in the Bible. This happens in 1 Peter 2:20-22.
Peter is addressing those that follow after a false teacher. He points out that these people are faithful Christians, who listen to a message that is not founded on Biblical teaching. This causes them to fall away from the truth, turning back into sinful practices. Peter tells us that those who entangled and overcome with the pollutions of the world are worse off than if they had never heard the gospel. This is not because there is a greater punishment, but rather because there “remains no more sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 10:26). This person has accepted the gospel message, and then turned their back on it. There is nothing left with which to convince them to make changes in their lives! That does not mean that the same gospel will not one day prick their heart again. But, in their rejection of the gospel, they have turned their backs on God, and the salvation that He offers to them.
The latter part of this passage is the “shocking” part. How, exactly, does God view one who would be so bold as to turn his back on Him? Two vivid pictures are painted for us, and the Holy Spirit (I believe) wants us to picture the gruesomeness of the pictures. The first is of the dog that returns to its own vomit. Anyone who has been around dogs much has seen this practice. A dog will eat something that makes it sick, and then vomit it out on the ground. Before long, you will see that same dog return to that vomit, and lick it up again. That should be a picture that turns our stomachs! it is certainly not something pleasant to think about. The second picture is of a hog which will roll in its own excrement. A hog that is freshly washed will go right into the mire (a mixture of feces and mud) and roll around, making itself stink.
These illustrate what the Christian who returns to the world, and becomes unfaithful is like. They are like that dog eating its own vomit, or that hog wallowing in its own excrement after being cleansed. There is no more gruesome act that a Christian can do than to return to the world, contaminating himself once again with those things that he once renounced and left behind. God views us as repulsive, just as we view these examples as repulsive.
Peter’s writing should make us seriously consider the act of giving up on God and His word. How can we be so nasty, and repulse God in such a way? How can we give up the blessings that come with being purged, and being clean? How can we contaminate ourselves before God? I hope this “shocks” us enough that we will remain faithful to God, ignoring the teachings of false teachers. We certainly don’t want to envision ourselves as a part of Peter’s illustrations!
Week 12, Day 1: The Roaring Lion
Today’s Reading: 2 Peter 2:1-3:18
Some thoughts from Friday’s reading…
One of the most vivid descriptions of Satan is found in 1 Peter 5:8. Peter tells us that the Devil is “walking around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” This is one of those passages that you need to close your eyes and picture what the author is describing. Satan is like a lion, on the hunt. He is roaring, trying to frighten his prey into freezing so that he can pounce on him. If he can get us to just give up our defenses, he will be in the prime position to jump on us, and get us to sin.
When we think of lions, we should think about their characteristics. The lion is vicious. It is domineering. There is a reason that the lion is called the “king of the jungle.” He is not going to be timid in his attacks. Lions also work relentlessly to down prey. They will track herds until they are close enough to pounce. They will also use their surroundings to hide themselves from their prey.
We can see Satan’s tactics in these characteristics. Satan will be vicious in his attacks upon us. he is not going to give up, and he is not going to give in. We can be sure that he will be trying to attack us for as long as we live on this earth. This is perhaps why Peter’s epistles are so filled with warnings for us to remain faithful, even in times of tribulation and temptation. Satan will use our surroundings to cause us to stumble. He will use everything that he can to tempt us. He knows what will tempt each one of us, and he uses it masterfully. We have to truly be strong in the faith to be able to avoid “the wiles of the Devil!”
But, even lions can be defeated. I recently read a book entitled “The Man Eaters of Tsavo”, which was about lions that attacked railroad worker camps in Africa. The lions grew in fame and infamey by killing many people. However, eventually, the lions were defeated by the persistence and skill of the engineer who was responsible for getting the railroad bridge at Tsavo built. The same thing is true for us today. If we are persistent and skillful in our faith, we will defeat our lion, the Devil, as well!
Week 11, Day 5: Give a Defense!
Today’s Reading: 1 Peter 5:1-2 Peter 1:21
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
We often quote 1 Peter 3:15, and talk about the need to be ready to give a defense for the things that we believe. That is, I believe a good use of the verse, but it does not get to the heart of what Peter was warning of in the context. You have probably noticed that much of what Peter writes about has to do with bearing up under tribulation. This passage is no different. Peter is writing about those who would suffer for the sake of righteousness. He was writing to people who were being “strong armed” by others who were trying to keep them from preaching the gospel message. Peter’s message in these verses does not have to do so much with having the intellectual skills to defend your beliefs (that is, understanding what you believe, and why you believe it) as much as it has to do with courage!
These Christians were going to need courage to defend their beliefs, knowing that they were going to suffer persecution for them. Peter was encouraging them to stand strong, and not back down, even if bad things were going to happen to them. This should certainly make us stop and think about our own willingness to give a defense. Often, we use the “excuse” that we don’t know enough to give a defense for our beliefs to others around us. How often is it really that we lack the courage that it takes to take a stand for what is right? It doesn’t take a lot of knowledge to express to our co-workers or friends why we aren’t going to participate in their sinful activities. But, it takes a whole lot of courage to stand up to them when they are trying to get us to do something that we know that we shouldn’t!
We need to be ready (with knowledge) to give a defense, but we also must have the courage that is necessary to stand up against evil and teach truth. That is not going to be an easy thing to do in most cases. If we are armed with the right message, we should have faith and confidence in Christ to allow us to do the hard thing, and teach the truth. So what if we are ridiculed, persecuted, or even (in the extreme case) killed? We must be ready to give a defense of what we believe. That is what we see in the example of Stephen. He knew what was going to happen to him, and he still had the courage to preach the gospel. We should follow his example!
Week 11, Day 4: The Nature of Our Inheritance
Today’s Reading: 1 Peter 3:1-4:19
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter discusses the blessings of the eternal inheritance that we have, which is provided through Jesus Christ. He uses several words to describe the inheritance that we have in Christ, all of which should give us great hope as we struggle with the things of this life. Consider the inheritance that Peter discusses:
- Imperishable–There is nothing that can destroy this reward. There is no one who is powerful enough to do away with it, or take it away from us. We can have confidence that it will be there for us, when this life is over.
- Undefiled–This reward cannot be tarnished. There is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing evil about it. God has provided the perfect inheritance! We can be assured of the purity of the reward that God provides.
- Will not fade away–This inheritance will never be used up. We will never have to worry about running out of the reward. What God offers us, through Christ, is greater than anything that could be attained in this world.
- Reserved in heaven–God is taking care of our reward for us. It is there waiting for us is we remain faithful through this life. We don’t have to wonder if it is there, or not there. God has provided it. Christ has gone to prepare it. We now have to do our part to attain it!
- Protected by the power of God–Peter tells us that we are protected by the power of God for this inheritance. This is much like what Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. He is powerful enough to protect us for the inheritance. This doesn’t mean that nothing bad will happen, or that physical harm will not come to us. But, those things cannot separate us from our inheritance, if we remain steadfast to the end!
How can these not encourage us? We can make comparisons to the failure of worldly rewards and inheritances, but in reality there is no comparison. What God offers is far greater than the physical silver and gold that we can accrue here.
Peter tells us in this context (1 Peter 1:6) that we can indeed rejoice in the thought of what God has provided, even if we must suffer various trials for the time being. Whatever we must go through here will be worth the reward offered by God in the next life. And, we prove our faith and devotion by continuing to be faithful to God, no matter how bad the trials become (1 Peter 1:7).
EDIT: It was pointed out to me that I was careless in following the context of the passage above, in that it is the Christians who are protected, rather than the inheritance. This is absolutely correct! In my haste, I overlooked the small word “who” in verse 5, which changes the recipient of the protection from the inheritance to the Christians. I am going to change the point above to reflect this! Thanks to Chad for pointing this out to me, so that it is not incorrect! This is a good example of how a small mistake in a context can change the meaning pretty drastically.
Week 11, Day 3: Will They Remember?
Today’s Reading: 1 Peter 1:1-2:25
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
One thought that often comes to my mind as I read the accounts of the crucifixion of Christ, such as is found in Mark 15, is the question: At the judgment, will these people remember their role in the crucifixion of Christ? Will it be brought to their attention? Will they be reminded that their judgment is based on those actions? And, the answer is yes. They will be reminded of these sins (if they did not repent) because that is the very reason that God will condemn. He will declare, based on their actions, that these people can not enter into the eternal reward.
That is a scary thought, because it is not true just about those who crucified the Son of God. It is true for every single person who has sinned (which is all of us, Romans 3:23) and refused to repent. If I choose not to turn away from sin in this life, I will have to face it again when I come to the judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10). I cannot escape the judgment to come. What I must do is make sure that I take care of my sins while I can still do something about it!
We have the opportunity now to make sure that we turn away from sin, so that we don’t have to worry about it when we come to judgment. We will not have to have our sin replayed for us, like so many in the world around us. Even if our sin is not so severe as those who crucified the Son of God, it will be severe enough to condemn us.
The encouraging side of this thought is that even those who did crucify the Messiah could have their sins forgiven! Can you imagine a God so forgiving that He can forgive even that atrocity? Our God is able to do that! And, if He can forgive those sinners, we can have confidence in the fact that He can (and will) forgive us as well!
Week 11, Day 2: The Little Things
Today’s Reading: Mark 15:1-16:20
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
Have you ever thought that the little things that you may do are insignificant? Do you think that some of the things you do in service to God go overlooked? I know that I have talked with people before who seem to have these thoughts. They think that their service is considered “less” in some way because they don’t do some of the more prominent and noticeable jobs in the Lord’s church. But, that simply is not the case. Sometimes it is the “little things” that mean the most!
Consider a verse from our context. In Mark 14:3-9, we can read the account of a woman who brought a very costly perfume and anointed the head of Jesus. The people who were there complained, saying that it was wasteful and that the perfume should have been sold and given to the poor. Jesus rebuked them, and told them that this woman had done a good deed. She had anointed His body for the grave (even thought they didn’t realize that the time was quickly coming when Jesus would be killed). But, the verse that stood out the most to me was Mark 14:9. Jesus said that this woman’s deeds would be spoken of where ever the gospel was preached! This was not a big thing (though it was expensive for her). It was a small act. And yet that small act would be a part of the teaching of the gospel from that day forward. We are indeed still speaking of her in the proclamation of the gospel today! This event is so important that it is included in each of the gospel accounts!
This should make us pause and think about our actions in life. The little things that we do, that may seem insignificant to us, may be things that are very important to others. More importantly, they may be very important to God. After all, if we were deciding what accounts were to go into the Bible, would we have chosen this story to appear four times? Probably not. But, to God, it was an important account, and the reputation of this woman lives on through the record of her actions.
But, we should also consider that wicked small things could also have a big impact. It is not just the righteous things that we do that can have a great impact, but the unrighteous as well. We should never dismiss sin in our lives as being “insignificant”, as we will never know just how much impact it might have. Even those “little things” that we think don’t affect anyone else can have a tremendous impact down the road.
So, let us make sure that we don’t leave the “little things” undone that need to be done. And let us avoid those “little things” that often tempt us to sin.
Week 11, Day 1: The Unanswerable Question
Today’s Reading: Mark 13:1-14:72
Some thoughts from Friday’s reading…
In Mark 12:18-27, we have an account of some of the Sadducees who came to Jesus to question Him. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, and decided that they would prove their position by asking a question that Jesus could not answer. After all, if they could stump the Master Teacher, then they must be right! So they developed a scenario that they thought was unanswerable. A man had a wife, and then died. She had no children, so she was to become the second brother’s wife. This continued through 7 brothers, without the woman ever having a child. Their question was: In the resurrection, whose wife would she be? They thought this proved there was no resurrection, because she would have 7 husbands in the resurrection, and that would be unlawful!
Jesus, of course, was able to answer their question. They did not understand the scriptures. They did not understand the power of God. He showed in Mark 12:26-27 that God is the God of the living, not the dead. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were spoken of as being alive, even though they had died hundreds of years earlier! They still existed! If these Sadducees had known the scriptures better, they would have understood this principle.
How often is the same pattern followed today? Many times, when a controversial subject is discussed, one side or the other decides that they can prove their point by asking some “unanswerable question.” They believe if they can just stump the other side with a “trick question” then they must be right! But, that is not the case any more today than it was in Jesus’ day. Let me give you a modern example of this type of thinking. How often have you heard someone argue against the necessity of baptism based on a question such as: “What about the person who is on their way to be baptized, and has a car wreck in which they are killed? Are they still going to be lost?” Such a person is convinced that they have asked an unanswerable question. They believe it proves that baptism is truly not necessary for salvation. In reality, God is saying, “You do not understand the scriptures or the power of God.” You see, this question has absolutely nothing to do with what the scriptures teach. We can only teach what has been revealed to us. I am not the judge who determines the fate of the person in the hypothetical situation given above. But, I certainly can not base my teaching on my suppositions about what God will choose to do in such a situation. I certainly cannot change the plain teaching of scripture, and teach that baptism is not necessary when God so plainly says that it is (1 Peter 3:21).
Many in the Lord’s church take the same approach when discussing what have become “controversial subjects.” Instead of looking at the scriptures carefully, and trying to study together to come to agreement, many just try to come up with what they perceive to be an “unanswerable question.” They believe that if they can just come up with that one question that can’t be answered (at least to their satisfaction) then they have won the argument. But, we shouldn’t be looking to just “win the argument,” but rather trying to find the truth. So, lets make sure we understand the scriptures and the power of God, instead of just trying to defeat others in some debate!
Aristotle’s Four States of Man
I thought that I would share with you an idea that I plan to use in my sermon tomorrow morning. This is Aristotle’s 4 states of man, which describe where a person is in their battle against wickedness.
- Perfect temperance: Reason rules over passion, and the fight is won
- Unbridled lust: Passion rules over reason and the fight is lost
- Incontinence: Reason fights, but passion prevails. The battle is on, but at the moment, reason is losing
- Self Control: passion fights, but reason prevails. The battle is on, but at the moment reason is winning.
The first is what we should all seek to attain, even though we know that we will certainly never reach perfection in this life. Hopefully, we avoid the second at all costs. However, we can look around us and see that there are plenty of people who have that very attitude toward sin. It seems that they are trying to be as wicked as humanly possible! Typically, we will find ourselves bouncing back and forth between the last two possibilities. The battle is certainly raging, and sometimes we are winning the battle, but sometimes we are losing the battle. Our goal should be to spend as much time as possible in the last category. We need to grow to the point that we can control our own desires, and have reason win out over the passions of life and lust!
Week 10, Day 5: One Thing…
Today’s Reading: Mark 11:1-12:44
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
In the movie “City Slickers”, Billy Crystal is told by Jack Palance that he had to seek out the “one thing”, which was different for every one. It was, if I recall, something to do with the meaning of life for each person, or that which was most important to him. Jesus’ interaction with the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10 reminds me of that scene. Jesus was not telling this man to look for the meaning of life, but He did tell him to look for the one thing that was keeping him from being faithful to God (Mark 10:21). In his case, the Rich Young Ruler was letting worldly wealth stand in his way. He was not willing to give up his riches to be faithful.
There may be only one thing that keeps us from being faithful to God. It may not be money or possessions (though it very well may be). Our problem may be that we are unwilling to give up filthy communication, or lasciviousness, or some other sin. We may not be willing to make the kind of commitment that God demands of us. We may be unwilling to work in the Kingdom the way that we are supposed to. There are any number of things that can keep us from being faithful. The bottom line is that we must be willing to give up every last thing that keeps us from faithful service.
Being a Christian is not an easy task. But, often we do so well at getting sin put out of our lives right down to a certain point–the point at which we only have one or two things left. Typically these are the things that are the most ingrained in our lives, the things that are hardest to let go. If we are truly committed to Christ, then we should be willing to give up whatever is in the way of our service. If you have “one thing” that you lack, do what is necessary to fix it today!
Week 10, Day 4: Sins of the Heart
Today’s Reading: Mark 9:1-10:52
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
How often do we think that we “act without thinking”? We often blame our sin on this type of impulsive action. But, the fact of the matter is that we cannot act without thinking. Our sin starts in our heart, and proceeds to actions. That is the point of what we see Jesus making in Mark 7:14-23.
The Jews had come to Jesus complaining that His disciples did not wash their hands before eating. They believed that the person would be corrupted because of this, even though it was not a part of the Law, but rather a part of the traditions of their fathers. Jesus’ teaching shows that it is not what goes into a man through his mouth that corrupts him, but rather what comes out of him. As He is completing this section, Jesus makes the point that our sins originate in our hearts, and then come forth as actions.
This is the source of all of our sins. Nothing just happens. We have to think about it before we can ever put sin into practice. Notice the examples that Jesus cites: evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride and foolishness. Every one of these things starts in the heart first. Those who commit adultery or fornication do not do so without first thinking about entering the bed of one they have no right to. Those who commit murder can not do so without first thinking about taking the life of another person. Those who steal must first think about what they will steal and how they will steal it. Surely we can see how each of Jesus’ examples of sin starts in the heart.
So, what is the solution? To guard our hearts against these and all sins. We need to do our very best to keep sin out of our mind. We should fill our minds and hearts with good works. If we commit ourselves to righteousness, we will guard ourselves against unrighteousness. This should remind us of what Paul wrote to the Galatians:
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
–Galatians 5:16-26
If we focus on the “fruit of the Sprit”, we will help ourselves to avoid the sins that are “works of the flesh.” This is the manner of life that we choose to live. This is the path that we walk. That does not mean that we will never stumble, but it should define who we are. If we continue in sin, we are not walking “in the Spirit”, bur thater according to the “lust of the flesh.”