When you hear the name Jehovah, what do you think of? I know, the guys in the white shirts and tie going door to door in your neighborhood. Well, Jehovah is actually another of the Hebrew names used in the Old Testament…a different name for the same God.
Jehovah simply means I Am. In the Bible, Jehovah is usually translated as Lord and appears 6519 times, but its root word is the Hebrew word Hayah which means “I am”. When Moses was talking to God at the burning bush and he asked God in Exodus 3:13, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God’s answer was to tell them “Hayah Hayah”, or “Jehovah, Jehovah”, “I am who I am”.
Okay…I am what? As we’ll see in upcoming posts, He is our provider, He is our banner, He is our shield, He is our everything. Jehovah, our Lord, is the I Am. He is everything, He is our Creator, our Father, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is GOD! David Crowder has a song called I Am, and it says:
There’s no space that His love can’t reach
There’s no place where we can’t find peace
There’s no end to Amazing Grace
Take me in with your arms spread wide
Take me in like an orphan child
Never let go, never leave my side
I am
Holding onto you
I am
Holding onto you
In the middle of the storm
I am holding on
I am!
The Hebrew people of the Old Testament believed this name to be so holy that it was not allowed to be spoken. In fact, the only one who was permitted to speak the name Jehovah was the high priest, and only on the Great Day of Atonement when he entered the holy of holies. Even when they were reading the scripture, any time they would come to the name Jehovah, they would pronounce it “Adonai”, and this is something the Jewish people still do to this day. During the “Burning Bush” incident, in the very next verse Exodus 3:14, “God replied to Moses, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” Jehovah has sent you! Through this one name, He is proclaiming that He is the unchanging, eternal, self-existent God, the “I am that I am”.
John 14:6“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Did you see what Jesus, Himself said? I AM The Way. There are so many people out there, who claim the name of Christ, and go around saying, “there are many different roads that lead to God.” What are these people doing with this verse and so many others? Christ didn’t say, I am a way, He didn’t even say, I am one of the ways. He said, “I am THE Way, THE Truth, THE life.” And, if that wasn’t clear enough, He said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that. There are not many paths to the same place. God made eternal life very simple. He made one way, so it won’t be confusing, He made one truth, so we know what to believe, and He made one life, so we know where we are going.
If you haven’t found the One Way, take care of it before you close this blog. Christ died so we don’t have to experience death. All you need to do is, first realize that you, like all of us, are a sinner and in need of salvation, Romans 3:23“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Next, you must realize that there is a price for sin that must be paid, Romans 6:23“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Did you catch that last part? God doesn’t leave us destitute, He always provides a way. The free gift of God Is eternal life, through who? Through The Way, Jesus Christ. So, What’s the way out? Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Christ died for us, while we were still sinners. The price for sin is death, but Christ paid that price for us on the cross so that we don’t have to. It’s as if we were on trial for murder, and just as the judge was about to sentence us to death, Christ stepped in and said, “I’ll take his place.” That’s amazing grace! So how do you accept this gift? I’m glad you asked. Romans 10:9-10“9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” It’s just that simple. So many people ask, “How can a loving God send people to hell?” The answer is…He doesn’t. He made the way out so simple that even a child can do it. In fact, He said we must come to Him as a child in Matthew 18:3, “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” How do you know it will work? He says in Romans 10:13, For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” He says it, and remember, He is THE Truth!
Have you ever noticed all the different names for God in the Bible? If you’re old enough to remember Amy Grant’s song, El Shaddai, you might remember that this song alone used several of His names; El Shaddai, El Elyon, Adonai. We’ve probably all heard the name Yahweh, that’s the name that the Jewish people called the unspeakable name and would write it with no vowels.
Looking at the Hebrew language in the Bible, we see that there are many different names for God. Of course, they are all talking about the same God…the one true God, but each of these names describes a different attribute of Him. This isn’t an unusual phenomenon, we do it all the time. My parents call me son, my sons call me dad, in high school I was called “Little Moose”…I don’t want to talk about it, my wife calls me honey, and the guy behind me on the freeway giving me the one-way sign calls me…well, you get the idea. The point is, we all, no matter what our culture or language, use names that describe a person. God is no different, and He has so many truly awesome attributes that we need a lot of names to describe Him. Today I want to start looking at some of the names the Hebrews used for God and what they mean.
The first name we want to look at is Elohim which simply means God. This is the most commonly used names of God because it just means God. It’s used 200 times in the book of Genesis alone. In fact, the first time it is used is in the first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1“In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.” If we break down the word to its origin we find that it comes from words that mean “Power” and “Might”. It is a name of power, a name of majesty.
There is a great song from the late 70’s, written by Rich Mullins called “Awesome God”. The song says:
When He rolls up His sleeves
He ain’t just putting on the Ritz (Our God Is An Awesome God)
There’s thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fists (Our God Is An Awesome God)
The Lord wasn’t joking
When He kicked ’em out of Eden
It wasn’t for no reason
That He shed His blood
His return is very close
And so you better be believing that
Our God is an awesome God
There are songs all through the history of the Church that expresses the power and majesty of God. Songs like, “How Great Thou Art”, and “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, as well as new worship songs like, “How Great is Our God”, and “Whom Shall I Fear”.
What’s interesting about the name Elohim is that, with this one word, God describes the Trinity. You see, Elohim is a plural word used as a singular word, and in the Hebrew language, plural means 3 or more, unlike English where plural, of course, means 2 or more. This is obviously a case of Moses trying to emphasize the Trinity. Rabbi Simeon ben Joachi had this to say about the name Elohim: “Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim; there are three degrees, and each degree by itself alone, and yet notwithstanding they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other.” Clarke adds: “He must be strangely prejudiced indeed who cannot see that the doctrine of a Trinity, and of a Trinity in unity, is expressed in the above words.” Leupold quoting Luther on Elohim said: “But we have clear testimony that Moses aimed to indicate the Trinity or the three persons in the one divine nature.” Interestingly, it is never used in this way when speaking of heathen gods. It will talk about a group of them plurally, or one of them singularly, but never one of them plurally.
You don’t see the singular form of the word, Eloah, very much. It’s almost exclusively used in poetry and poetic expression. Interestingly, we see it most frequently used in the book of Job, which is believed to be the oldest book, chronologically.
Another root word of Elohim is El, and as with Eloah, it is mostly found in Job and the Psalms. The name El means “to be strong” or “to be in front”, and it is often combined with nouns or adjectives to other names for God that refer to some of His various attributes. We see this in names like El Shaddai and El Elyon.
Over the next few installments, we are going to look at many different names for God. I have compiled a list of 18 names, which isn’t by any means an exhaustive list, but it gives a good understanding of the attributes of God. The idea of this is not to be a fact dump, but to help us all understand who God really is. You see, the world has a different idea of who God is. If you doubt that, just watch a night of TV. The world sees Him as angry and they see us as ignorant, and that’s on us. We Must portray Him in the right way, and we must portray his Church in the right way. We have allowed this perception to go on for far too long. Sadly, we have allowed others, claiming the name of Christ, to perpetuate it. We’ve all seen them holding a sign on the street corner saying “God hates this” or “God hates that”, but here’s the thing…God doesn’t hate anyone. Don’t get me wrong, God does hate the sin, but He loves every sinner. The Apostle Paul called himself the worst of all sinners, but Christ died for him, just like He died for you and me.
But, you see, the early church wasn’t looked at as stupid or ignorant, they were a force to be reckoned with. Just look at Acts 4:13, “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” They realized that they were uneducated, but didn’t look at them as being stupid, they were amazed at their boldness and could tell that they had been with Jesus. That’s how we need to be. Ask yourself, “When people see me, can they see that I’ve been with Jesus?”
I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. The Bible was not written in chapters and verses, in fact, many of the New Testament books were written as letters to churches. I don’t know about you, but I don’t start out letters, “Dear Church, Chapter 1: Verse 1: How are you doing?” So, keeping this in mind, we are going to look at 1 Corinthians 13, what we call “The Love Chapter.”
Let’s take a sidebar here and talk about that word, Love. You see, the ancient Greeks felt it was important to distinguish the various types of love, so they had 4 words for love:
Éros (ἔρως érōs) – Eros is obviously the root word for “erotic,” but it does not describe sexual love only, it actually describes all emotional love; the feeling of love. Eros love is that insatiable desire to be near the target of this love. The exciting, passionate, nervous feelings that sweep over people in the appropriate circumstances. This is the love that says “I love how you make me feel.” The word Eros does not appear in the Bible.
Philia (φιλία philía) – Philos love, or brotherly/friendship love, is the next kind. Philos describes the love between two people who have common interests and experiences. Philos is half about the circumstances, and half about the commitment of two people to one another; it says “I love who we are together.”. Philos is the root word for the word Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. It is commonly used in the New Testament, as in Matt. 10:37, John 12:25, and Revelation 3:19.
Storge (στοργή storgē) – Storgy is the love that one has for a dependent. It is commonly called “motherly love.” When the dependent is no longer dependent, this love remains only in its emotional remnants. It is one of the stronger loves because it involves a commitment that relies on only one trait of the receiver – that he or she is dependent.
Agápe (ἀγάπη agápē) – Agape love is the final of the four loves we look at here. Agape love is entirely about the lover and has nothing whatsoever to do with the one loved. Agape love, in its purest form, requires no payment or favor in response. Agape is the word used for God’s love for us (as in the book of I John, John 3:16) and the love we are commanded to have for one another (in Matt. 5:44, I Cor. 13). This lack of input from the recipient makes it possible for us to love our enemies even though we may not like them or the situation they have put us in – because Agape love is not in any way dependent on circumstances; it says “I love you because I choose/commit to.” Unlike eros or Philos, Agape creates a straight line that neither fades nor grows in its perfect form (which of course only exists from God outward). And this is the word used in 1 Corinthians 13, which we will be studying.
So, to fully understand 1 Corinthians 13, in context, we must first have studied the entire book of 1 Corinthians, as well as all of Paul’s other writings, the rest of the New Testament, and the rest of the Bible, not to mention, the original language, and what was going on in the world at that time, customs and traditions. Don’t worry, we’re not going to study the whole Bible…not all at once anyway.
But, since it is all written as a letter, let’s start at chapter 12 verse 31 which is the introduction to chapter 13. Chapter 12 is talking all about the different gifts of the Holy Spirit, and comparing them to the parts of the Body of Christ, making special note that we all have different gifts. Continuing that thought Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 12:31 “So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.” In some translations, it says “let me show you a more excellent way.” Which leads into chapter 13verse 1, “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
Okay, he has been talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and especially the gifts of tongues, because the church at Corinth had blown that one gift way out of proportion. They were trying to say, as many today still do, that every Christian would have the gift of tongues, but Paul was showing them why that is not true. Notice I said “gifts” of tongues, plural. The Bible describes 3 different gifts of tongues. The gift of speaking other languages that you have never learned, as in Acts chapter 2, the gift of prophetic tongues which requires an interpreter, as in 1 Corinthians 14:27-28, and the third type of tongues is a prayer language, 1 Corinthians 14:15-17. But, here in verse 1, he says, “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” So, what he’s saying at the beginning of this section of his letter is, even if I possessed all three gifts of tongues, but didn’t love others, I’m just making a lot of noise. The Greek word translated here as noisy is, echeo {ay-kheh’-o}, which is translated as “noisy”, or in the KJV, “sounding”. It is also translated once in the Bible as roaring in Luke 21:25. When you read this verse, you see it isn’t talking about roaring like a lion, it’s talking about roaring, like waves. Have you ever heard roaring waves? Lions are loud, but waves can be almost deafening.
We’ll start with verse 2 when we meet again. Between now and then, take the time to at least read 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 – 15, but read the whole book, if you can. I know…homework, right? But, if you are reading these blogs, you must want to see the Word for what it is, so increase that passion for the Word of God. See you next time.
A More Excellent Way – Part 2
Welcome back as we pick up where we left off last time. The next thing we see is in verse 2 where Paul goes on to say, “If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.” Now he’s referring to the gifts of the Spirit he talked about in chapter 12. What he’s saying here is, even if I had the gifts of prophecy, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, or even the Spiritual gift of faith…you know, that mountain moving faith, but I didn’t have an Agape love for others, I WOULD BE NOTHING! Spiritual gifts are great and we should find out which ones we have and use them for the glory of God, but if they are not used out of God’s perfect love, they are worthless.
The Church today, as it has always been, is a church of extremes. We are either afraid to acknowledge the Holy Spirit and His gifts at all, or we put way too much emphasis on certain gifts. The gifts of the Spirit are truly important, and we need to use them to the glory of God, but only in love…perfect love…Agape Love.
In verse 3 he says, “If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” We see this all the time with celebrities, they rally behind some cause, but just for the photo op. But, it’s the same way with so many of us. We think we are doing good because we give to the poor, or make sacrifices for the less fortunate, but if we don’t do it out of love, all we end up with is bragging rights.
So, let’s sum up these first 3 verses? It doesn’t matter who you are, what your gifts are, or what you do for your community or the world. If you don’t do it out of love, godly love, it is worthless and all you are doing is making a whole lot of noise. I want to express this again, if you don’t have a relationship with God, you can’t fully understand His love. He loves us unconditionally…NO STRINGS ATTACHED! And if you haven’t yet experienced that perfect love, stop now…that’s right stop reading and take care of that, now. Nothing else is more important than having a right relationship with God.
In verse 4 Paul starts describing exactly what God’s love is. He says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
So, let’s break this down.
Patience – Vs 4 “To be longsuffering, as opposed to hasty anger or punishment. To EXPERIENCE understanding and patience toward persons.
Proverbs 10:12“Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.”
Proverbs 17:9“Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.”
1 Thessalonians 5:14“Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.”
1 Peter 4:8“Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”
Kind – Vs 4
Ephesians 4:32“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Not Jealous – Vs 4
Proverbs 14:30“A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.”
Does not brag and is not arrogant – Vs 4
1 Corinthians 4:6“Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another.”
Does not act unbecomingly – Vs 5
Philippians 4:8 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Does not seek its own – Vs 5
1 Corinthians 10:24“Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.”
Philippians 2:21“All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ.”
Is not provoked – Vs 5
Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.”
Does not take into account a wrong suffered – Vs 5 An intentional wrong that was done
2 Corinthians 5:19“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”
Does not rejoice in unrighteousness – Vs 6
Psalm 119:1-3“1How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
Who walk in the law of the Lord. 2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their 3 They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.”
We miss out on true love so often because we are so self-consumed. We are an arrogant generation, we are so self-absorbed that we can’t experience true love. We need to put ourselves, our pride, our jealousy aside and focus on God and His true Agape love.
We’ll finish this up next time by looking at the characteristics of Agape Love and how they can change our lives. See you then.
A More Excellent Way – Part 3
So, let’s wrap up this post on 1 Corinthians 13. We see in this next section, Paul lays out for us some of the characteristics of Agape love. It’s a litmus test of sorts, for us to see whether or not we have it. If we don’t, we can’t rest until we Get it. This love, this perfect Agape love, is a clear proof of our salvation, it’s proof of our regeneration, and is evidence of our faith in Christ. Take the time, when you are finished reading this, to read 1 John 4:7-21.
You see, this beautiful description of the nature and characteristics of love was intended to show the Corinthian church, and us, that the way they were behaving had, in many respects, been the opposite of God’s love. Remember, this was a letter to the church at Corinth… Agape love is the enemy to selfishness; it does not desire or seek its own praise, honor, profit, or pleasure. Not that agape love ignores itself, or that we should neglect ourselves and all our interests. But it never seeks its own to the hurt of others, or to neglect others. It always puts the welfare of others above its own advantage. Think about this, how awesome would Christianity appear to the world if those of us who profess the name of Christ, lived by this Divine principle! We need to ask ourselves whether this agape love lives in our hearts. Has it guided us in the way we treat others? Are we willing to lay aside our selfish ambitions? This chapter is a call to inner searching and prayer. Psalm 139:23-24“23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
There was a “church” I knew of in Florida. Notice the quotes, they called themselves a church, they claimed to Christians, but that is not how they lived. The pastor constantly preached hate and fear. Now, don’t get me wrong, we must fear God, the Bible tells us that over and over, in fact, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 9:10, “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.” We must have a reverent respect and fear of God. But, God sent Christ to die for our sins out of love…Agape Love. This man used to preach full sermons on the different groups he hates. After hearing him once, I went to him and told him that God doesn’t hate anyone, that He even loved Osama Bin Laden. He then proclaimed me a devil and asked me to leave. His “church” now consists of ten or twelve men, living in a compound in Northern Florida. But, the point is, we must love everyone as God does. We don’t have to accept what they believe, or condone their sin, but remember, we aren’t here to condemn their sin either, we’re just here to love them. 1 John 4:7-8 says, “7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Paul concludes this section with 1 Corinthians 13:8-13“8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
I have heard pastors use this passage to say that the gifts of the Spirit are gone now. They “interpret” it as saying, when the Bible is complete, we won’t need the gifts anymore. Just another example of why we can’t interpret the Bible. When we take this in context and don’t try to twist it to fit our preconceived beliefs, we can clearly see that this is saying that love is the only Spiritual gift we will take to heaven with us. Look at it. In verse 8 he says that prophecies, tongues, and words of knowledge will become useless…when? Verse 9 & 10 tell us, “when the time of perfection has come.” When will we be perfect? Look at verse 12 again, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” When he compares what we see now to looking in a mirror, we need to think about what a mirror was at that time, just another way to keep it in context. The reason it was a “puzzling reflection”, or as the KJV says, “see through a glass dimly”, is because it wasn’t a mirror as we know it, it wasn’t a looking glass as they had when the KJV was translated, it was a piece of polished metal or bronze. Don’t you see, in today’s mirror it wouldn’t be a puzzling reflection, but that’s all they knew back then. Looking at yourself in polished metal isn’t very clear, but it will all be perfectly clear when we are in Heaven! When we are living in perfection we won’t need prophecy, we won’t need tongues, we won’t need words of knowledge because we will know everything completely.
Then he leaves us with verse 13 where he tells us that only three things will last forever; faith, hope, and love. In today’s church, we put so much emphasis on faith, and yet Paul tells us that the greatest of these is LOVE!
I want to take a minute to talk about a phenomenon that Social media has presented us with. It isn’t anything new, but social media has made it much more prevalent and, while it isn’t necessarily wrong, it is disturbing to some.
We’ve all seen them and many of us have “shared” and reposted them. You know exactly what I’m talking about, that picture of Noah’s Ark going through the storm with the words “If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.” and then to make it even better it says, “Share if you agree” to try to guilt you into sharing it. Somehow, you’re not a “real Christian” if you don’t share this cliché. Or even better, the ones that say, “Share if you agree, ignore if you don’t.” Seriously…you’re saying that if I don’t share your meme I disagree with it? Here’s where my dilemma lies. Most of these sayings do have a good meaning, and like the Scripture says in Isaiah 55:11, “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” The problem is that we’ve reduced Christianity down to a list of clichés and memes.
Like I said, this isn’t anything new. Let’s look back to the 1990’s, that’s right, there was life before social media, we had the WWJD bracelets. These bracelets morphed into bumper stickers, t-shirts, jewelry, tattoos and everything else we could imagine. Again, the idea was good, reminding people to ask themselves “What Would Jesus Do” in every situation. This is what a disciple does. A disciple is a person who imitates the person they are following, and Christ told us to, not only be disciples but go out and make them, Matthew 28:19-20, “19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” If we are truly disciples of Christ, we would ask ourselves this question in every situation. But it was quickly reduced to just another fad. We’ve all seen it, being flipped off by the guy driving the car with the WWJD bumper sticker on it, or the lady at the mall spewing a line of obscenities that would make a sailor blush, all the while wearing her WWJD t-shirt. It even goes back further than that, though. In the 70’s we had the “Jesus is my co-pilot” and “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper stickers. My dad used to honk at every one of those, just to see how many of them would flip him off. But, do you see what I mean? When it becomes just another cliché, it loses its impact, on the one posting it, as well as the reader. Have you ever, out of curiosity, gone to the page of the one posting those memes? You will often find a lot of things that a Christ follower probably shouldn’t be posting.
I’m not saying that we should never “share” these things, or “re-pin” them, or re-tweet them. And, I don’t claim to have the answer for this phenomenon, I just wanted to put something out there to think about. I’m not necessarily against it, I’ve even “shared” some of them myself, I’m just saying we should think before we re-post. Before you click that mouse, think, is this really reaching people, or is it making us look a little like crazies in the eyes of the world. Ask yourselves, “What Would Jesus Do”.
We can, and should use social media as a tool to reach the lost, I’m just challenging all of us to maybe think of a more excellent way. Read 1 Corinthians 12:31 through 13:13, I know you have probably read this chapter before and quite possibly memorized it, but read it as if you’ve never read it before.
Sometimes we forget that the Bible wasn’t written in chapters and verses. What we call 1 Corinthians, Paul called his letter to the Church at Corinth. It was only cut up into chapters and verses to make it easier to find passages, so read it like a letter…that’s right, read the whole letter straight through. After you have done that go back to chapter 12, and start at the last verse, then read through chapter 13. Paul has just finished talking about Spiritual gifts and is now starting to focus on the gift of love, by the way, love is the only Spiritual gift that we will take to heaven with us, 1 Corinthians 13:8“Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!” This part of the letter starts out by saying, 1 Corinthians 12:31“So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.” Some translations put it “a more excellent way.” Then he says, Chapter 13, verse 1“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but don’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” So, what is the “more excellent way”? That’s right…Love.
So, when you are re-posting and retweeting, think about 1 Corinthians and ask yourself, is this a more excellent way. Again, I am not in any way saying that it is somehow a sin, or wrong to “share” these memes, but is it reaching anyone? Does it glorify God? Is it a more excellent way? Let’s all try to find new ways to use social media to show God’s love to all your “friends”. We’ll go into more depth on 1 Corinthians and that thing called love next time.
Doulos, it is a strange sounding word, and no, I didn’t make it up. So, what does it mean? Doulos is a Greek word that is used many times throughout the New Testament. In fact, it is used 125 times and is translated; 118 times as Servant, 6 times as Bond, and 1 time as Bondman. The Greek dictionary defines Doulos as:
a slave, bondman, man of servile condition
a slave
, one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men
devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests
a servant, attendant
Historically speaking, during the New Testament times, a bondman or bondservant was someone who had been an indentured slave. They had owed a debt and remained that person’s servant until the debt was paid off. Notice that I said had been. After the debt was paid in full, sometimes the servant enjoyed their life as a servant. They had a roof over their head, three square meals a day, and were treated well by their master. So, in cases like this, the servant would often, voluntarily stayed on as that person’s slave for life. At that point, the owner would put the servant’s earlobe against the doorpost and drive a spike through it, identifying that person as their Doulos. So, a Doulos is a slave for life, by choice.
This explains why the writers of the New Testament used that word so often, it defines just what a Christ follower should be. Even a demon possessed slave girl used this word to define Paul and his disciples in Acts 16:16-17 “16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
Paul used it repeatedly, as in Romans 1:1“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”. And again in 2 Corinthians 4:5“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. “. Notice in this verse he said, “your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” In serving Christ, we must serve each other. Remember, Christian means Christ-like. We are called to be disciples and a disciple is someone who imitates the one they are following. Jesus was the perfect example of a servant. Philippians 2:7-8“7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,8he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” So, we need to love and serve all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what ethnic group they belong to, no matter what country they were born in, no matter what denomination they belong to. If they have trusted in Christ as their savior, we must love and serve them.
Paul also used it to illustrate why he doesn’t seek to please men in Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”
He used it in Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:” again Paul used Doulos to explain what Christ did for us by leaving the glory of heaven and coming to earth to die on a cross in Philippians 2:5-11“5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Paul referred to himself and his companions in the faith as bondservants, Colossians 1:7 “just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,” also in Colossians 4:7“As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information.” And in Titus 1:1“Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,”
He even gives instructions on how a Doulos should act in 2 Timothy 2:24-25“24The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,”.
Peter refers to himself as a Doulos in 2 Peter 1:1“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:” John also refers to himself as a Doulos in Revelation 1:1“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,”
We’ll conclude our look at the word Doulos in the next installment. See you then.
Doulos – Part 2
Well, here it is, I have saved the best for last, or at least as far as I’m concerned. Out of all of these passages and many others, my two favorites are James 1:1 “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.” And Jude 1:1“Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:” What makes these my favorites? I’m glad you asked. James and Jude were the half-brothers of Jesus. When we read through the Gospel accounts, we see that, during His life, Jesus’ earthly brothers didn’t believe in Him, and frankly didn’t want to have anything to do with Him. John 7:1-5 says, “1After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!’ 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.” But, in all honesty, wouldn’t we have done the same thing? I mean, let’s think about it. If you had siblings, there were times in your life that you thought, “Mom and dad think they don’t do anything wrong.” And, you may even believe that still, but imagine being the siblings of the Christ…God in the flesh…He literally never did anything wrong…you thought your siblings were perfect! So, how do you think that made His siblings feel? But, the beautiful thing is that after His resurrection, they believed and they didn’t stop there. Both James and Jude considered themselves to be bondservants, voluntary servants for life, of Jesus Christ. Notice that Jude even says, “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James”. He mentions that he is the brother of James, but doesn’t even feel worthy to be called the brother of Jesus, the Christ. What a transformation. But, you see, that’s what Christ does in our lives, He transforms us to be more like Him.
So, now that we know what a Doulos is, what do we do with this information? Knowing what it means is one thing, but doing something about it is entirely different. James 1:22-25“22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” We can’t stop at knowledge, we must strive to be a bondservant of Christ. So, how do we do this, as we saw in 2 Timothy 2:24-45, we can’t be quarrelsome, but we must be kind to everyone. We’ve all met Christians who seem to always be looking for a fight, especially from nonbelievers. We also need to be able to teach. You might be thinking, “I’m not a teacher, that’s definitely not my gift,” and you may be right, but you can still share what you know. I love to cook, it is one of my passions. If someone gets me talking about food and cooking, I get excited. We love to talk about what we are passionate about, so the first step is to become passionate about Christ. If you aren’t there yet, start by reading the Gospels and seeing what Jesus did for you. In fact, personalize it when you read it. For instance, when you read John 3:16, everywhere it says, “the world” or “Who Ever” insert your name…He did it for you. One of my favorite verses is John 21:25. After twenty-one chapters of talking about all that Jesus did for us, he ends the book with this verse, “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” Let that sink in for a minute. Look at the room you are in and think about just how many books it would take to fill that room. Just for fun, I did the math. My office is 10’X12’ with 8’ ceilings and taking the average mass of a book, which is 108 in2, I found that it would take fifteen thousand three hundred and sixty books to fill this little room. That verse said that the world couldn’t contain the books that would be written. That’s how much God loves us.
The next one is the tough one, we must be patient when wronged…ouch! I don’t know about you, but I tend to want to get even, so I need to keep that in check. And, we need to gently correct those who are in opposition, or another translation says, those who oppose the truth. Notice it says, gently. Some of us are ready to correct everyone, but we must do it gently because, as this scripture says, that way we might be able to lead them into the truth. Also in Proverbs 15:1 we read, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.”
So, in conclusion, we must be a doer, not just a hearer. Many people say, “Knowledge is everything”. The truth is Knowledge is nothing if you do nothing with it. So, let’s get off our collective butts and start doing. Let’s take this information and apply it to our lives. Let’s all strive to be bondservants for Christ, and for each other. 1 Corinthians 13:13, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
In the last couple of posts, entitled One Body, I challenged everyone to take a hard look at the doctrines that divide us. You see, although it is imperative that we unite as one body, we can’t just say, “forget doctrine and come together,” that would be wrong. But, we do need to take a hard look at the doctrines that divide us, because if it isn’t messing with salvation by grace through faith in Christ, then why are we arguing about it? So, these next three posts are looking at an example of one of those doctrines, in fact, this is a doctrine that I was entangled by for many years. We’re going to look at it and do our best to set aside everything we were ever taught about it and see what the Bible says in context.
There is a large following, among Christians, of a belief known as “dispensationalism”. This belief system dates back to the mid-1800’s and is attributed to John Darby. I was taught this my entire life, and bought into it for many years, until one day when I started realizing what the Bible really says. This belief, however well followed, is simply not scriptural. This belief, among other things, teaches that there are 7 dispensations, or periods of time, the first 5 of which happened before Exodus chapter 19. The 5th dispensation is believed to have been when the Israelites in the Old Testament times were “under the dispensation of the law”. They claim that we now are in the 6th dispensation, where Christians today are “under the dispensation of grace”. They believe this will last until the end of the Great Tribulation and will be followed by the 7th dispensation, “The Kingdom Dispensation”.
First, let’s look at the word that was translated, in the KJV, as “dispensation”. It only appears twice in the original scriptures, in Ephesians 3:2, and Colossians 1:25. Those who follow the belief of dispensationalism believe that the word means, a period of time, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The word in these two verses which was translated in the KJV as “dispensation” is the Greek word oikonomia (oi-ko-no-mē’-ä) which means, “The office of a manager or overseer, stewardship; Administration.” So, had Darby bothered to look at the original language, he would have realized what these verses were talking about.
Ephesians 3:2 (KJV)
“2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:”
Ephesians 3:2 (NASB)
“2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;”
Colossians 1:25 (KJV)
“25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;”
Colossians 1:25 (NASB)
“25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,”
As we can see, it’s not a time period of grace in Ephesians 3:2, it’s the stewardship of God’s grace that we were entrusted with. Again, it Colossians 1:25, it’s not a period of time that God bestowed on us, it is our stewardship God has bestowed on us. So many pastors will tell you, “They were under the Law in the Old Testament, but we are under Grace.” That is simply unfounded, and just another example of people trying to interpolate the scriptures to fit their preconceived beliefs.
Do you see how it changes the meaning of these verses when you mistranslate just one word? This is an example of why we must do the work of studying, 2 Timothy 2:15“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth”. When the writers of the KJV translated that word in 1611, the word dispensation meant something else. In the 1800’s, when Darby invented the theology of dispensationalism, he didn’t go to the original language, he just used the current meaning of the word.
This illustrates why it is imperative that we get a translation of the Bible that we can understand. In fact, the seventy men who translated the Latin Bible into English for King James in 1611, wrote a preface to the work, and in it, talked about how language changes over time and that it is imperative that we get a translation we can understand.
The Israelites of the Old Testament were not saved by keeping the law, they tried to make it about that, because that’s what we humans do. We always want to make it about what we do, as if we’re in control, somehow. To this day people are trying to make salvation about doing good works or keeping the law, but scripture makes it eminently clear that salvation has never been about works. Here are a few of the verses, but you really need to read all of Romans chapters 3 and 4 as well.
Habakkuk 2:4
“4Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.” Note the Old Testament reference.
Romans 3:19-20
“19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.”
Romans 3:27-31
“27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. 29 After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 30 There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.”
Romans 4:1-5
“1Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? 2 If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 3 For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.’ 4 When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. 5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.”
Romans 4:13-15
“13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. 14 If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. 15 For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)”
Romans 4:20-25
“20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.”
In our next installment, we will look more into the place faith has in the life of a Christ follower, both now, and in the Old Testament. See you then.
An Example – Part 2
Why We Must Keep the Bible in Context
So, we’ve talked a lot about the belief of dispensationalism, and the fact that it is not scripturally based, so let’s look at the part faith plays now, and in the Old Testament. In Galatians 3:6 we read, “6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” and in Galatians 3:8 “8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” Did you catch that? “God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago.”
But, I need to stop here for a minute. Because, there are a lot of people out there preaching, simple faith…saying that all you need is faith. Here’s the problem with that, faith alone is simply not enough, look at James 2:19, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.” You see, it must be a life-altering faith which is evident in our works, James 2:26“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” We are not saved by our works, but we are saved for good works. Matthew 5:16“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Christ goes on to tell us that He didn’t come to do away with the law but to fulfill it. He also talked about how important it is for Christians to keep the law. Do you see the order? We follow Christ first, then we keep the law. We don’t follow Christ by keeping the law.
Hebrews 11:1,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,13,17-28
“1Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
“4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.”
“5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.”
“6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
“7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.”
“8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.”
“9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.”
“11 It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.”
“13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.”
“17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,”
“18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” “19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”
“20 It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.”
“21 It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.”
“22 It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.”
“23 It was by faith that Moses’parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.”
“24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”
“25 He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.”
“26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.”
“27 It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.”
“28 It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.”
James 2:19-26
“19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. 24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. 25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. 26 Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.”
Okay, there is just so much scripture on this subject, and, although I can’t cover it all. But, it is extremely clear that salvation has always been about a life changing faith in Christ…even before He came to earth. In the Old Testament, they were not saved by keeping the law, they were saved by their faith in the coming Messiah, but they had to demonstrate that faith by making the sacrifices. There is still a lot I want to cover, so let’s meet back here to finish this up.
An Example – Part 3
Why We Must Keep The Bible In Context
Okay, let’s finish this one up. In Galatians 2:11-21 it says,“11 But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? 15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Also in Galatians 3:6-9 “6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” (Genesis 12:3)9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” And, again in Galatians 3:15-4:7 “15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. 19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. 20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. 21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
4 1Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
I realize that this is a lot of scripture to digest, but I don’t ever want anyone to think this is my opinion or my interpretation. This is the word of God and, as such, is irrefutable. God does not now, nor has He ever, awarded salvation in exchange for good works. Even the sacrifices of the Old Testament didn’t save them. The sacrifices were a symbol of the coming Messiah, and salvation came from their faith in the coming Messiah. We cannot be good enough to get into heaven, and neither could the Hebrews of the Old Testament. Paul made it clear that the law was never intended for salvation, but it was to show us how much we need God.
I know this one might be a little controversial for some, but please, study it out and see what the scripture says about this and any other doctrine you were taught by people. I John 4:1 says, “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.” So, don’t just blindly believe the doctrine you have been taught, and don’t just blindly believe me. You are charged with doing the work…study it out but keep it in context, then let me know what you find. I’d love to hear from you.
When you read through the New Testament you will find a few key themes. One of the most common themes in the New Testament is unity of the Church. In fact, the New Testament repeatedly compares the Church to a body and even calls us the Body of Christ. For example, in Ephesianschapter 4, where Paul is talking about pastors and says in verse 12, “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” And again just a few verses later in verse 15 where he says, “Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” And back in verse 13, he says, “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” We will never measure up to Christ’s standard until we are united, as one body. Let me be clear here, in order for anyone to be part of this Body they must first trust in Christ. Acts 4:11-12 says,“11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Yes, we need to all be united, as one Body, under one Savior and must agree that salvation comes by God’s grace through faith in what Christ did on the cross. We can disagree on anything else, although if we all stop trying to interpret the Bible and start taking it literally, in context, as a whole, we won’t disagree on nearly as much.
One great example of this is in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 where we find Paul talking about the gifts of the Spirit. Here Paul was having issues with the church at Corinth claiming that there were certain gifts that all Christians must have, a claim that some still make to this day. In this part of his letter, he is explaining that we can’t all have the same gifts, so he uses this analogy of the Body to explain the gifts. In the first eleven verses, he explains how one Spirit gives all the gifts, as seen in verses 4 and 5, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.” So, no one gift is greater than another, they are all given by the same Spirit to serve the same Lord. Then in verses 12 through 31 he goes on to talk about the different parts of the Body and how these gifts fit in. He starts out in verse 12 by saying, “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” Then, over the next 15 verses, he talks about how these gifts relate to the parts of the body and how the Church couldn’t survive if everyone was a mouth, or if everyone was a hand. We must take the gifts that God has given us and work with them. So, if your gift is teaching, you shouldn’t say I wish my gift was healing. You must be the best teacher you can be for Christ. Verse 27 says, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.” Think about your own body. You know that if you put your hand on the stove when it’s turned on, it will burn. But, what if your hand chose not to believe that? Will your hand not get burned, simply because it chose not to interpret pain as something else? Of course not. We all have different gifts, but we are all part of the same body, so we must work together in order to function. So, if anyone ever tells you that you must have a certain gift to be a real believer, take them to this passage.
Paul also uses The Lord’s Supper to demonstrate unity. In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 it says, “16When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 17And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.” For this reason, in our Church gatherings, we always used one loaf of communion bread instead of the little wafers. Of course, I’m not saying that this is a biblical mandate, I just liked to use it to remind our local Body about unity every time we observed The Lord’s Supper.
Unity in the human body is extremely important, but the unity of the Body of Christ is even more important. Check in on Thursday as we conclude this discussion in my next installment.
One Body-Part 2
Continuing where we left off last time, in Ephesians 2:14-16 Paul tells us that Christ used His death on the cross to unite us into one Body, “14For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.” And, again in Ephesians 3:6“And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.” So, let’s talk about prejudice…Yep, I’m going there. I have known people who call themselves Christians and are prejudice against people of different races. I have even been in churches and heard pastors make racist remarks and try to justify it with the Bible. If you are a Christ follower, there are only two types of people; saved and lost. If they are saved, we are part of the same body and must love them. If they are lost, the only hope we have of winning them to Christ is if we love them. There is no place for hate in the Christian life.
I sat through a sermon one time where the pastor kept repeating I Hate Catholics. After the service, I went to him and said, “God doesn’t hate Catholics, in fact, God doesn’t hate anyone. He didn’t even hate Osama Bin Laden. God loved him so much, He sent His son to die for him. But God was sad that he chose not to follow Him.” You see, God loves us all equally. There isn’t a person on this earth that Christ didn’t die for. C.S. Lewis said it best when he said, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals who we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit.” Everyone you meet on the street has an immortal soul, and that’s what we should be looking at. We should have compassion on them and pray for them. The Bible never says that they will know we are Christians by our steeple, or by our stained-glass windows, but Jesus did say in John13:35, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” They will know we are Christians by our Love!
And, of course, every body must have a head to survive. Colossians 1:18 says, “Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.” And in Colossians 2:19“and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.” The body can survive without a lot of its parts, but not without a head. Christ is the head of the Church, He is the head of His body. Because He is our head, we must go where the head leads, we must do what the head tells us to do, and we must honor the head. The unity of the Church is dependent on Christ and is because of Christ. Colossians 1:22“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” We appear holy and blameless before God because of what Christ did on the cross. We should all be willing to suffer for the body like our head suffered for the body. Paul considered it an honor to be able to suffer for the body, Colossians 1:24“I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.” The Bible never says we will have an easy life here on earth, in fact, it says the exact opposite. In 2 Timothy 3:12 it says, “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” And, also in John 16:33 it says, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” So, when we suffer, not if we suffer, we need to have Paul’s attitude toward it and glory in the fact that we can suffer for the body of Christ.
Because we are part of the Body with Christ as the head, we must be thankful because we have a peace that surpasses the ability to understand it. Colossians 3:15“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” Also in Ephesians 2:14, “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.”
We’ve all heard sermons on 2 Chronicles 7:14, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” But, we must take this passage seriously. “If my people”, this is a call to the body, not just part of it, but all of it. You may grow your church, you may become a mega church, and you will probably bring people to Christ along the way. But, if we have any chance of changing our world, we must unite as the body of Christ, and humble ourselves and pray, we must seek His face and turn from our wicked and divisive ways. Then, and only then, will He hear our prayer, forgive our sin, and heal our land. We like to blame all the problems of the world on everyone else, but the truth is we, the Church, are at fault! We are to blame for the immorality, we are to blame for our nation turning away from God, we are even to blame for groups like Isis getting a stronghold on the world. If we truly want to be world changers, we must repent and unite as one body.
I’d like to end this with Paul’s words, Ephesians 4:1“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” If you are a Christ follower, you have been called by God for a purpose. We must live worthy of that high calling. To do so, we must put aside our petty differences and unite for one cause, for the glory of one God, by the power of one Spirit, under one head…Christ!
Have you ever found yourself saying, “I keep praying that God would take away _______(Fill in the sin you can’t give up)?” You pray and pray about it, but He just never seems to take it away? I’ve been there myself, it’s frustrating and you find yourself questioning God. The thing is, it’s not that God isn’t answering your prayer, the problem is that there is something on your end that must be addressed. God showed me something a few years ago that changed my life, and I wanted to share it with you. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” Notice this verse doesn’t say, “if anyone is born again”, or “if anyone is saved.” It says, “if anyone is IN CHRIST.” Being “in Christ” doesn’t mean that you go to church once or twice a week. It doesn’t even mean that you pray every day, or that you read your Bible every day. To be “in Christ” is to be totally and completely sold out for Him, it means you give Him your everything. If you are “in Christ”, your every thought is on those things that are true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable (Phil. 4:8). If you are “in Christ” you must decrease and He must increase (John 3:30). Of course, you will still sin occasionally, we are still human, but you are no longer a sinner, you are a saint. There is an old hymn that I grew up singing in church that makes me cringe every time I hear it. The song says “I’m only a sinner, saved by grace.” No, I’m not! I was a sinner, but, by the grace of God, I am now a saint. We can’t be declaring that we are sinners, we are no longer identified by our sin, we are identified as a child of the One True King. If we have any hope of being a new creature, we must be IN CHRIST. Then, and only then, will those old things pass away and all things will become new.
So, why is it so important to be “IN CHRIST”? I’m glad you asked. First, because redemption is in Christ, Romans 3:24“being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” So without Christ, there is no redemption. Secondly, life is in Christ. Romans 6:11“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Just a minute, did you get the first half of that verse? “Consider yourself to be dead to sin.” Going back to the last paragraph, if you are “dead to sin” how can you be a sinner? Just sayin’. Romans 6:23“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Ephesians 2:5“even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together in Christ (by grace you have been saved),” Life itself is in Christ, but not just existence, but a rich and satisfying life, John 10:10 says “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” Thirdly, freedom is in Christ. Freedom from condemnation, Romans 8:1“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And freedom from the law of death, Romans 8:2“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” We are no longer a slave to sin, we are no longer a slave to condemnation, we are no longer a slave to the law, we are free to live in Christ.
We’re going to finish up looking at being in Christ in our next installment. Remember, I love your comments and insights, so let me know what you think.
IN CHRIST-Part 2
In the last installment, we looked at the importance of being In Christ. We saw that; redemption, life, and freedom are all In Christ. So, let’s pick up where we left off.
One of the key themes of the New Testament is the unity of the Body. Where does that unity come from? You guessed it, unity comes from being in Christ. Romans 12:5“so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”Philippians 2:1-5“1Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” As I stated, unity is a key theme of the New Testament and it is imperative if we ever want to make an impact on our world. Unity will be a posting in and of itself, so stay tuned for that.
Another benefit to being in Christ is that, when we are in Christ, nothing can separate us from the love of God, and it doesn’t get any better than that. Romans 8:38-39“38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Ephesians 2:5-6“5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together in Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
So, what does it mean to be “IN CHRIST”? As I stated earlier, Philippians 4:8 says, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your hearts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” and John 3:30 tells us, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” This brings us to what is known as the Christian walk. So, what does that mean? No, it isn’t about the way we strut, it’s the way we live in front of others, our daily lives. Earnest Humphries, the pastor I grew up under, used to say, “Your life may be the only Bible that some people will ever open.” That’s our Christian Walk. To understand it more, read Ephesians 4:26-32.
To truly realize that Christian walk, we must imitate God. Ephesians 5:1-2“5Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” In Matthew 28:16-20 we read what is known as the great commission. This is the last thing that Christ told His disciples. In verse 18 He told us to go make disciples, He didn’t say go make congregations, or go make audiences, He said to make disciples. A disciple is someone who imitates the one they follow. Be a disciple…be an imitator.
You see, it is natural to want to be in Christ because we are created in Christ. Ephesians 2:10“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” And, what we must realize is that everything that’s not Christ is crap! Philippians 3:7-8“7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” The Greek word used in this verse, that was translated as “garbage” is skubalon {skoo’-bal-on} which means; “any refuse, as the excrement of animals, offscourings, rubbish, dregs. Of things worthless and detestable.” So, it is literally saying that anything that is not in Christ is crap, the lowest of the low…it is worthless.
So how do we achieve this? How can I live IN CHRIST? First, we must have faith that He will finish what He started, but realize that it is an ongoing work and won’t be finished until He comes again. Philippians 1:6 “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” And, Philippians 1:19-21“19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. 20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.” Just ask God, He will take care of whatever is needed to be in Christ, Philippians 4:19“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
And never forget to put on the whole armor of God. We can’t go into battle without it, Ephesians 6:10-20. If you missed it go back to my first three blogs, it was dedicated to this passage.
In my last series, we talked about putting on All of Gods Armor from Ephesians chapter 6. I ended the last post with verses 18-20 where it just says over and over again to pray.
In these few verses, Paul says a lot about prayer. He has just finished telling us to put on all of God’s armor, now he tells us to Pray in the spirit at all times. He tells us to pray for All believers everywhere, that’s right, even the ones you don’t particularly like. He tells us to pray for him, or any of our Church leaders, and goes on to tell us what they need prayer for. First of all, that God would speak through them. We don’t need to hear what they think the Bible is saying, we need to hear what the Holy Spirit wants them to say. And then he says to pray for boldness, and that applies to every Christ follower. We need to be bold to speak the Gospel. In 2 Timothy 4:2 he says, “Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.” What he is telling us takes boldness. You have to be bold to correct, rebuke, and even to encourage people, whether the time is favorable or not. This is especially true in our society where everyone is offended at everything. The time is definitely not favorable to correct and rebuke people today. So we need boldness. But, of course, when you boldly correct, rebuke or encourage people, always do it in love and from scripture, not your own opinion. And, don’t miss that one word that precedes it all…Patiently.
So, today we are going to start looking at prayer. The words pray, prayer, praying and prayed appear 436 times in the Bible, not to mention the number of times it talks about speaking to God or meditating on His word or any of the other references to prayer without actually saying the word. Prayer and Bible study are the most important parts of the Christian life. They are our link to God. The Bible is His letter to us, His instruction manual if you will. And, prayer is our personal link to Him. It always amazes me how we have a direct line to God. I couldn’t speak to the President of the United States if my life depended on it, but I can talk to the God of the universe, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, anytime I want. I hear people say all the time, “I don’t know how to pray.” Well, if you are one of those people, this is your lucky day, because I’m about to show you what the Bible says about prayer. And, if you do know how to pray, this will still be good for you, because sometimes we miss things in the Word that can be a huge blessing.
Now, I’m not saying that I’m some kind of expert on prayer or on the Bible, I’m just saying that I might catch something that you have missed, and vice versa. The Bible says, Proverbs 27:17“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” We are all here to sharpen each other, and that’s exactly why I am writing this blog, to help sharpen others. I will always strive to back everything up with Scripture, and not my opinion of what it is saying. Also, at the end of this blog, I will include some links for some great Bible study aids.
When speaking with people about prayer, both believers and non-believers alike, the 2 biggest questions I hear are; “Does God even hear me when I pray?” and “How do I know that He will answer my prayers?”. They want to know if God really has time to listen to their prayers and if He really cares. These are valid questions, but once you know what the scriptures say, it is extremely clear. We also need to ask one more question, not just is God listening to us, but am I listening to God? Andrew Murray said, “Prayer is not a monolog, but dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part.”
So, let’s take the first question. “Does God hear me when I pray?” The Bible clearly says he does hear us, but if we really want to be heard, we are given steps to follow.
STEP 1: To be heard, you must be righteous. Proverbs 15:29 says, “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous.” And in Proverbs 15:8 “The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but he delights in the prayers of the upright.” We learned in the last blog that the Body Armor of Righteousness comes from studying the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;”
STEP 2: Our loyalty cannot be divided. James 1:6-8 “6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” Are you truly loyal to God, or is your loyalty split between God and the world? Romans 12: 2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Also in James 4:4 “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”
STEP 3: Does what we ask for, please God? 1 John 5:14 “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.” It’s just like with your earthly father. If you ask him for the keys to his car so you can go buy some drugs, chances are you won’t get the keys. But, if you ask him for the keys so you can go buy your mom a birthday present, he’ll probably do that, because it pleases him.
STEP 4: We must call on Him in Truth. Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth.” And, where did we learn truth comes from in the last blog? The word of God IS truth, John 17:17 and Psalm 119:160.
We’ll continue this discussion in the next installment. We’ll pick up by looking at the question, “Does God Answer Our Prayer?”
A Lesson on Prayer-Part 2
Now for the second question, does God answer our prayers? 1 John 5:15 “And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” Also, in Matthew 7:7-11 we read, 7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him”. And in Jeremiah 29:11-12 “11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen”. There are many more verses on God answering prayer, but suffice it to say that He does.
In the New Testament, Jesus gave us an outline for prayer. Many people call it “The Lord’s Prayer”, but The Lord never Prayed it, in fact, the real Lord’s prayer is found in John chapter 17. This was simply an outline to teach his disciples to pray. We find this both in Matthew 6:5-18 and Luke 11:1-13. We know that it is just an outline and not something to be religiously quoted, by reading verses 5-9. In verses 5-8 He is telling his disciples not to pray like the religious people who pray for show, and not to pray like the pagans who just babble on and on, but to get alone and sincerely pray to God. Then in verse 9, He says “Pray like this:”. Notice He doesn’t say pray these words, He says pray like this. So let’s look at the outline.
Vs. 9 “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.”
Start by praising God
Vs. 10a “May your Kingdom come soon.”
Pray for His second coming…soon.
Vs. 10b “May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”
Pray for His will to be done in your life, and to be done here just like it is in Heaven.
Vs. 11 “Give us today the food we need,”
We are to pray for today’s sustenance…not next years, not for the rest of our lives…TODAY’S.
Vs. 12 “and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.”
Notice He didn’t just say, “forgive our sins.” He said to forgive our sins the way we forgive others. So, if you hold a grudge, you’re asking God to hold a grudge against you…just sayin’.
Vs. 13 “And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”
Do you have a sin in your life that you have trouble letting go of? I know I do. We need to remember that our willpower isn’t enough. We can’t resist temptation without God’s help. Pray that God will not let you yield to that temptation, and name the temptation. News flash, God already knows what that temptation is, He just wants you to admit it.
Then ask Him to deliver you from the evil one, and He will.
Next time we will answer the questions, like: When Should I Pray? How Should I Pray? How Long Should I Pray? And, What Should I Pray For?
A Lesson on Prayer-Part 3
Okay, we know that He hears and answers our prayers, so let’s move on to the mechanics of prayer. We need to answer questions like, When Should I Pray, How Should I Pray, How Long Should I Pray, What Should I Pray For, Should I Pray Alone or With Others, and that nagging question, What Is This “Praying in The Spirit” All About?
When Should I Pray?
This one is pretty simple. 1 Chronicles 16:11“Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.” Always, there is never a bad time to pray. Prayer isn’t just asking God for the things you want, God’s not a genie. Prayer is our link to God, it is meant for us to commune with him. Just talk to Him, all the time. Talk to Him about how your day is going. Talk to Him about the guy that just cut you off on the freeway. He wants us to spend time with Him, He wants a relationship with us. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
How Should I Pray?
We should pray with an alert mind and a thankful heart, Colossians 4:2 and Psalm 95:2. We should pray earnestly, 1 Peter 4:7. We should pray boldly, Hebrews 4:16. We should be thankful to God when we pray, 1 Corinthians 1:4 and Philippians 1:3-4. Sometimes, we need to pray to God privately, Matthew 6:6. And, we should pray in the Spirit which we will talk about shortly, Ephesians 6:18. We should pray with lifted hands…that’s right, get those hands up. 1 Timothy 2:8“In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.” And, Psalm 141:2“Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering.” That’s right, it’s not just for the charismatic crowd.
How Long Should I Pray?
Of course, everyone says “Pray without ceasing”, 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The problem is that it’s not that simple. What are you praying? Are you just babbling on and on? Matthew 6:7 tells us, “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles (or pagans) do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.” To “never stop praying” is talking about that relationship with God I mentioned earlier. Don’t just repeat words…talk to Him.
Luke 6:12 “One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.”
Luke 18:1 “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.”
Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”
Matthew 7:7-87 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
What Should I Pray For?
The simple answer is found in Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Pray about everything and thank God for what you have. We should pray for wisdom, James 1:5 “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” I learned to take this verse literally from my youngest son. Caleb is one of the wisest young men I know, so one day I asked him about it. He said he read this verse when he was about 13 years old and has prayed for wisdom ever since. Matthew 5:44 “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” and Luke 6:27-2827 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.” Enough said. As it said in the model prayer, pray that you won’t be tempted, Matthew 26:41 “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”. Pray for others, Romans 15:30 “Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 1:11 “And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety”, especially our leaders…yes, even the ones you don’t agree with, 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “1I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” Don’t just pray when you are in trouble, but be ready when you need to; Psalm 50:14-15 “14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. 15 Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” And, most importantly, pray for your loved ones to be saved, Romans 10:1 “Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved.”
We’ll finish up this talk on prayer in the next installment by answering a few more questions, like; what does the Bible say about praying alone as opposed to praying with others, and the big one, what is this “Praying in the Spirit” all about? See you then.
A Lesson on Prayer-Part 4
Should I Pray Alone or With Others?
The answer to this question is yes…The Bible talks a lot about praying in private, like in Matthew 6:6 where it says, “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” But, it also has a lot to say about praying together or corporate prayer. In Acts chapter 1 we see the beginning of the first church, and the first thing they did together wasn’t to sit down and listen to a sermon, it wasn’t to have a potluck dinner, it wasn’t even to take up an offering, it was to meet together and pray. Look at verse 14, “They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.” And then in the very next chapter, we see an outline of how their meetings went. Acts 2:42“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.” Prayer is extremely important in the Christian life, but it is equally important to the life and health of the body of Christ, the Church.
What is this “Praying in The Spirit” All About?
This is a question that has caused a lot of controversies, and even divided church bodies. The reason this question has been so divisive is that so many church members, and even church leaders, try to interpret the scripture, they don’t take it literally and in context. So, what does the Bible say about “praying in the Spirit”? Ephesians 6:18 says, “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”
So, praying in the Spirit means to always be in a prayer attitude and constantly pray for all believers everywhere, but is that all? No, there is much more to it than just that. If you look at Romans 8:26, you’ll see this; “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” This is saying that praying in the Spirit is also letting the Holy Spirit intercede for you when you don’t have the right words to say, but there is more. 1 Corinthians 14:15 says, “Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.” This passage, along with others, is clearly talking about praying in an unknown language, not a foreign language, but the language of Angels, 1 Corinthians 13:1“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” The languages of earth and of Angels…that isn’t French, or German, or even Hebrew, it is an unknown language to us. But when we let the Holy Spirit intercede for us, He prays through us in the language of angels.
What are the Results of Prayer?
Well, as we’ve already seen, He hears and He answers our prayers, but there is so much more than that. The first benefit of prayer is Peace. Philippians 4:6-7“6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” He’ll show you things to come, Jeremiah 33:3“Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.”
So, as it says in Ephesians 6:18-20 “18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. 19 And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. 20 I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.”
For more on prayer, also read James chapters 4 and 5…Oh yeah, I promised some study aids. Well, here they are:
“Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer.” ~ R. A. Torrey
“You may as soon find a living man that does not breath, as a living Christian that does not pray.” ~ Matthew Henry
“Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.” ~ John Bunyan
In 1 Samuel 17, we read the story of David killing Goliath, but I want to look specifically at verses 38-40. They say, “38 Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. 39 David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. ’I can’t go in these,’ he protested to Saul. ‘I’m not used to them.’ So David took them off again. 40 He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.” There were a couple of problems with Saul’s armor. First of all, it was the wrong armor, Saul’s armor was made for Saul, a man who stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Secondly, David didn’t know how to put it on or how to wear it. David was just a shepherd boy; he didn’t have any idea how to put on armor.
I have read a lot of commentaries on Ephesians 6:10-20 and heard many different pastors preach on it, but I have never heard anyone talk about where to get the armor. So today I want to look at the importance of wearing the right armor and how to put it on.
In Ephesians chapter 6, starting at verse 10, the Bible tells us to put on ALL of God’s armor:
“10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”
In these first three verses, the Apostle Paul tells us twice to put on all of God’s armor. He doesn’t say to put on some of God’s armor, or just to put on what feels good, he emphasizes ALL, so this is the first thing we must understand. The Church today feels entitled. we think we can pick and choose what we want to believe and what we want to obey. If we are to be effective for Christ we have to completely surrender to Him. We must quit picking and choosing and start obeying. I know in our privileged and entitled society this is not a popular statement, but it is the truth. Matthew 4:4 says, “4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” Did you get that? Every word, that means we can’t pick and choose, we can’t decide which parts we want to believe, we must believe and live by the entire Bible…every word.
So, once we have surrendered ourselves to His will and realized that putting on all of God’s armor is a prerequisite, the next question is, where do I get it?
Let’s see what Paul tells us in verse 14“Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.” So, in this verse, he first tells us to stand our ground. So, we can’t waver, we can’t be wishy-washy, we must stand firm, and in order to stand firm, we have to know what it says…all of it. Then it gives us the first two pieces of the armor. He says to put on the Belt of Truth. In armor, the belt wasn’t just there to hold your pants up or to hang your cell phone on, it was to protect your gut. It was usually made of thick leather and covered your stomach and bowels. And in God’s armor, your gut is covered by the belt of truth. Have you ever had a gut feeling that something was wrong? We know the truth in our gut. So, where does this belt of truth come from? John 17:17 says, “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.” and Psalm 119:160 says, “The very essence of your words is truth; all your just regulations will stand forever.” So clearly, the belt of truth comes from reading and knowing God’s Word, because His Word IS truth. Notice it doesn’t say that His word teaches the truth, or that His word tells the truth, it says that His Word IS truth. The word of God is, by its very nature, truth itself. It embodies truth, it doesn’t merely speak the truth.
The second part of verse 14 says to put on the body armor, or breastplate, of God’s righteousness. So, we are to have God’s righteousness covering and protecting our heart. This is extremely important in every aspect of the Christian life. Proverbs 4:23 tells us “Guardyourheart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” The profit Malachi tells men twice to guard our hearts to stay loyal to our wives. And in Philippians 4:7 it says, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guardyour hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” So, this body armor of righteousness is obviously important. His righteousness guards our heart, which keeps us loyal and determines the course of our lives. So, without it we are lost, but where do we get it? 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;” So, all scripture is profitable for training in righteousness. So many believers think that once they have accepted Christ they are righteous. This could not be further from the truth. We need to be trained in righteousness and that training only comes from reading, memorizing, meditating on, studying and living the word of God. Psalm 119:11“ I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
This takes us to verse 15, which says, “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.” So, the next thing is to cover our feet. Our feet do the work, they take us where God sends us. This one is pretty clear cut. It says to cover our feet with the peace that comes from the Good News. The definition of the word Gospel is Good News. In fact, some translations say it, cover your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. We are to go in peace, but be ready for war. And, to prepare for going in peace, we must know the Gospel…we have to be well versed in the Good News that we are taking. In 1 Peter 3:15, the Apostle Peter tells us, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” So how can we always be ready to give an answer? We have to know the Gospel; we have to know the word of God. Are we seeing a trend here? So far we have learned that, in order to have the belt of truth, the body armor of righteousness and the shoes of peace, we have to know what the Word of God says. We’ll pick up in verse 16 in our next installment and see what else we need to do.
Put on God’s Armor-Part 2
In our last blog, we looked at the first three pieces of armor. The next verse goes on to say, Verse 16 “In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.” The devil is constantly shooting flaming arrows at us, so we had better have a shield to stop them. Sometimes when we think of shields, we think of a small shield that straps to the soldier’s arm, but that shield is to defend yourself against a strike from a sword. The shield that stops arrows, especially flaming ones, is a large shield that you can crouch down behind and it covers your whole body. This shield is the shield of faith. Now, faith is something we need to talk about because faith is paramount in the Christian life. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to please God without faith, but many in the Church today have started worshiping the faith itself instead of the one we are to have faith in. As my wife often says, “faith does not move mountains, God moves mountains, but we must have faith that he can do it.” Quite frankly, God can move mountains whether we have faith or not. But to ward off the fiery arrows of Satan, God tells us to use the Shield of Faith. So, where does this Shield of Faith come from? I thought you’d never ask. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Okay, so faith comes from hearing the word of Christ, and where do we hear the word of Christ? The Gospel, the Good News, The Bible. So, to have the Shield of Faith, we must hide the word of Christ in our hearts. We must crouch down behind our faith and trust God to protect us from those fiery darts. Matthew 23:37 says,“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me”. God wants to protect us under His wing just like a chicken protects her chicks. The only way we can let Him is to have a relationship with Him and have true faith that He will be there.
Verse 17 goes on to say, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” This verse gives us 2 more. The first one is to put on Salvation as our Helmet. Without the Helmet of Salvation, the rest is completely useless. Without salvation, all the faith in the world won’t help you. There are more verses on salvation than I can list, but here are a few:
Hebrews 2:3 “So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?”
2 Samuel 22:47“The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock! May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!”
Psalm 18:46“The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted!”
Psalm 27:1“The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?”
Jonah 2:9“But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”
When John the Baptizer’s father, Zechariah prophesied over him, he said, Luke 1:76-78“76And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. 77 You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. 78 Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us.”
As with every other piece of the armor, we cannot get salvation without the Word of God. In Romans 10:14 we read, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” Also in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” And in 1 Corinthians 1:21, “Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.” So, the Helmet of Salvation comes from the preaching of the Word. Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of salvation. Notice it is the helmet, it is the top thing, the most important, it protects our head. Without the Helmet of Salvation, the rest of the armor doesn’t matter. Acts 4:11-12 says, “11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ 12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” In today’s world, I constantly hear people say, “it doesn’t matter what you believe in as long as you believe in something.” That is nothing but a lie from the Devil. It is exactly what Satan wants us to believe, but the Bible makes it perfectly clear that salvation is only through Jesus, the Christ.
So, what is salvation?
Admit that you are a sinner and in need of salvation.
Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 3:10 “As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one.”
Romans 5:12 “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”
Realize just what that means.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I’m not worthy! That’s right, none of us are.
Romans 5:8 “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
What do I need to do?
Romans 10:9-10 “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”
How do I know if it worked?
Romans 10:13For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Now What? Live it!
Matthew 5:16“In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
I’m going to let you chew on that, and we’ll finish this up in our next blog. See you then.
All of God’s Armor-Part 3
Up to this point, we’ve looked at the Belt of Truth, the Body Armor of Righteousness, the Shoes of Peace, the Shield of Faith, and the Helmet of Salvation.
The next piece, in the second half of verse 17, is the Sword of the Spirit, and he gives this one away because he says, “which is the Word of God”…pretty cut and dried, right? In Hebrews 4:12 it says, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” Our weapon is the Word of God. Everything listed up to this point is defensive, it is all for protection, and it all comes from the Word of God, but our weapon is the Word itself. Have you ever watched one of those “swashbuckler” movies where a guy picks up a sword but doesn’t know how to use it? It never ends well, does it? So again, we have to be well versed in our weapon, it has to become an extension of our arm, we have to become one with it. But this verse doesn’t end with the Word of God is a sword, it goes on to say, it divides the soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. The Word of God cuts deep it exposes who we really are, it strips away any pretense.
Sadly, there are so many phonies in the church today. People that make it all about them, they constantly talk about the “gifts” they have and the miracles they have performed. If they truly got into the Word, it would divide their soul and spirit. It would expose their innermost thoughts and desires, and then…and only then…could they be used.
So, to recap, we are to put on all of God’s armor:
The Belt of Truth = The Word of God
The Body Armor of Righteousness = The Word of God
The Shoes of the Preparation of the Gospel = The Word of God
The Shield of Faith = The Word of God
The Helmet of Salvation = The Word of God
The Sword of the Spirit = The Word of God
But it doesn’t stop there. Verses 18-20 go on to say, “18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. 19 And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. 20 I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.” So, he says to pray in the Spirit at all times, be persistent in your prayers for all believers. Then Paul says, pray for me that God will give me the right words to say. Then he ends it by saying, pray that I will keep on speaking boldly.
Paul starts out by telling us to put on all of God’s armor, which, as we have seen, means stay in the word, then he says to pray, and pray, and pray, and keep on praying. So the formula for protecting ourselves from Satan’s fiery darts is to study, memorize and meditate on the word of God, and then pray. Pray for each other, pray for our spiritual leaders and pray for ourselves. We’ll go more into prayer soon.
This passage is one of many examples that show us how Christianity is not about showing up at church every Sunday. It’s not about doing a quick 15 minute devotional every morning, rather than immersing yourself in the word and prayer. It is not about religion! If you study the New Testament, you will see that every time religion is mentioned, with the exception of one verse, it is mentioned in a negative light. Paul kept saying how he left the religion of his father to follow Christ. The people that Jesus had problems with were the religious leaders. The only time that religion is mentioned in a positive light is in James 1:27“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” So, what God sees as true Religion is caring for widows and orphans and keeping yourself pure from the world. It’s not about where you “go to church”, or the organ, or the stained glass windows. It is about a relationship with God. Relationships only work when we put work into them. If I spent one hour a week with my wife, our marriage wouldn’t have lasted a year, and yet so many people who call themselves Christians do just that with God, they give him one hour a week. God doesn’t want our leftovers, He wants everything, and the only way we can cultivate that relationship is to spend time with Him. Spend time studying and memorizing His word, spend time talking to Him and listening to His voice.
So, put on ALL of God’s Armor, and be ready…the enemy is out there. 1 Peter 5:8, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
Cathedral Made of People 