Monthly Archives: November 2020

Daily Bible Study

December 1, 2020 Bible Study Using Our Spiritual Gifts With Love

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 12-14

I am glad that these three chapters all come up to be read on the same day, because they are so closely linked to each other.  First Paul makes clear that God’s Spirit gives different spiritual gifts to different people, but one spiritual gift does not make that individual superior to someone with a different gift.  Each of us is given a spiritual gift to enable us to fulfill a role in Christ’s Body.  We are each part of Christ’s Body and play an important role.  While we do not get to decide which spiritual gifts we will receive, there is nothing wrong with seeking those we desire…as long as we seek those gifts so that we can better serve others.  No matter how great the gifts we receive may be, they are worthless if we do not have love for others.  All too often we read chapter 13 in the context of marriage.  While Paul’s description of love is important for every married person to remember as they relate to their spouse, it is equally important for every person to remember as they relate to all of those around them.

Daily Bible Study

November 30, 2020 Bible Study I Am Allowed To Do Anything, But Not Everything Is Beneficial

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 9-11

As I read today’s passage, none of it really “spoke” to me.  There are several things I am going to comment on that I am quite confident about what Paul was saying when he wrote them.  However,, I feel like Paul was also making a connection between these things which I am missing.  First Paul speaks about how, as an apostle, he had the right to ask those to whom he preached to provide for his needs, and for the needs of his family.  Paul chose however not to exercise that right because he felt compelled to preach.  Providing for his own needs as he traveled preaching the Gospel allowed Paul to feel that he was serving God above and beyond his calling. By refusing to take payment for his preaching, Paul was able to silence critics who tried to claim that his preaching served his own interests rather than the truth of God.

Paul goes on to speak about when we experience temptation to sin.  He tells us that we should not feel that the temptations which we experience are more difficult to resist than those which others experience.  He goes on to tell us that God will provide us with a means to resist the temptation.  We cannot excuse our sins by saying that the temptation was too powerful for us to resist.  So, when we find ourselves facing temptations which we have trouble resisting, we need to seek to identify the means which God is providing us to escape those temptations. From there Paul goes on to write about eating meat offered to idols in a way which he seems to be connecting to what I just wrote (and this following section is where I feel like I am missing something).  If we go to the market to buy meat we should not ask if it has been offered to an idol, nor should we ask that question if someone we know is an idol worshiper invites us to eat with them.  In both cases, we may be generically aware that it was offered to an idol, but as long as no one makes us specifically aware that such was the case we are free to consume the food in good conscience.  On the other hand, if someone goes out of their way, especially someone who is an idol worshiper, to inform us that the food was offered to an idol, we should refrain from eating it.    We should refrain so as to avoid reinforcing the idol worshiper’s belief in the power of their idol.

I was going to end there, but I realized that I had not gone over one of the most important thing Paul wrote in any of his letters.  As Christians who are saved not by our actions but by God’s grace we are free to do anything which we please.  Paul ardently agrees with that thought.  However, he points out that while we are free to do anything, not everything which we might do is beneficial.  When we consider doing something we should consider whether or not it is good for others around us. It should please us to do only those things which please God, and that which pleases God is that which is beneficial to others.  Anything which we choose to do should, at the very least, not be harmful to others, and ideally it will bring benefit to others.

Daily Bible Study

November 29, 2020 Bible Study We Belong To God, Not To Ourselves

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 5-8

Everything in today’s passage comes down to two central points which Paul makes (I hope that I can tie these two points together, but we will see).  First, we do not belong to ourselves, but rather we belong to God.  Therefore we should not live to please ourselves, but rather to please God.  This runs exactly contrary to the argument our society makes about human sexuality (and many other things).  Our society makes the argument that people need to fulfill their sexual desires, whatever those desires may be.  Paul tells us that sexual immorality effects our bodies, bodies which have been joined with Christ.   Paul reiterates what Genesis taught about sexuality, that having sexual relations with someone joins us to them.  In fact, Paul tells us that this joining causes a potential conflict with our being joined to God, which is why he recommends that Believers remain unmarried and refrain from sexual relations.  However, he also tells us that not everyone is capable of such sexual discipline and those who are not should marry.  What I find interesting about today’s society is that the most libertine among us have decided that being blessed with little or no sexual desires belongs among their perversions.

The other main point which Paul makes in this passage regards judgement in the Church, among Believers (I still hope to show how this connects with the other point, but I am not yet sure I will be able to do so).  He tells us that as Believers we should not take our disputes to secular courts.  Instead, when we have a dispute with another Believer which we cannot work out between us, we should take that dispute to someone in the Church whose judgement we both trust and allow them to decide between us.  If the Believer with whom we have the dispute is unwilling to submit to such a resolution, it is better to allow ourselves to be cheated rather than take our dispute before those who apply worldly wisdom to such things.  Paul makes this point after telling the Corinthians to put the man bragging about sexual immorality out of the Church, thus connecting the two ideas.  First, Paul tells us that we should not associate with those who claim to be Believers who indulge in sexual sins, are greedy, worship idols, are abusive, or are drunkards.  He explicitly tells us that those who place themselves outside of the Body of Christ are not subject to our judgement on such behaviors, but we should judge such behavior among those who claim to be one with Christ and with us.

Daily Bible Study

November 28, 2020 Bible Study Relying On Human Wisdom Leads to Division

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 1-4

In his introduction, Paul tells the Corinthians, and us, that they already have all of the spiritual gifts which they need; we have every spiritual gift which we need.  He then goes into the danger of using the differences in teaching focus between different teachers to justify division in the Church.  He even addresses those who try to use this passage to justify doing the very same thing when he warns of those who divide themselves from others by saying, “I follow only Christ.”  Surely you have heard the nondenominational Christians who say, “We don’t have denomination because Paul warns against that. We only follow Christ.”  This does not mean that it is any more wrong to be nondenominational than to be part of a denomination.  The problem comes in when you think being part of a nondenominational congregation, or part of a specific denomination, makes you a better Christian than those who follow a different approach.

The Gospel message is foolishness to those who use human wisdom to understand the world.  Division in the Church results from our attempts to use human wisdom to resolve issues about righteousness.  Wisdom relies on logic, but the accuracy and reliability of conclusions reached by logic depend entirely on the assumptions with which one starts.  Paul uses the example of how worldly wisdom views the Gospel message to remind us how human wisdom falls short of understanding God’s plan.  Those who seek to understand God by way of signs and wonders stumble over the idea that Christ died.  Those who seek to understand God by way of looking at nature think that the idea of Christ’s resurrection is foolishness.  I cannot help but think of the story of the man born blind in John 9. When the religious leaders told the formerly blind man that they knew Jesus was a sinner, he did not respond by appealing to logic or wisdom.  He merely said, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner. But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”  He did not try to debate the educated and wise.  He merely used the words which the Spirit gave him.  Let us not try to cleverly come up with an answer to those who attempt to argue with us.  Instead, let us rely on the Spirit to give us the words to say.

Daily Bible Study

November 27, 2020 Bible Study Living In Harmony

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 14-16

So, I did not touch on chapter 14 yesterday, but I really think what Paul said there is important to what he says in the passage for today.  Which means that I am including chapter 14 today.  In chapter 14 Paul refers to those who believe that one must not eat certain foods, and/or that one must hold special services on particular days.  He contrasts them to those who believe that it makes no difference what one eats, or when one holds services.  Paul tells us that either approach is acceptable to God.  Those who think it is a sin to eat certain foods should not do so, and those who think it is not should not press them to eat such foods.  Neither side should condemn the other.  Both sides should give thanks to God for what they eat and praise Him for providing them food to eat.  Instead of condemning others and trying to convince them to live as we interpret Scripture, we should live so as to help them do what is right.  Which is kind of a contradiction because helping them do what is right means convincing them to do that which is right. The key here has to do with condemnation.  If we believe that what someone is doing is a sin, rather than attempt to convince them of the sinfulness of doing it, we should attempt to convince them of the greater joy to be had by not doing it.  Our efforts should be to nurture people’s faith rather than make them feel inadequate.  Rather than argue over what is right and wrong, we should seek to live in harmony.  We will revisit this subject in a little bit as we read some of Paul’s other letters.

Daily Bible Study

November 26, 2020 Bible Study Allowing God’s Spirit to Transform Us Into His Image

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 11-14

The beginning of today’s passage contains a great explanation of why Christians who hate Jews are not true Believers.  Paul’s basic point is that the Jews are still God’s Chosen people.  God has used the rejection by many of the Jews to call Gentiles to Himself, but in due time He will reclaim the Jewish people as His own.  I think a careful examination of what Paul writes here reveals a lot about God’s plan for Jew and Gentile alike.  He cut those Jews who rejected His salvation through Christ off from Him in order to make room for Gentiles.  Yet, if they turn once more to Him, He will make room for them.  Ultimately, it seems to me that Paul is saying that we need to be careful not to make the same mistake towards the Jews which some of them made towards the Gentiles: the mistake of thinking that they (or we) were better than others on account of God’s mercy towards them (or us).  God wished to use the Jews to show His love to all people, but they (but not all of them) chose to attempt to hoard God’s love for themselves.  They chose to look at others as rejected by God.  Let us not make the same mistake.  The mistake of thinking that God does not still love His prodigal sons and daughters.

In order to avoid that mistake, we must allow God’s Spirit to transform us into a new person by changing the way we think.  We need to avoid letting ourselves copy the thoughts and behaviors of our society.  Part of that transformations is to not think of ourselves as more than we are.  I am no better than anyone else, and they are no better than I.  As Believers, each of us are part of the Body of Christ.  Each of us has been given different gifts by God in order to fulfill His purpose.  Whatever gift God has given us, let us use to the fullest of our ability.  One gift that we each have is the ability to love others.  So let us truly love others, even those who persecute us. Let us pray for them and ask God to bless them.  When people do wrong to us, we should not attempt to repay them in kind.  Instead, we should remember that Jesus’ rule was, “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”  Not, “Do unto others as they have done to you.”

There are two more things in this passage I would like to cover, but I think I am only going to get to one of them.  Paul tells us that we should submit to the governing authorities.  Those who have positions of authority have been placed there by God, even those who may have broken laws to get there.  So, we should accept their authority.  Of course, we must temper that submission to those authorities with what Peter and the other Apostles told the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”  So, while we should obey the governing authorities, we must remember the limits to their authority.  And Paul gives us guidance in determining how to identify those limits.  Let us act with true love towards everyone, any command from the governing authorities which would lead us to act outside of love for others is outside of the bonds to which we are bound to submit.

Daily Bible Study

November 25, 2020 Bible Study How Can I Know That God’s Promises Apply To Me?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 8-10

I often quote from verse 31 in chapter 8 to give hope and confidence to my fellow believers: “If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” Recently, someone responded, “Yes, but that is a big if.”  So, in order to address that “If” I am going to start at the end of today’s passage and work back, because there are many promises in today’s passage which rely on us knowing that God is for us.

In chapter 10, Paul tells us, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ”  This really sums up the two things which we must do, we must accept that Jesus is our Lord and we must openly declare that this is the case.  Which answers the question raised by the “If”.  How can we know that God is on our side? By openly declaring that Jesus is Lord and believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead.  If we do that then we are on God’s side which means that God is for us.

From there we can go back to the beginning of this passage and see what more is needed with confidence that such is attainable.  Back at the beginning Paul told us that we must not allow our sinful natures to control our minds because doing so leads to death.  That is easier said than done, but Paul provides us with the answer to that as well.  We must instead allow the Spirit of God which lives within us to control our minds instead of our sinful nature.  In fact, if we have the Spirit of God living within us, we will be controlled by the Spirit.  And the Spirit of God lives within us if we do what I referenced in the previous paragraph.  Actually, Paul addresses one of the arguments made by our society to justify sin, “I have these inborn desires that I have to carry out.”  Paul tells us that, no, we do not have to carry out those sinful inborn desires.  We have no obligation  to carry out the urges which our sinful nature pushes us towards.  Paul further tells us that, while we can willingly walk away from the benefits of serving God, nothing can force us away from God’s love.  Even our walking away from God will not separate us from God’s love, even though He will not force us to experience the joy which serving Him will provide us.

 

So, we can have confidence that God stands with us.  Part of that confidence is the knowledge that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him.  This does not mean that we can choose how things will work out.  Perhaps we have been chosen by God to experience suffering similar to that which Christ experienced.  We will find that if we allow the Spirit to control our minds that the joy we experience will overcome, and outweigh, any suffering which might come our way from following God’s will.  More importantly, who are we to demand an explanation from God as to why He made us the way that we are.  This applies not just to the issue of suffering, but to many of the social issues which we see around us today.  My heart breaks for those who have become convinced that God got it wrong when He made them as they are; those who seek to change the way which God has made them.

Daily Bible Study

November 24, 2020 Bible Study Abraham As An Example of Faith

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 4-7

There is some really good, really deep stuff in what Paul writes about Abraham and how he received God’s promise before he was circumcised.  Perhaps I will go into that at some point.  I certainly encourage you to read what Paul writes here and think about what it means.  However, I want to look at Paul telling us that Abraham’s faith did not waver, because it should give us hope in our own faith.  Paul tells us that Abraham’s faith did not waver.  Yet, it was after God counted Abraham as righteous for his faith that Abraham took Hagar to bed and got her pregnant with Ishmael.  It was after that that he asked God to fulfill His promise through Ishmael.  So, we can see that our doubts, the times when our faith is less than sure, do not count as wavering before God.  That does not mean that we can surrender to our doubts, it just means that having doubts does not mean that we have lost our faith.  Let us believe God’s promises, even when we have doubts about the future, or don’t understand how the things which are happening fit into God’s plan.

Which brings us to the joy we experience from being made right with God by Jesus through the faith which we have in God’s promise.  Not only should we have joy because we have been made right with God, we should also rejoice when  we suffer because of that faith.  Paul tells us that the suffering which we experience produces perseverance (as the NIV translates it).  That perseverance builds character and character gives us hope.  I prefer the NIV use of perseverance to the NLT usage of endurance because perseverance is more active.  To a degree I think we need both endurance and perseverance.  We endure suffering when the suffering comes with no connection to anything we do.  We persevere through suffering when the suffering is directed at us because of the actions which we take.  If we remain faithful we are going to suffer for that faith, therefore let us continue to actively do as God directs us.

Daily Bible Study

November 23, 2020 Bible Study There Is No Excuse For It, But All Have Sinned

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 1-3

After his introduction, Paul lays out his basic understanding of the world.  Wicked people suppress the truth because God has made His nature obvious, through His creation, to anyone willing to know it.  Therefore, anyone who wishes to not believe in God must suppress the truth which they themselves know in order to justify such unbelief.  As a result of their denial of God, people do vile and degrading things with each other. A corollary to this is that the more people deny that which nature shows them about God, the more vile and degrading their actions will become. I could easily apply some of what Paul says about those vile and disgusting things to what we see in our society today, and how the fact that Paul was talking about those very same things 2,000 years ago shows us that mankind has not changed, but that is not where I want to go today.

Having established that those who reject God have no excuse for their unbelief, Paul turns to those who know God’s commands and warns them that they have no basis to judge.  Those of us who know God are no better than those who deny His existence.  We know, and acknowledge, what God commands, but we still violate His commands.  If we try to claim that we are better than those others, we will cause them to blaspheme the name of God.  There are those who do not acknowledge Christ who follow His teachings more closely than we sometimes do.  We need to recognize that we are not better than anyone else.  We too are sinners who have fallen short of what God commands.

There is nothing we, or anyone else, can do to make ourselves right with God.  We must accept that we can only be made right with God by the action of God.  No matter how hard we try, we will fail to live up to the standard to which God calls us.  We must rely on God to make us right with Him and not think that we can do so ourselves.  We cannot be good enough to get into Heaven because of our actions.  However, just because we must rely on God’s grace does not mean that we should not continue to strive to do as God commands.  In fact, we should strive to do as God commands because of His grace.

Daily Bible Study

November 22, 2020 Bible Study Ensure That Those Around Us Know That We Desire Their Salvation

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 26-28

OK, I usually have a plan for what I am going to write when I start writing this blog.  Today, nothing “speaks” to me, but there are several elements which I feel worthy of some comment.  There are two tidbits from Paul’s audience/trial before Herod Agrippa.  When Paul began his “close” (a term from sales referring to when the salesperson makes the argument to which their listener will have no choice but to say “yes”), King Agrippa interrupts him to ask if Paul thinks he can persuade Agrippa so quickly.  Paul’s answer is one which we should strive for all of our non-Believer friends to be aware of, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”  We may not be in chains, but we should wish that those we interact with would share our faith in Christ.  Those we associate with should know that we desire for them to come to have the joy which our faith in Jesus gives us.

The other tidbit comes when the audience concludes.  King Agrippa says to Festus, the governor, that if Paul had not appealed to Caesar he could be set free.  We know that is not really true.  The reason that Paul appealed to Caesar was because he knew that Festus would bow to political pressure to transfer him to Jerusalem, where he would have been killed.  King Agrippa was certainly aware of the political situation and would have known that Governor Festus would not go so far as to stir up the political problems which would have arisen from releasing Paul.