Monthly Archives: December 2020

Daily Bible Study

December 22, 2020 Bible Study Living Our Lives So As To Embarrass Those Who Malign Christ’s Followers

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 Peter 1-5.

Peter warns us that we will face trials and suffering for our faith.  However, these trials and suffering will bring us great joy if we remain strong in our faith.  Later in this letter, Peter tells us that when we suffer for following Christ that suffering will remove from us the wish to satisfy our own desires and instead make us anxious to do the will of God.  Peter tells us to live such lives that when people malign us they will be embarrassed by our behavior.  By that he means that we must be done with deceit, hypocrisy, and unkind speech.  IF we live such lives, those who seek to portray us as hateful bigoted people will have their claims rejected by those who know us.

Some time back, my wife was unhappy about the negative things which our nonbeliever friends said about Christians.  She felt like the terrible things which others who claimed to be Christians did made our friends think badly about us.  It occurred to me that when our friends said these things they did not think about the fact that we were Christians.  So, I told her that the next time one of them expressed opinions about how terrible Christians were, she should apologize for behaving in that manner.  The thing is, many of our nonbeliever friends don’t actually know any other people who openly profess to be Christians (or, if they do, they do not think about them as Christians any more than they think about us that way, because, you know, Christians are all hateful people and those people aren’t hateful).  Sure enough, when my wife did that, our friends said, “Oh no, I didn’t mean you.”  To which my wife replied, “Who else do you know whose a Christian?”  My wife and I are definitely less than the ideal people of faith, but we had behaved as Peter recommends in the presence of these friends (or, at least, my wife had).

Daily Bible Study

December 21, 2020 Bible Study If We Start By Asking God For Wisdom, He Will Grant Us Everything We Ask Of Him

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on James 1-5.

I love the Book of James.  It contains so many lessons for us.   James starts off by telling us that we should take joy in whatever troubles come our way, because troubles test our faith.  The testing of our faith gives us the opportunity to grow our faith and as our faithful endurance improves we become better people. From there James segues into a topic which he comes back to later in this letter: if we lack anything, we should ask God for it.  In this case, James tells us that if we need more wisdom, God will provide it to us if we ask Him for it.  Later, James tells us that quarrels and fights happen among us because we want what we do not have, and we do not have it because we do not ask God for it.  Even when we do ask, we ask in order to please ourselves rather than to please God and others.

In the beginning when James speaks of asking God for wisdom he warns against seeking wisdom other than God’s.  Then when he later speaks of asking God for what we want he warns against seeking the pleasures of this world.  I cannot emphasize enough the connection between these two things.  The world considers wisdom to be those things which will show us how to obtain the pleasures of this world.  God’s wisdom shows us how to serve others in faithful obedience to God.  The foundational principles of godly wisdom teach us to do those things which are necessary to accumulating material possessions, which often misleads people into thinking that wisdom leads to the acquisition of wealth.  Thus, if we put our focus on the material instead of on God, we can be misled into following the wisdom of the world rather than the deeper principles of true wisdom.

I feel like I have failed to completely explain my title, please read the Book of James to see how he explains it.

Daily Bible Study

December 20, 2020 Bible Study Having a Physical Trainer Is a Good Thing, But What We Truly Need Is a Spiritual Trainer

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

As I read today’s passage there were several things which I thought worth mentioning.  We will see how many of them I fit into today’s Bible Study.  The passage begins with the writer referring back to the people of faith about whom he wrote in yesterday’s passage, people of whom the world was not worthy.  To explain how we should act he uses the metaphor of one running a race, such as in the Olympic competitions.  Just as those who wish to succeed in world class athletic competition need to have a great trainer, and need to do what that trainer directs them to do, so to do we need a great spiritual trainer if we want to succeed in the spiritual race in which we find ourselves.  Fortunately, in Jesus Christ we have such a spiritual trainer.  A trainer who has proven their merit as a trainer by winning the highest possible spiritual honor.  In order for a physical trainer to train someone to succeed they must sometimes disciple their trainee when the trainee falls short.   In the same way, God will discipline us when we fall short of the spiritual exercises which He gives us.  God’s discipline is not evidence that He has given up on us.  Rather, it is evidence of His love for us.  So let us accept God’s discipline with joy, since it represents an expression of His love for us.

As you may notice, I did not fit many of the ideas I mentioned at the beginning into this study.

Daily Bible Study

December 19, 2020 Bible Study Motivating Others To Live By 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 Hebrews 10-11.

Jesus’ sacrifice once for all time means that we can confidently enter into God’s presence, knowing that our sins are forgiven through God’s grace.  Each time we fail to turn from sin we can confidently pick ourselves up and strive to do good once again.   As long as we put our faith in Christ, and not in our own works, we can be confident that God’s Spirit will dwell in us and transform us into His likeness.  The writer tells us that we must strive to encourage each other to good works and acts of love.  What he is saying is that there are two reasons we should gather with our fellow believers.  On the one hand we should gather so that we can motivate others to do God’s will.  On the other hand we should gather so that we can be motivated to do God’s will.  The writer goes on to give us examples of people who have done great works of faith throughout history.  He reminds us that some achieved great victories by their faith, but others suffered greatly.  However, he tells us that in both cases they changed the world through their faith and that the world was not worthy of them.  Let us strive to be worthy to be footnotes in their stories.

Daily Bible Study

December 18, 2020 Bible Study Placing Our Faith In God, Not In Dead Works

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 6-9.

Interestingly, the translators’ notes in the footnotes says that the words translated here as “evil deeds’ literally translate as “dead works”.  Using that makes more sense of what the writer is saying than what they chose here: “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from dead works evil deeds and placing our faith in God.”   The writer appears to me to be telling his audience that they should be past arguing about the importance of rituals and particular actions.  In particular, the writer seems to be discussing the rituals and practices of Jewish Law, although I do not believe his point applies exclusively to them.  He goes on to point out how the high priest under Mosaic Law was so constrained to continually offer sacrifices that he was unable to truly intercede on our behalf with God.  Jesus does not suffer that liability, since His one time sacrifice was sufficient for eternity.  This means that Jesus can function as an advocate before God for us.  Just as each of us will die once, so Jesus died once.  And since Jesus was resurrected, we know that He will be there to bring us before God for resurrection if we put our faith in Him.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2020 Bible Study Jesus, Fully Human, But Greater Than The Angels

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 1-5.

The writer of Hebrews first establishes that Jesus is greater than the angels.  I am not going to spend any time on that right now, since I have not come across anyone who overemphasizes angels recently.  Having established that Jesus is greater than angels, the writer goes on to show that Jesus was fully human.  The writer goes on to explain why that is important.  Because Jesus was fully human, He experienced temptation and suffering just as we do.  He also suffered death as a human being, a death which allows Him to free us from the fear of death.  Since God raised Jesus from the dead, we know that He is willing and able to do the same for us.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2020 Bible Study Church Leaders Must Be Hospitable

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Titus and Philemon

I have skipped over the other places where Paul speaks about the qualifications for Church leadership, but I will touch on it today  Church leaders are managers of God’s household and therefore must be men who lead a blameless life. Paul goes into detail on what that means, but there is one qualification he mentions which is not summed up in “blameless life”.  Church leaders must enjoy having guests in their own home.  They must like being around people.  Paul tells us that all of these qualifications are necessary because there are many rebellious people who engage in useless talk and thus deceive others.  I find it interesting that being a good host leads to one being good at countering those who deceive others.

Paul goes on to say that Believers should submit to the government and its officers.  We should be obedient and always ready to do what is good.  It should be noted that this was written by a man who was imprisoned by the government for preaching about Jesus Christ, and who continued to preach even so.  We should not slander anyone.  Actually, I am going to bring up a story about my Mom here.  My Mom was a firm believer in the saying, “If you cannot say anything nice about someone, do not say anything.”  The worst thing I ever heard her say about someone was, “He dresses nice.”  This was in response to me asking her opinion of a man prominent in the Church community (not someone who held any Church offices that I can remember) about whom I had heard some rumors (just rumors that people were spreading rumors about him).  I knew that my Mom knew the man personally, and had likely heard whispers of something inappropriate regarding him.  Hearing my Mom say that about the man was the most devastating put down of the man imaginable, and my Mom had no intention of putting him down when she said it.  “He dresses nice,” was the only nice thing she could say about a man she had known for more than 20 years.  The point of this story was that my Mom always sought to see some good in everyone

Daily Bible Study

December 15, 2020 Bible Study Living In The Last Days, But Knowing That The One Whom We Trust Is Able To Keep Us Safe

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Timothy 1-4

Paul writes two closely related thoughts early in this letter.  If we, like Paul, know the One in whom we have put our faith, and are sure that He is able to guard that which we have committed to Him, we will be prepared to suffer for the Gospel. There is a hymn based on that idea (chapter 1 verse 12).  That hymn echoes a theme which I see throughout the New Testament.  We may not, and often will not, know why things work out the way they do, but we can be confident that they are happening according to God’s plan.  And we know that God will take care of us and bring us home to Him.

Paul goes on to tell Timothy, and us, the importance of working hard to do God’s will, correctly explaining the word of truth.  We need to pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace, while avoiding that which stimulates youthful lust.  Especially now in the last days.  How do we know it is the last days?  Paul tells us what things will look like in those days,  Look around and tell me his description does not fit.  “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.  They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.  They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.“

Daily Bible Study

December 14, 2020 Bible Study Guidelines For Caring For Those In Need

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 Timothy 5-6

Here Paul gives Timothy instructions for caring for widows.  I am convinced that these instructions can be easily extended to how we as Christians should care for all of those in need.  First, we definitely should care for those who have no one else to care for them who cannot care for themselves.  However, we should ask the relatives of those who cannot care for themselves to care for them before we, as the Church, get involved.  Also, those who are able to care for themselves should do so.  Further, those who we provide care for need to be respectful and kind to others.  If you are one of those who need help, you need to be grateful to those who give you that assistance. Further, while some among us have the gift to care for those who are ungrateful, none of us are obligated to care for those who treat us poorly.   I am tempted to write more here to try to clarify my points, but instead I am going to ask you to read the passage and see how Paul said it.

Daily Bible Study

December 13, 2020 Bible Study Pray For People Instead of Arguing With Them

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 Timothy 1-4

Today’s passage begins and ends with Paul warning Timothy against false teachers who fill their time with meaningless discussions.  He speaks of how they spend time on discussions of myths and genealogies (the context seems to suggest that some people were claiming to have special insights into God’s will because of who their ancestors were, but it may also apply to those who claimed authority because they had been students of particular people).  Paul warns us against getting caught up in such meaningless discussions.  Instead of getting caught up in meaningless discussions we should pray for people, especially those in positions of government authority.  In times like these that last bit will help us avoid getting caught up in meaningless discussions which do nothing to help us, or others, live a life of faith in God.