Category Archives: Bible Study

This will be where I place my various blogs on Bible related topics other than my daily Bible study

Bible Study

April 3, 2024 Bible Study — People Look at Outward Appearance, God Looks at the Heart

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Samuel 16-17.

God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king to replace King Saul.  When Samuel saw Jesse’s eldest son, Eliab, he was sure that this was the man God had chosen.  Eliab was tall and handsome, the very picture of what we imagine a king to be.  But God told Samuel that Eliab was not whom He had chosen.  God does not look for the things in a leader for which people look.  We judge potential leaders on outward appearance, but God judges based on what is in their hearts.

The passage then goes on to two accounts about how David entered into King Saul’s service.  At first glance these two accounts seem to be in conflict.  However, I noticed in the second account it mentions that Jesse’s oldest three sons followed King Saul, but that David went back and firth between serving Saul and tending his father’s sheep.  That suggests that David was already in Saul’s service, but only on a part time basis, which would be consistent with the first account where David was only called to play for King Saul when an “evil (or harmful) spirit from the Lord came upon him.”  However, what I really want to focus on from this account is what it reveals about David’s heart.  When David heard Goliath’s challenge to the Israelites, his response was, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  On several occasions in this account David repeats similar sentiments.  The capstone on understanding what in David’s heart led God to choose him as the one to succeed Saul as king over Israel when David confronted Goliath.  At that point David said, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,…”  David was confident in his skills and abilities, but he knew in his heart that his success would only come from serving God.

 

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

Bible Study

Matthew 4 sermon for February 4, 2024 — Jesus Plans His Strategy

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I have been asked to give the message during the worship services at Zion Mennonite in Birdsboro, Pa on February 4th as part of a series the pastor is doing on Matthew.  I will be using  Matthew 4 as my sermon text.  I decided to compose my thoughts here and publish them for those who read my blog.

Today’s passage picks up immediately after Jesus had Himself baptized by John.  This is important context because it tells us that Jesus was preparing Himself for His ministry.  Like many men, Jesus hoped to transform the world.  Unlike most, He was going to do so beyond what anyone else could imagine (and well beyond what anyone else had done before, or has done since).

I need to make a slight aside here. I believe that Jesus was fully God, but I also believe that He was fully human. And, as a human, His brain was limited. As a result, Jesus did not possess full omniscience, full knowledge of everything, while He went about His earthly ministry, because the human brain is finite and just cannot contain all of that knowledge.

So, once He was baptized Jesus went into the wilderness to fast and commune with His Spirit, the Spirit of God, about how He should execute His ministry. Or, perhaps I should say that His Spirit led Him into the wilderness to commune with Him.  Into this situation comes the devil to test and tempt Jesus (the Greek word which is most commonly translated as “tempt” can also mean “test”.  And I think both meanings apply here.).  Jesus faced three tests, three temptations, about a way to a “shortcut” to His ministry.  They represent three pitfalls that every spiritual leader can fall into.  And they represent three pitfalls that those seeking a spiritual leader to follow can fall for.

So, the first one:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

With the hunger which Jesus was experiencing after fasting for forty days and forty nights, the devil saw an opportunity to offer Him a shortcut which would derail His ministry

Which brings me to one of those rabbit holes I warned you I tend to go down the last time I gave the morning message. “40 days and 40 nights” represents throughout Scripture a period of preparation. When the flood happened, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. When Moses went up on Mt. Sinai, he was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights (this actually happened twice: once before Aaron made the golden calf and then again afterwards). After his contest with the prophets of Baal, Elijah fled into the wilderness having given up. God provided him with food and he traveled an additional 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Horeb, where God restored his faith. Then there are all of the periods of 40 years. There is actually a separate message right there.

The devil suggested to Jesus that He could satisfy His hunger by turning stones into bread.  And if He could satisfy His hunger that way, He could satisfy that of the poor the same way.  We don’t really understand the power represented by this, because hunger is not a daily reality for most of us.  We fail to understand the degree to which for most of human history most people went through periods of time where they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, or even when it might come.  The temptation here was for Jesus to build a following by regularly meeting the physical needs of people.  They wouldn’t really listen to what He said, but they would fight in support of whatever it was they thought He had said.

There is another side to this as well.  We are tempted to follow those who promise us that following them and doing as they instruct us is the way in which all of our physical needs (and perhaps even our physical wants).  Jesus’ answer to the tempter tells us why that doesn’t get us where He wants us to go:  ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

Jesus rejected  the “prosperity gospel” and the “social justice” answer here.  I don’t like using “social justice” here because it oversimplifies what many of those who espouse it believe they are working for, but I needed something which encapsulates the fact that there are those on both the left and the right who think that the answer is just meeting people’s physical needs.  We need to listen to what God is speaking to us and act upon it.

Which brings me to the second test:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Here, Jesus faces the temptation of a “celebrity” ministry.  Go to Jerusalem and put on a big show.  Everyone will follow you because they want to be close to the celebrity.  Harness the power of the opinion leaders to get everyone on your side.  If Jesus had put on this show, He would have had the priests and the religious leaders on His side, promoting His ministry (after that big miraculous show, they would have had to back Him, or lose their position).  The problem is, those leaders would not have followed Him because they understood how what they had been doing was wrong.  They would have just transferred those same one size fits all rules to supporting Him.  This is the test I have the hardest time summarizing.  It’s the bigger is better philosophy.  Getting caught up in the glitz and glamour and thinking that because it makes us feel good it means we are worshiping God.  Ultimately, it is expecting God to do the hard work and we can just go along for the ride.

I wish I could explain it better, but let’s move on to the third test:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’

This represents the temptation to take the political route to fixing the world’s problems.  If Jesus was just the Emperor, He could change things.  He could stop all of the injustices of the system.  From our perspective, the temptation is thinking that if we can just get the right person in charge, if we can just get the right laws in place, we can fix everything.  Jesus sees the problem with this.  In fact, it is built right into the offer.  In order to take this path, you have to compromise with evil to gain the power to act.

All of these are shortcuts to gain a mass following to change things and bring justice to the world.  The tempter told Jesus, “Do these things and you will quickly have a following which will allow you to transform the world.”  Jesus rejected each of these.  Fortunately, Matthew shows us how Jesus chose to build His ministry in the next few verses:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”  At once they left their nets and followed him.

Rather than seeking  to change the world wholesale, Jesus chose to change the world retail.  Instead of trying to change systems and institutions, Jesus sought to change individual hearts.  He chose a small group of followers and taught them how to act and how to treat others, one at a time.  He didn’t go for a one-size-fits-all method of fixing what was wrong with the world, because He knew that the problem was not the systems.  The problem that needed fixing was the desire in each of us to have mastery over our fellow man.  In order to change that, He chose to teach a few people the power of being a servant.

Bible Study

February 3, 2022 Bible Study — The Symbolism of Anointing With Oil

Today, I am reading and commenting on   Leviticus 8-9.

Reading today’s passage about the ordination of Aaron as high priest when I came to Moses anointing Aaron it brought to mind the stories in the Gospels about a woman anointing Jesus.  One of the questions I have always had regarding those accounts was why all four Gospel writers thought it was so important.  Reading this today it struck me that the woman’s (women? the differences between the way the Gospels tell the story suggests that it may have happened more than once) anointing of Jesus represented His ordination as High Priest, which was completed by His offering of Himself as a sacrifice on the cross.  So, the Gospel writers were invoking the symbolism of the anointment portion of the priestly ordination when they wrote about the woman anointing Jesus.  So, while I see a connection, it is a connection of symbolism, not of ceremony.   Anointing someone represents setting them apart to serve God in a special way.  Here Moses anointed Aaron to set him aside to serve as high priest.  The woman who anointed Jesus was symbolically setting Him aside to serve God in ways which were probably unclear to her.  She may not have even been aware that she was doing so.  Perhaps I will explore that connection a little further when I get to those passages later in the year.

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

Bible Study

September 17, 2021 Bible Study — Part 2

OK, my wife asked me when I was going to do the bit about the goat and the ram from  Daniel 7-8. I was not planning to write about this after I reached the end of what I wrote previously for this passage about the first of Daniel’s two visions in this passage, but since my wife wanted me to write this, I will take the time to do so.

This vision was given in order to give hope to those who faithfully worshiped God in the 2nd Century B.C. (and a little before that).  Actually, it is more than that.  To understand what to make of it, we need to understand the context of the time (some of which continued into the time of Christ).  Those who succeeded Alexander the Great attempted to Greek culture and religion into the areas over which they had control.  Over all, they did so with great success.  Part of their success came from incorporating pieces of the cultures and religions of the people over which they ruled into their own religion and culture.  There was another side to this, they also encouraged those who continued to follow other belief systems to incorporate pieces of their belief system into that other belief system.  Eventually, however, they lost patience with those who failed to enter into their belief system and chose to fully impose it.  This prophecy is a warning to those who incorporated practices from the Greek culture and religion into their worship of God.  Compromising with non-believers on your principals, beliefs, and practices will never be enough.  Eventually, they will demand that you make a complete break from worshiping God.  Then you will have to choose one or the other.

Bible Study

December 26, 2020 Bible Study The One Who Is, And Was, And Is To Come

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 1-3.

I want to comment on what Jesus said to John at the beginning of John’s vision.  Actually, I want to go back to what John wrote in his introduction, and forward into the intro portion of the message to each of the seven Churches.  In his introduction, John writes that God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,  I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”  Then when Jesus first speaks to John in John’s vision He says, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”  So, we see Jesus telling John that He is God, that He was with God in the beginning and will be with Him at the end.  For me, this passage represents the starting point for understanding the idea of the Trinity.  Yet, there is much more to it than that.  It is a message of hope.

If we go on and look at the introductions to the message to each of the seven Churches, we see the theme continued.  In the message to the Church of Ephesus, Jesus describes Himself as the “one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands.”  The “seven stars” are the angels of the seven Churches…their spirits, or their essence.  So, Jesus is telling John that He holds our essence, our spirit, in His hand.  In the message to Smyrna, He says He is the One who was dead, but is now alive.  Death has no power of Him, and since He holds us in His hand, death has no power over us.  To the Church in Pergamum, He describes Himself as the one who wields the sharp two-edged sword.  This is both a promise and a warning.  Because He holds the sharp sword, He can, and will, strike down our enemies.  Because that sword is two-edged, He can strike us down if we turn against Him.  To Thyatira, He describes Himself as having eyes of flame.  Nothing can be hidden from Him, and His gaze can strike down those who think their evil is hidden.  To Sardis, He says that He has the sevenfold Spirit of God.  Being sevenfold indicates that God’s Spirit is complete.  We too must seek completeness.  We cannot be satisfied with just a portion of righteousness, but must seek all aspects of it.  To the Church of Philadelphia, Jesus reminds them that what He opens cannot be closed, and what He closes cannot be opened.  When God gives us an opportunity, nothing can prevent us from taking advantage of it.  And when God closes a door nothing can come through it to harm us.  Finally, to the Church of Laodiciea He informs us that He is a faithful and true witness.  What Jesus has said is true and He will not change His testimony.

I hope the words I have written above convey the message of hope which reading this passage inspired in me.

Bible Study

Plow Up the Hard Ground Of Your Hearts

Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. In August, I decided to read the scripture passage and write a blog entry containing my thoughts on the passage as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. I do not know how long I will continue doing this, but I have enjoyed doing so up until now. I feel like a hypocrite as I write this because I believe that it is important to make it to church each Sunday (with there being allowances for special occasions…this applies to what I believe that I should do, not necessarily what others should do). Yet, all too often I do not make it to church on Sunday morning for reasons that just are not good enough.

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This weeks scripture passage is Jeremiah 4:1-4; 5:23-31.

    Every time I read Jeremiah 4:3 I am reminded of Jesus’ parable of the Sower. When I read this I think about plowing up the hard ground so that the seeds of God’s word can take root and produce crops. However, in the very next phrase Jeremiah tells us not to waste good seeds among thorns. Jesus, in His parable, compared the thorns to the cares of the world which choke out the plants which produce the crops of God’s will. Having said all of this, I want to point out that that is not exactly Jeremiah’s point. Jeremiah’s point in this passage is that while we need to change our hearts, it is not that easy to do. We could change our hearts, but we won’t. Our hearts will only get changed, will only get plowed up, when we allow the Holy Spirit to do so. Because as the prophet tells us, we have stubborn and rebellious hearts. We resist doing God’s will, even as we know and acknowledge that we should.

Bible Study

Finding Common Ground With Idolatry

Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. A few weeks ago, I decided to read the scripture passage and write a blog entry containing my thoughts on the passage as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. I do not know how long I will continue doing this, but it seems to be an exercise that has some value.

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This weeks scripture passage is Jeremiah 2:20-37.

    I am having trouble this morning putting together a cohesive set of thoughts about this passage. The first phrase which struck me as relevant to our society today was “Israel is like a thief who feels shame only when he gets caught.” It sounds like so many in our society today. All too often when people apologize for doing wrong in our society their apology sounds like they are only sorry for getting caught. The other thought that came to me was that the comments Jeremiah made about those worshiping other gods seems to apply to syncretists (those who take pieces from various different religions and put them together). These are the people who claim to be Christian, but who say that all religions teach the same things. Jeremiah is condemning those who are constantly seeking to find common ground between Christianity and other religions. I want to note that this is different from those who look for themes in other religions which resemble things taught in Christianity as a jumping off point for preaching the Gospel.

Bible Study

Are We Still Eager To Please God?

Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. A few weeks ago, I decided to read the scripture passage and write a blog entry containing my thoughts on the passage as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. I do not know how long I will continue doing this, but it seems to be an exercise that has some value.

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This weeks scripture passage is Jeremiah 2:1-19

    God’s message to His people through Jeremiah discusses how eager they were to please Him in the early days of their knowing Him. Do you remember how eager you were to please God when came to know Him through Jesus? Are you still as eager as you were then? Or are we like the Israelites of old? Have we started worshiping worthless idols? Are we more interested in watching football on Sunday than in fellowship with our fellow believers? For that matter, are we more concerned with someone disrespecting the flag than with us disrespecting God?

Bible Study

Leadership Means Serving Others

Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. A few weeks ago, I decided to read the scripture passage and write a blog entry containing my thoughts on the passage as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. I do not know how long I will continue doing this, but it seems to be an exercise that has some value.

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    This Sunday our speaker is from Cru, which used to be Campus Crusade for Christ. They changed their name because the word “Crusade” was offensive to some people

Of course, that makes you wonder why they changed their name to something which is short for the word which people found offensive. I can just imagine the dialog
“We need to change our name from Campus Crusade for Christ because people found the word Crusade offensive.”
“Well, what should we change it to?”
“I was thinking ‘Cru’ would work. It is short and easy to say.”
“Yeah, but what do we say when people ask us what it means?”
“Oh, that’s easy. It is short for Crusade!”
Is it just me, or did someone not think that one through? Personally, I think they should have changed the name to Campus Jihad for Christ.

Any way, the scripture passage for this Sunday’s service is Mark 10:32-45. In this passage, James and John seek to get Jesus to promise them special honors in God’s kingdom. From Jesus’ reply we learn the important characteristics of true leadership. According to this passage if we want to be leaders among the followers of Christ the first requirement is a willingness to suffer. However, that is not a characteristic just of the leaders, but for all followers of Christ. Jesus tells us that a leader in the Church is a servant. If we want to be a leader in God’s eyes we need to seek to meet the needs of others. While this definition of leadership is foreign to most of our secular acquaintances, it is a model which will serve us well, no matter what organization we wish to lead, or for which we are seeking a leader. Those who lead by Serving the needs of their “subordinates” will bring the most value to an organization, whether that organization is a congregation, a non-profit organization, or a business.

Bible Study

Get Up and Prepare for Action

Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to read the scripture passage and write a blog entry containing my thoughts on the passage as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. I want to apologize to anyone who has started to follow these for forgetting to publish the one I did last week until Wednesday. I do not know how long I will continue doing this, but it seems to be an exercise that has some value.

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    This passage is part of God’s call to Jeremiah. The first part of this warns Jeremiah that the message God will give him will not be popular with his audience. That is an important thing for us to remember, the message which God gives us will rarely, if ever, be popular with our audience. If people are cheering you when you speak, you are probably a false prophet…even when you are speaking to the people of God. Let me be clear, I am not talking about people saying that your message was a good message after they have had time to think about it. I am saying that it is a very rare occurrence that people will cheer immediately after hearing God’s message for them.
    My real focus on this passage is the second part. There God calls on Jeremiah to get up and prepare for action. That is God’s message for us as well. God is calling on us to get up and prepare to do His will. I actually really like the phrase where God tells Jeremiah not to be afraid of people or He will make him look like a fool. All too often, we don’t speak God’s word because we are afraid doing so will make us look foolish. Well, this passage reminds us that if we claim to be Christians and do not speak God’s message, we are guaranteed to look foolish. On the other hand, if we do stand up and speak the message which God has given to us, He will support and defend us. The whole land may fight against us, but they will fail for God will take care of us.