Repent and Share

In my daily Quiet Time yesterday, I read John 3:1-14. It was the first record of John the Baptist’s adult ministry messages. I saw 5 key components to the message that Luke recorded for us. 

1. Repent for forgiveness from God (vs. 3)

2. Birth families and religion can’t save you (vs. 7-8)

3. Act out your faith by giving to those in need (vs. 11)

4. Be honest when dealing with fellow man (vs. 12-13)

5. Don’t extort or take just because you have the power to do so (vs. 14)

I think verses 3 and 11 kind of sums it up for me:

Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven . . . John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.

Repent and share (care about other people’s needs) summed it up for me. The message of the Gospel needs to involve repentance in all areas of our lives. Repentance of sins means ALL sins. John just gives a few pertinent areas (as Luke tells it). However John preached for 1/2-1 year before Jesus started His ministry . . . John probably confronted many other people regarding their specific sins as well. All sin must be laid aside. We won’t be perfect or live like repentant children of God all the time, but we can always repent (turn around, change behaviors, determine to continue to move away from sin). It takes practice.

The other part of John’s message in the passage was all about sharing what we have with those who don’t have and treating our fellowman with honesty and respect. I have a ways to go as we all do, but I can work on it. And in so doing, I can be a witness as to what God’s love is all about. That’s John’s basic message and so it should also be mine.

Sharing Truth: Acts 19:35-40

We can learn several things from the town clerk’s message as he tried to quiet the mob in Ephesus, which were inciting violence against the Christians, especially against Paul. The clerk, once he quieted the rioters, made 6 main points about the accusations against the Christians. Basically he said that the assembled citizens of Ephesus were creating a riot over nothing and that the rioters were in danger of breaking the Roman laws.

I want to specifically look at one of the things the clerk said because it tells us about Paul and the other Christians in Ephesus. Acts 19:37 records one part of the clerk’s message: “For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess . . .” The point the clerk was trying to make was point number four: “The persons accused were not guilty of breaking the civil laws.” What does this tell us about Paul and the other disciples who were preaching the Messiah message throughout Ephesus?

It tells us that Paul did not go about offending the inhabitants of Ephesus by forcibly destroying their goddess’s temple (Ephesus was the main place where the worship of Artemis was strongest) or ridiculing the people for their beliefs. What Paul and the others preached was the truth about Jesus Christ. And the truth was changing the people’s hearts. It wasn’t by force that the exorcists and evil-doers repented of their sins (see Acts 19:17-20 where it says that the “word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”) It was the message, the truth, and the God-ordained miracles Paul was espousing. No one was forcing them or directly confronting their goddesses and gods. They were just reasoning and speaking the truth to the people and those people responded favorably to the message.

(One statement made by Paul may have been directly aimed at the concept of multiple gods and goddesses. In verse 26, one of the rabble-rousers gave an example of Paul’s examples to the people: “. . . this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying, ‘that gods made with hands are no gods at all . . .” So Paul was questioning the reality of man-made gods, but he didn’t directly attack Artemis.)

This passage impressed upon me the idea that we need not be destructive or confrontational with unbelievers as we try to reason with them and show them the truth. We do not have to become aggressive and harsh. We do not need to ridicule sinners to get them to see the error of their ways. We can speak boldly with love and compassion. And, most importantly, we can speak the truth of Jesus’ death on the cross, His resurrection, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. None of those key truths attack anyone else. It’s just the sharing of the truth. It’s up to God’s Holy Spirit to convict and change people’s hearts.

Thoughts on Psalm 36

In my personal devotion time the promise a couple of days ago was, “My love stretches to the heavens and My faithfulness extends above the clouds.” The verse that went along with the promise was Psalm 36:5. I read the verse and recognized it as part of a Third Day song. However the song uses several verses in Psalm 36 so I read the entire passage.

The part that stood out to me (and that most of the song is taken from) is verses 5-9:

Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

Thy faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;

Thy judgments are like a great deep.

O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.

How precious is Thy lovingkindness, God!

And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.

Thy drink their fill of the abundance of Thy house;

And Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights.

For with Thee is the fountain of life;

In Thy light we see light.

[NASB[

Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit down. However when I read passages like this in Scripture, I am encouraged for a time. Meditating on God’s love and faithfulness brings hope to my thoughts and feelings. It tells us right in this passage that He preserves man and beast. There have been many occasions in my life where God has preserved me. When I’ve felt like I was at the end of my rope and had no place to go (and was contemplating suicide as a viable option) He has prevented me from following through. He has preserved me when my diabetes has gotten out of control and I was in physical danger. Again, I survived. There have been times when I didn’t know what the next right thing to do was, and somehow, I did the right things.

It’s all because of His faithfulness and lovingkindness that He shows to His people. Some people might say that I did those things and that it had nothing to do with God’s intervention. I know that’s not the case. If it was based on my own strength and wisdom, I’d still be drunk, for one thing. My best thinking and willpower only got me into trouble. That’s true in all areas of my life.

So today, I meditate on His love and faithfulness to preserve me, in spite of myself. It’s only because of Him that I have life and am able to get to a point where I see light (and not the darkness in my own thoughts). How has God been loving and faithful to you?

Galatians Summary

I began a new Bible study today. It’s a new beginning. I learned a lot studying Galatians, but it’s time to move on to something new. So I’m going to the origin of everything: Genesis.

Before I start writing about Genesis, I want to write a note about what I’m taking away from my study of Galatians. The study led me to look back at the time or era in which Paul wrote to the Galatians and to whom he was writing to. The Galatians probably understood Paul’s sermon differently than we expect as we try to look at it from a modern-day perspective.

The audience for Paul’s letter is telling. He was writing to the church of Galatia. This was a church made up of three kinds of believers. 1. Jewish born who had become Christians. 2. Gentile born who had converted to Judaism then became Christians (proselytes). 3. Gentile born who became Christians and did not have to convert to Judaism in order to gain salvation.

He was not writing to or about “the world” or unsaved Gentiles. So his messages about following the law or not following the law deal with not making the gentile believers convert to Judaism. The church was made up of all three of these groups and Paul expected them to worship, study, and eat together. He chastised the proselytes who were trying to “influence” the gentile believers to convert to Judaism in order to really be a part of the church. It was, and is, not necessary to follow the parts of the Bible that tell the Jews how to behave so they are easily recognized as God’s chosen people.

Paul used “the law” to signify the traditional and ritual actions that God had assigned to the people of Israel. He’s not referring to the entire Old Testament.  And his “gospel” said that a person doesn’t have to perform the traditional and ritual laws in order to be saved by Jesus Christ. Whether one is Jewish or Gentile (circumcised or uncircumcised) is not what gains us access to God in heaven. It’s faith in Jesus Christ (the Messiah) that determines salvation.

Paul didn’t say that Jewish people (those born Jewish and the proselytes) should not follow the Torah with it’s traditions and rituals. He, being a believer, followed the law his entire life. So it’s okay to follow the Torah, especially if one is Jewish born, but doing those things is not what saves people from eternal death and separation from God. Paul even went so far as to say that Jewish people should continue to follow the Torah to set themselves apart as God’s chosen people, but doing so is not what will save them. Faith in the Messiah is the necessary ingredient.

Paul used the example of Abraham who lived before the law was given to Moses. Abraham’s salvation was reckoned to him because he believed in the coming Messiah and in the promise that God had made with him. (Romans 4, Galatians 3) Just as Abraham was saved by faith, all people are saved by believing in and following the Messiah. Paul gave the Messiah a name: Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

As an application, I am trying to be more aware of when I’m just following the rules, traditions and guidelines of the church instead of devoting myself to believing in and following Christ’s rule. His basic rule is two fold: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. The whole of Scripture can be summed up in those two principles, as told to us by Jesus in Mark 12:30-31: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” So my application is to continue to learn about and put these principles into practice on a daily basis by studying His Word and serving others.

Be Kind and Compassionate

I’ve done some thinking about what the Bible has to say about being kind and compassionate and was drawn to Ephesians 4:32 and the surrounding verses. They say:

²⁹ Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. NASB

Verse 32 in the NIV is put this way: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” For some reason that is the version that came to my mind, not the NASB in which I’ve done most of my memorizing. So my thoughts today are focusing on what it means to be kind and compassionate (or tender-hearted) towards those we come into contact with every day.

It’s something that comes “naturally” to some. However, I think that starting at a young age we should be taught to have compassion on our fellows. Some miss this in their childhoods and act in unkind ways. But we should still respond to them with kindness and compassion. As a matter of fact, we don’t know the family histories, background, or what happened to that surly person we came in contact with today. Maybe they haven’t been taught the principles of kindness or compassion. Sometimes we do know but still need a reminder to treat others in a kind and compassionate manner.

In my household, it has been the “rule” since before we had offspring. It’s what I expect from those living in my home. However, circumstances have come together in such a way that I find myself having to work hard at being kind and compassionate even in the midst of others who may not have those things as a guiding force or principle for their lives.

Most of the time it is easy to be kind and compassionate to those who are also working within that framework. However, when push comes to shove (figuratively, of course) we need to return mistreatment from another with the kindness and compassion that the Spirit of Christ has given us. I don’t think it can be done on our own power. That’s just too hard and we would probably fail (more than we do already). It has to come from the power of God working in our lives for us to be kind and compassionate amidst turmoil and mayhem (or just dealing with a surly person).

Focus

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what the person of God should focus their attention on. Partially that comes from studying 1 Timothy. Paul gives Timothy several things to focus on and several things Timothy should not focus on. This led me to think about my own life and I’ve been trying to evaluate myself based on these things. Basically, am I living the life a woman of God should be living.

There are several lists of characteristics in the book of 1 Timothy but today what stands out to me is found in chapter 6, verses 11-12. In the Phillips version of the New Testament it says,

“But you, the man of God, keep clear of such things. Set your heart not on riches, but on goodness, Christ-likeness, faith, love, patience and humility. Fight the worthwhile battle of the faith, keep your grip on that life eternal to which you have been called, and to which you boldly professed your loyalty before many witnesses.”

So I evaluate my life . . . do I set my heart on riches? Is money and material possessions the focus of my energy and efforts? Generally not. However this passage goes on to tell us what we should be focusing on: goodness, Christ-likeness, faith, love, patience and humility. So I ask myself, are those the things I focus on? I have to admit that I’m not sure what my focus is on these days, but I don’t think it’s on those things as much as it should be. I am finding it hard to focus on anything in reality. But those are good characteristics to have. I want to be good. I want to be Christ-like. I want to have faith. I want to be characterized by love. I want to have patience toward the people in my life. And I know I should be humble.

I need to keep those qualities in front of me on a daily basis and “set my heart” on them. I don’t know exactly how to do that these days. So I pray that God would show me what goodness is and what Christ-likeness looks like. I pray for faith and love and patience. I pray that God will help me be humble toward Him and others. I feel like there is something more I should be doing in order to develop those characteristics in my life, but for now, the best I can do is pray for the ability to keep those things before me and do what God would have me do regarding each of those areas.