Wow! So much in one little verse!!!

Hebrews 11:6(NKJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

As you know I have written many times about how important faith is to God.  This verse really puts that into context doesn't it?  It is IMPOSSIBLE to please God without faith.  The verse goes on to say that there are a couple of things that one who comes to God must believe. 

The first thing is that one must believe that there actually is a God.  The second thing we must believe is that God rewards those who diligently seek Him.  How does He reward them?  Many ways I am sure.  But the biggest reward I can think of is the comfort of that deep personal relationship with God.  That absolute feeling of security knowing that God has your back! 

Does that mean everything will always turn out right?  Nope.  But it means that I know with certainty that God has the end covered for me and my family.  Hmm.  That certainty is just another word for faith isn't it?  :)

God is…complete!!!

As I continue my word study I am finding that it is hard to draw a lesson from some of the words.  Complete is one of them.  Here are some verses.  Read through them and I'll offer some thoughts.

Philippians 1:3-6(NKJV)

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 

always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 

for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 

2 Timothy 3:16-17(NKJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 

that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Hebrews 13:21(NKJV)

make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 15:1(NKJV)

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.

If I were to draw one overriding impression from these verses it is that God likes to see things through.  If God gives us a vision of His will then God will always give us what is necessary to complete the vision.  The problem too often is that we give up instead of seeing it through.

The other thing I see here is in Revelation.  For those who reject the idea of God sending anyone to hell I would suggest that they reconsider.  Revelation specifically says that God's wrath will be complete!  That doesn't sound like letting people slide to me. 

The Bible and the Law

As a financial adviser I found this interesting.  Here is something that was written a couple of thousand years ago in the Bible and it is exactly what the law is in the US today!

Hebrews 9:15-17(NKJV)

And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 

For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. 

What is another name for a testament?  A will (to keep it simple I am not including trusts here).  This is a legal document that governs the disposal of your assets when you die.  Your will has absolutely no legal power while you are alive.  But at the instant of death, it becomes the document that winds up all of your affairs here on earth.

Isn't it interesting that the Bible got it right so far ahead of time?  :)

One of the single most powerful passages Scripture in the whole Bible, in my opinion!

I love this passage of Scripture.  Another foundational passage as it were.

2 Timothy 3:16-17(NKJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 

that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God gives us all we need to be "thoroughly equipped for every good work".  So let there be no doubt, if you are constantly seeking God's will in your life and you are letting Him direct you, He will lead you to succeed in the good works He has inspired you to undertake. 

That doesn't mean that everything will go smoothly and everything will be easy.  As I wrote the other day, some life lessons can only be learned from adversity and so we have to know how to take adversity in stride.  We just need to keep in mind that adversity doesn't necessarily mean not ever, it just means not yet.

Now what is the key to dealing with not yet?  Come on now.  I've written about it so often I know you all know the answer.  All together now.

"Take joy in your tribulations!"  And why do we take joy in our tribulations?  "Because it is an outward expression of our inner faith!" 

Never forget and never doubt for a minute, if you are a "Child of God", God has your back!  If you aren't a "Child of God" then not so much.

There are many who would argue that we are all "Children of God" because God made us all.  According to Scripture that is incorrect.  Take a look.

John 1:12(NKJV)

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 

Receive who?  Jesus!  According to all I have read in Scripture, there is one way and only one way that you become a "Child of God".  That is by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. 

Have you done that yet?  Have you asked Jesus to come in to your life and lead you?  It's easy.  Why not do it right now?  Just have a conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

Hmm. A clue!

I think it was Dr. Robert Schuller who wrote a book called "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  Here is at least part of the answer.

Hebrews 5:8(NKJV)

though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 

Here the author is speaking about Jesus.  Think about what the author is saying.

God has a lesson He wanted Jesus to learn.  Now this is God's kid we are talking about here.  He loves His kid.  He doesn't want His kid to suffer needlessly.  So why didn't God just make it easy on Jesus and impart the lesson to Him in a way that didn't involve suffering?

One of my long held beliefs is that there are just some life lessons that cannot be learned any other way than through adversity.  I don't know why it has to be that way but I think this verse confirms that belief.  Even Jesus, the Son of God, had to learn some lessons the hard way.  If Jesus had to learn it that way, why should we be any different? 

Make sense?

Now since we can't avoid learning some of the lessons of life through adversity let's talk about how we should respond in the tough times. 

Let's go to one of my foundational verses for the answer.  As I have said many times I believe this is God's success plan all rolled in to one.  And it begins with how we handle adversity.

Romans 5:3-5(NKJV)

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 

and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

I'll bet many of you can say this before I even type it.  "Taking glory" in our tribulations is an outward, physical manifestation of our inner faith.  It's the concrete way that we show that 

 we truly believe that God has our back and things will ultimately work out for the best. 

It takes faith to do that!  It takes faith to see the worst of humanity going on around us and still believe that God has our back.  It takes faith to believe that God will always keep His promises.  It takes faith. 

And isn't that what the Christmas season is really all about?  Faith that the little baby born on Christmas day all those years ago would grow up to become the Savior of the world.  Faith that Jesus is who He and God said He is.  Faith that Jesus would lead us to a deeper and everlasting relationship with God!

Thank you so much Jesus for doing so!

Once again I have to disagree with Paul.

Here is what Paul wrote in Hebrews (Hebrews is attributed to Pauline authorship but there is quite a bit of disagreement within the Christian world on that point). 

Hebrews 6:4-6(NKJV)

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 

and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 

if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

It seems to me that Paul is saying that if one falls away for a time and then wants to return to the family of God it will not be allowed.  In fact Paul says it is impossible for that to happen. 

Now let's compare that to what Jesus said. 

Matthew 12:31-32(NKJV)

“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Who ya going to believe?  I will side with Jesus every time.

But let's go a little deeper.  Is Paul trying to purposely deceive?  I don't think so.  One of the things I have noticed in Paul's writings is that he is a bit like a little Jewish mother, he is really good at trying to lay guilt trips on people to manipulate them. 

This is purely speculation on my part but I think this is an emotional manipulation on Paul's part.    Paul seems to be saying how can you fall away after tasting all the goodness of being part of the family of God?  Don't expect to be welcomed back. 

But think it through.  That is an awfully unforgiving attitude isn't it?  In fact it is the opposite of Jesus' real message isn't it?  Jesus said "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him…..".  Jesus didn't put any time limit on it nor did Jesus say hey this is a onetime offer did he? 

To me this is another example of why we need discernment as we study God's Word.  Man adds and man subtracts from God's Word.  Almost always with good intentions.  I'm sure Paul had the very best of intentions in this case even though he directly contradicts Jesus. 

I caught our Pastor doing something like this in a class a couple of years ago.  He made a statement that while well intentioned simply wasn't Scripturally correct and I called him on it in front of the class.  When I explained the error he agreed and we moved on, no big deal.  It was funny though because for the rest of the night if he was getting ready to say something close to the edge he would glance over at me like he was thinking "oh crap is he going to correct me again?".  :)

So how do we discern which is which?  First and foremost rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance.  That is one of His primary purposes.  In addition try this Bible study rule that I use.  I am always looking for confirmation of a principal or belief in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  And I always put the words of Jesus above all others! 

"senses exercised to discern both good and evil." What does that mean???

 

Hebrews 5:12-14(NKJV)

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 

But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

I find a couple of things interesting about these verses.  First I like that it distinguishes those who are "babes" in the word verses those who are of "full age" in the word.

In my opinion this is talking about those who like to quote a single verse here or there but they don't really understand the full meaning of Scripture because they haven't really dug in and studied it.  Theirs is more of a cursory reading and understanding of Scripture. 

A great example of that is the whole "thou shall not judge" thing.  We hear it all the time like that one Scripture is the complete and final word on the subject.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  These Scriptures are a perfect example.

We are told that we need to exercise our senses to discern both good and evil.  What does that mean exactly.  It means we have to practice recognizing the difference between good and evil.  That requires repeated judgements does it not? 

One might ask "isn't evil readily recognizable?".  In some cases sure it is.  For example the evil of a mother purposely injecting her child with a deadly disease is easily recognizable to everyone.  Even a "babe" would recognize it.

On the other hand we have many in the Christian community that insist that it is not the fault of the poor that they are poor, that the whole system is against them and there is nothing they can do about it.  Those who do this think they are being compassionate. 

It takes a person of "full age" Scripturally to recognize this as stealing people's hope and understand that stealing peoples hope is one of the most evil things you can do to someone in my opinion. 

The last thing I will call your attention to is this:  "those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

Notice it doesn't mention anything about feelings.  We are to use the reason (intellect) that God gave us to recognize good and evil!

Good intentions are not enough!

They say beginning is half the battle.  That may be but it ain't over until it is completed. 

2 Corinthians 8:10-11(NKJV)

And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; 

but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. 

How come Paul left out Power as a fruit of the Spirit?

To me this is an example of why the Bible has to be read and interpreted in its entirety.  I think this first verse along with the verses about the meek inheriting the earth go a long way in explaining why some people think that Christians should be pacifists.

Take a look at the first verse.  From the title of this blog entry you can probably guess what I think is missing from the "fruits of the Spirit" that Paul is writing about.  Take a look.

Galatians 5:22-23(NKJV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 

These all tend to the side of meekness.  Why do you think that is?  Why did Paul focus on that? 

Now let's look at a verse from 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 1:7(NKJV)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Power, love, and a sound mind.  Power, not meekness. 

Now let's look at something Jesus actually said.

Matthew 10:34-39(NKJV)

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 

For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 

and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’  

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Think about what Jesus is saying there.  He has called us all to take sides.  Notice Jesus didn't say "can't we all just get along?".  He said flat out you are either for Him or against Him.  Jesus calls on all of His followers to stand with Him and against those who are against Him.  It takes a strong (power) person to stand with Jesus against family and friends. 

My question is which fruits of the Spirit are more likely to help you succeed in the mission that Jesus has given us.  My answer would be all of them.  And that is where I differ with those who think that all Christians should be pacifists.  They seem to leave no room for the option of both.  They believe that the world will be won over by love alone.  They think we can "kill them with kindness" as it were.

Here is my take on it.  We need to try to win them over with the fruits of the Sprit that Paul talks about.  However we need to do it from a position and Spirit of Power because Jesus has called us to be Spiritual warriors on His behalf.  That takes power and strength! 

"For indeed He does not give aid to angels…"

I so love studying Scripture.  I've read the Bible more times than I can remember and yet there is always something new jumping off the page at me.  This I believe is one of the ways the Holy Spirit speaks directly to us.  Things jump off the page with new meaning even though I had read them many times before.  Way too cool!

So here is the Scripture I am talking about today. 

Hebrews 2:14-18(NKJV)

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 

and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 

For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 

For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Wow, Jesus doesn't help the angels but He does help us.  That's pretty incredible!  One more reason to let your faith shine in my opinion! 

"The rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say.

We are all familiar with the Scripture that says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".  But how many of us can quote the beginning of the verse?  I think that by focusing just on the end of the Scripture a big part of the message is getting lost.

Let's take a look.

Philippians 4:10-13(NKJV)

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 

I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

To be content, no matter where you are at that particular time in life.  To be content.  Doesn't mean you have to settle for where you are at.  Doesn't mean you shouldn't always strive to improve.  Just means that we need to be content where we are.

I think it is just another way of affirming our faith.  By being content we show confidence in God's promises that things will get better. 

God is…Eternal Life

Matthew 25:46(NKJV)

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Mark 10:29-31(NKJV)

So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 

who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. 

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Luke 18:29-30(NKJV)

So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 

who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

The term eternal life does not appear in the Bible until the New Testament.  I wonder why that is?  I had never realized that before.  It led me to do some reading and found that this is a subject that is widely debated. 

In fact as I read about it the whole concept of Heaven and Hell is a bit sketchy in the OT.  There are some vague mentions of the concept but that is it.  In my research I did however get one question answered that I had always wondered about.

In the OT it does mention all those dead rising up and ascending in to Heaven with Jesus for Judgement.  I had always thought of that as happening at the second coming of Jesus.  However I read one commentary that puts that event at the first ascension in to Heaven.  I hadn't thought of that. 

Interesting!

Hmm, and who decides what is foolish?

 

Titus 3:9(NKJV)

But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. 

Notice it doesn't say avoid all disputes, just foolish ones. 

So who decides what is foolish?  This type of thing always makes me uneasy.  The contemporary parallel is the push to ban "fake news".  So who gets to define fake news? 

Why does it make me uneasy?  Let me give you an example.  Back in the day people were burned at the stake by the church for such "fake news" views as the earth is round.  Back in the day it was "settled science" that the earth was flat.  To say otherwise could have been considered a "foolish dispute". 

That is why it makes me nervous. 

My solution?  Not sure that I have one.  Here is what I started to write.  "Stay grounded in the Word and prayer; and let the Holy Spirit be your guide.".  Sounds good doesn't it?  But then I thought to myself, wasn't that what all of the church leadership was doing back in the day when they were burning people at the stake?  Weren't they praying about it and letting themselves be led by the Holy Spirit? 

Hmm.  Something to ponder.

"Lay hold of eternal life"

1 Timothy 6:12(NKJV)

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 

1 Timothy 6:18-19(NKJV)

Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 

storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Love the sound of that.  Want to know why?  Because it puts us in control of whether we are saved or not.  We don't have to wait to be given eternal life, we can lay hold of it!

Have you laid hold of it yet?  All you have to do is ask Jesus to guide you.  "Dear Jesus…."

Same God-Redux

As you know this in one of my favorite themes.  Debunking the belief that we all serve the same God.  Here is a verse that specifically says otherwise. 

1 John 2:23(NKJV)

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Seems pretty simple to me.  ANY religion that denies that Jesus is the Son of God is not worshipping the same God as Christians do. 

Jesus will judge the living and the dead?

I have always found this a bit confusing. 

2 Timothy 4:1(NKJV)

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 

Here is where it confuses me.  On the one hand we are taught that when we die, if we have accepted Jesus, we go to Heaven.  But the wording above makes it seem like when we die we all wait in the ground for Jesus to return and only then do we go to Heaven. 

So which is it?  And more importantly does it really matter?  For me at least, as long as I get there eventually that is all that matters! 

And based on the totality of what I have read in Scripture I still think we go right to Heaven. 

We shall see!  :)