Live in fear? I don't think so!

Starting with Jesus and then throughout the Gospel we are taught that "fear and faith" can't live in the same body.  We are told to live in faith and to "fear not"!

So what are we to make of Peter's verses here?
 

1 Peter 1:17-20(NKJV)

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 

knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 

but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 

Before I finish my "fear not" point let me direct your attention to the first line.  It once again affirms the saved by grace, judged by works paradigm.  That is we are all saved by grace so we all have the option to get in to Heaven.  Our rewards in Heaven however will be determined by the amount of service (works) that we do on God's behalf. 

OK, back to my main point.  Peter says live our life in fear.  Jesus says live our life in faith.  Is Peter contradicting Jesus? 

I don't think so.  This is an example of taking the Bible as a whole and letting the Holy Spirit guide you to discernment.  Here is my take on it.

I think the difference here is that Peter could have picked a better word than fear.  It may have been an issue in the translation.  Sometimes words don't have direct translations from the original language to other languages and that may be the case here.

I think a better word would be reverence.  Conduct your stay here in reverence.  I think it maintains the spirit of the verse while taking out the negative connotations of the word fear.  That makes more sense to me anyway!  :)

An interesting promise from God.

This verse seems to be direct towards those who think they know better than God.  Those who think they can create their own truth and light.

God says different.

Isaiah 50:11(NKJV)

    Look, all you who kindle a fire,     Who encircle yourselves with sparks:     Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—     This you shall have from My hand:      You shall lie down in torment.

Notice that the "God of Peace" makes a promise that is anything but peaceful to those who think they know better than He does.

"I make peace and create calamity"

Did you know God says He does both of those things?

Isaiah 45:7(NKJV)

    I form the light and create darkness,     I make peace and create calamity;     I, the Lord, do all these things.’

Can you think of why God would create calamity?  As I've said before, some life lessons can only be learned through hard times.  Sometimes God needs us to learn lessons and so he creates the circumstances to learn those lessons. 

Here is a question.  Do you have the faith to go through those times with a smile on your face?  You know, that whole glory in your tribulations thing?  :) 

Is James Confused or purposely twisting words here?

James 2:1-7(NKJV)

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 

For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 

and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 

have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 

But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 

Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

I would answer James with a resounding NO!. 

Oh where do I start on this one?!  :)

OK, to begin with Jesus Himself spoke of seating at weddings and celebrations.  He warned people to be humble and don't assume the seat of honor.  Better to be asked to move to a better seat than to be asked to vacate the better seat for another more honored guest.

But notice what Jesus didn't do.  He didn't condemn the practice.  And why would He?  It is the same system used in Heaven.  We are told in Scripture repeatedly that our rewards (and honors) in Heaven will be based on what we accomplished for God while we were here.  Saved by faith but rewards determined by service to God.

In addition Jesus in several places tells us to "check the fruit".  So Jesus Himself has told us to draw comparisons.  That requires a judgement.  Scripture tells us that we need to discern who we listen to for example.  One of the ways we do that is look to what successes people have had in life to see if they can offer valuable lessons. 

These are all things that Jesus told us to do so my question to James is "are you saying Jesus is instructing us to be partial and to judge people with evil thoughts?".   Hmm???

 Now let's look at the next part. 

"Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 

This is one of those lines where the original meaning of Scripture gets hidden or purposely corrupted, not sure which.  Jesus actually said "blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT".  It had nothing to do with wealth.  It was a spirit issue. 

What James is claiming here is that we should show partiality to the poor when he just got done saying that we shouldn't show partiality to the rich.  Scripture actually says that we shouldn't show partiality to either side.  

And the last part.

"But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 

Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?"

Notice the ad hominem  attack on the rich.  So according to James all rich people oppress all poor people and all rich people blaspheme the name of Jesus? 

Seems to me many of God's heroes in both the New Testament as well as the Old Testament were quite wealthy.  In fact weren't both King David and King Solomon described as men after God's heart?  Didn't God make Solomon the richest man in history up to that point? 

Were Solomon or David perfect?  Of course not.  But there is no evidence that they oppressed the poor and blasphemed God as James is saying either. 

So who do we listen to?  I pick Jesus how about you?!!

 

Do you ever marvel at how God can speak to us individually?

One of the coolest things about my daily walk with God is how He can just speak to me at any time.  It is so cool to have Him whisper in my ear things like "Did you ever consider this?"  "Maybe you ought to do this first"  "How could you help this person?"  "You might want to see what Scripture has to say about that", etc. 

It's just way too cool!

What?  You don't have that in your life?  Why not?  It's easy.  It starts with asking Jesus to come in to your life and lead you.  After that it is a matter of being in God's Word daily and doing everything you can to build that relationship and draw closer to God.  The more we do that the more it is reciprocated back to us by God.

It starts with Jesus.  Have you asked Jesus to lead you yet?  Why not do it right now?  Just have a conversation with Jesus and ask Him to lead you.  "Dear Jesus…."

The Bible and Science

 

Job 26:10(NKJV)

    He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,     At the boundary of light and darkness.

I find it interesting how many scientific facts were alluded to in the Bible long ago.  Here is one.

It was a "scientific fact" back in the day that the world was flat.  You could be burned at the stake for disagreeing with that fact.

But look what was written in Job way before it became unquestionable "scientific fact" that the earth was flat.  Job wrote of a circular horizon.  Imagine that.  The inspired Word of God had it correct all along.  :)

How should we approach the throne of Grace?

 

Hebrews 4:16(NKJV)

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

However don't confuse boldly with cocky.  Always keep in mind that it is our faith in Jesus that allows us to come boldly to the throne.  We don't presume to do that of our own power.