Love, love, love — 1 John 1-3

Posted on February 16, 2012 by parklinscomb

Today’s reading will take us through the first three chapters of John’s letters. This is the apostle John that we’re talking about as the writer of this and the next two letters (2 and 3 John). As you’ll notice as you read through, there is a great emphasis on love, on believing that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that He came in the flesh, and finally on obedience. John addresses these themes a number of times in cycles from the perspective of walking in the light, of abiding in light, of living in the truth, and of overcoming the world.

It is thought that John is writing these letters toward the end of his life (AD 85-100), and it is possible to see that the man who Jesus had originally nicknamed (along with his brother James) one of the “sons of thunder” had mellowed considerably after years of Christian maturity.

With these introductory matters out of the way, let’s dive into a few passages in the text

We have seen and touched — 1:1-4

Although it is generally accepted that gnosticism didn’t really emerge as a coalesced doctrine until the middle of the second century, it is also clear that the elements of gnosticism were already at play among the churches in the middle of the first century, as witnessed by some of Paul’s teachings and here in John. One of the tenets of gnostic thinking was that spirit was all good and matter (the material of this world) was all evil, and therefore, God could never come to this earth to become a physical man. This is the reason for John’s emphasis here about having actually seen and touched Jesus, the Word of Life. The gnostic understanding of spirit and matter were clearly way off — Satan is spirit and he is consummately evil, and Jesus did come in the flesh and He was consummately good and righteous. John’s point is that he was an eye (hand?) witness of the truth of this reality — Jesus did come in the flesh! John saw Him, touched Him, and heard Him! In every way that a person can know anything through the senses, John knew that Jesus, the Son of God, had come into the world as a physical man — and lived perfectly. This is great comfort to disciples of every age who did not get the chance to see Him. You can know!

Walk in the light — 1:5-7

Also, in continuing to deal with gnostic ideas, John wants to emphasize that how we live really does matter. Some gnostic-influenced Christians had taken the idea (see some of the churches of Revelation to see how these things played out) that since matter is inherently evil, that we humans cannot really do any good and it was useless to even try. And since God was forgiving us anyway, there was even less reason to try. John answers, “NO!” There is no darkness in God and anyone who claims to have fellowship with God and walks in darkness is simply lying! We are in fellowship with Him, if we walk in the light; and it is then that the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us of all sin.

John continues with this thought through chapter 2 and notes that knowing Jesus — the emphasis to these gnostics (the word meaning “one who knows”) was on the word “know” — means keeping His commandments. Anything else was simply deception, not the truth. There are things here that we need to pay attention to: we need to try in our Christian life. I know Christians, I suppose you do too, who seem to have bought the attitude that once they were baptized that they are “in” and cannot be “out”. Although it is true that we do have significant and comforting security, it is also true that we need to be trying to live a Christian, crucified, godly life. Will we mess up? Yes. But will we also grow? Yes.

What it means to hate one’s brother — 2:8–3:15

One of the great themes of John is love for one’s brother. This doesn’t seem to be particularly addressed to gnostic principles, and such exhortations are regularly addressed broadly to churches throughout the New Testament, even to good and growing churches. Why? Let’s be honest, loving our brethren will always be a little challenging. As long as churches are composed of human beings with all their baggage and moods and weaknesses, we’ll have to work at loving our brother. We should not be surprised at this, since we have difficulties in loving our blood families from time to time, too. So, as encouragement to love our brothers, John tells us what not loving our brother really is…

  • Abides in darkness (2:9-11) — You are not walking in the light, if you don’t love your brother. This is to say that love is so fundamental to Christian living that living an unloving life is the very same thing as living in darkness — such a “Christian” is in a lost condition.
  • Abiding in death (3:14) — Why would I say that they are in a lost condition? They are abiding in death, another way of saying that they are lost. It’s just that serious.
  • A murderer (3:15) — A murderer? Jesus connects these in His sermon on the mount, doesn’t He? Matthew 5:21, 22 ““You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

A definition of the anti-Christ — 2:18-16

The anti-Christ gets a lot of attention from conspiracy and premillennial interested folks. Who exactly is the anti-Christ? There have been a number of candidates put forward over the centuries — often politically motivated selections. But it should be noted that although there will apparently be one great one, there are apparently more than one. Here we find the definition of them:

  1. There will be many, v. 18
  2. He will come from within, v. 19
  3. He will deny both God and the Christ, v. 22
  4. He deceives, v. 26

 

The thing about the great anti-Christ is that he is a mystery in the true sense of the New Testament usage. Mysteries in the New Testament are things that God has revealed, but only vaguely — as it were behind a veil, so that one can see the general outlines, but not the finer details that would clearly identify him. My point is that attempting identify him before the time will be pretty much impossible. Mysteries are usually clear only AFTER the fact.

How great a love! — 3:1

It still amazes me — doesn’t it you? — that we are actually considered children of God! Considering how far away we were from the Lord, considering the rebellious nature of our hearts, considering how much it would cost to rescue us and make the adoption possible — it is truly a Wonder of wonders! Remember that today. You are loved, deeply, consistently, and unconditionally. Now, go live like it; live like you are a child of God! Because you are!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Always ready to remind you — 2 Peter

Posted on February 14, 2012 by parklinscomb

The book of 2 Peter was written by the apostle Peter, probably toward the end of his life. His theme seems to be that he wanted to remind them of things that they already knew. Reminders are important for humans, we forget and start chasing butterflies like 4 year olds. That’s why preachers preach some of the same sermons again. But let’s see what Peter wanted to remind them of…

Everything pertaining to life and godliness — 1:3

There’s no need for looking for more information about life and godliness, once we have the Scriptures, the true knowledge of Him. There have been those who have tried to “sell” their ways since the beginning of Christianity by implying that basic Christianity is not really quite enough, that it is only a “starter kit”. But time and again we have seen the Scripture deny that fundamental Christianity isn’t enough. This isn’t to say that we stop growing at baptism — as Peter will talk about in just a moment — but it is to say that we don’t need any Gnostic gospels, any book of Mormon, any Watchtower Society revelations, or any Papal, Protestant, or academic declarations of any sort. God was perfectly capable of revealing everything we need to know then, now, and for as long as this world spins around.

Partakers of the divine nature — 1:4

To follow in what the Lord has said does something great: it allows us to partake in the divine nature!  Imagine! And it is because it is actually from God Himself, rather than man’s wisdom. It’s something to think about. Not only does it lead us to “Be holy for I am holy” (a critical piece of the divine nature) but also to eternal life itself!

Add… — 1:5ff

So add! Here are a number of ways that we are commanded to be growing in, which gets back to an earlier comment about how we must grow beyond the baptism. We’ve recently read how discouraging it was for some of the Hebrew Christians to have not grown (Heb. 5:11–6:3) and how we mustn’t follow that course. So we need to grow. A good measure to see if we are growing is to simply ask the question if we’ve changed in a godly way — over the last year, the last month, the last week. Do this and the “entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”

No cleverly devised tales — 1:16

This is a fine rebuttal to the modern (an ancient, of course) accusations that the apostles had made all these things about Jesus up — miracles, resurrection, ascension, etc. No, Peter declares. We, among other things, heard the voice of God Himself, we witnessed the miracles, and God Himself witnesses to the truth of the Gospel through miracles that the apostles showed. This is no fantasy and we are no false prophets! And speaking of false prophets…

Destruction and false prophets — 2:1ff

Peter wanted to warn those who sought to change the Gospel and change Christianity according to their own thoughts. Not only are they destructive to men and the church of the Lord, but they will themselves be destroyed by the Lord. Don’t fool yourself, he seems to be saying, God didn’t spare angels who sinned and He won’t spare false prophets and teachers either!

There’s a great day coming —3:3ff

And to top it off, Peter also warns about the Great Day that is surely coming! A day would come, Peter says, in which people would be doubting Christ’s return — but He will. Here’s a good warning for us. It will happen and we must be prepared with the white robes of righteousness. This great day will reveal why materialism is so foolish — it will all be burned up. It will reveal why we must get and remain ready — it will surely come and come without warning. Are you ready?

The rest of the Scriptures — 3:16

Here’s is evidence that the apostle Paul’s letters were already at this point being considered inspired and part of Scripture. Paul’s writings are included here part of the Scriptures. Recognition by the other apostles and the early church as inspired is a major part of a book or letter becoming part of the canon of Scripture.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing

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Don’t be surprised — 1 Peter 4,5

Posted on February 13, 2012 by parklinscomb

Once again, 1 Peter is about dealing rightly with the persecution and suffering that goes hand in hand with the Christian life. And by the way, if you are not a Christian and are wondering about the last statement, Jesus was very straightforward about the goodness, joy, love, peace, forgiveness, and blessedness of following Him, but also about the opposition of the world, too. No healthy person loves suffering, but as a Christian it is a reality. It’s a reality for the non-Christian, too, but the world doesn’t talk about that too much for obvious reasons.

Anyway, how about more good encouragement about living the Christian life in an effective, righteous, and courageous way?

Baptism saves you — 1 Peter 3:20

I really can’t just skip over this one, but I didn’t have time for it yesterday. As an evangelist I often hear objections to the necessity of baptism from those who are “faith only” oriented, e.g., baptism doesn’t save you! While technically true that the ACT of baptism doesn’t save  (the blood of Jesus saves), it is still true that in the same way that it is said that faith saves, baptism also saves. Baptism is necessary as a natural deed of faith and is the very point at which our sins are forgiven us and considered paid for in the blood of Christ (Acts 2:38 and 22:16).

Like the ark of Noah saved Noah and his family, so also baptism saves us — was it really the ark or was it God or was it Noah’s faith in God? The answer is yes to all of these from a certain point of view, but it was God who told Noah about the flood and commanded him to build the ark. Noah believed God and built the ark and loaded it with animals and got on it himself. Thus, all of the above are true, Noah’s getting on the ark being the final point at which they were saved from the rising and deadly flood. So also with the Gospel of Christ, the faith of the believer that moves him to action, specifically baptism — they all save him, baptism being the point at which they were saved.

They are surprised — 1 Peter 4:4

This and the next section that I’ll talk about are about surprises. The world will be surprised at you, when you refuse to join them in sin. It’s so much fun! What are you, dead? (Well, actually, yes.) So finding themselves “passively” judged (the Christian needn’t say anything for the sinner to feel judged) by their own sin and the Christian morality and righteousness, they malign (NASB) us — make fun of us in an attempt to goad us into joining them. Peter, however, reminds us that we’ve already tried that route — and we all know that didn’t work out well for us.

Do not be surprised — 1 Peter 4:12

So, Christians don’t need to be surprised at the the trials and tests that will come their way. Yet, we are! We raise our eyes and hands in questions like, as if to say “What did we do wrong?” Peter is simply trying to get us to remember that this is the way things are and will always be, so long as we are still in this world. Don’t be surprised. This is not to advocate for some sort of “Christian pessimism” — Christianity is about hope and joy — it is just to say that we needn’t think something strange is happening, like God forgot us, or God is necessarily angry with us, or God fell asleep at the switch, or… In war, we shouldn’t be surprised that there are people shooting guns at us, or that bombs are going off, or that we might get wounded, or that we might lose a buddy, or that the enemy will try to make things hard for us. When such things happen in war, there isn’t anything weird going on; it’s war! And in the Christian’s life, when persecution happens, there isn’t anything weird going on; it’s spiritual warfare.

Follow your leaders — 1 Peter 5:1

This command in this letter isn’t merely gratuitous encouragement out of the clear blue, it has a real purpose. One way to make sure that you don’t fall away and that you know what to do in the midst of the “battle” is watch and obey the leaders. Their spiritual maturity will be helpful, if we’ll ask for guidance. Watching their own example can be really helpful.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Do what’s right – 1 Peter 1-3

Posted on February 13, 2012 by parklinscomb

 Please pardon my missing a day. I’m on a trip for Gander Brook Christian Camp and sometimes find it difficult to jam a time for reflection and writing. 

The book or letter of 1 Peter was written by apostle Peter as a general letter to churches of what we’d call Turkey, who were struggling with persecution from the government, from masters, from family and other directions. The premier question of the letter is essentially, “What am I supposed to do when I am encountering persecution and wrong doing directed toward me?” and the consistent answer is simple and yet challenging: “Do the right thing.” With this brief introduction behind us, let take a look at a few highlights of this encouraging book. 

Reserved in Heaven for you – 1:3

Yes, it will all be worth the struggle. The self-discipline, the suffering, the refraining from revenge, the persecution, the long-suffering, etc will be worth it. We’ve seen this encouragement a number of times already in other passages, but the struggle in this world needs constant encouragement and reminder, because the siren call of giving up is so powerful. It’s the reason for the Pauline exhortation for keeping our eyes fixed on things above, because when we drop our eyes to this world, we tend to throw our hands up in surrender. 

Be holy for I am holy – 1:15,16

This and other encouragements in the surrounding verses are sounding the theme of doing the right thing regardless of what things might come your way. I find the core of it to be “holy for I am holy.” Here’s the foundation of all morality – be like God. Do you have a question about what the right thing to do is? Look to God, or particularly, Jesus. Consider in your persecution what Jesus Himself did – a reminder to be found a number of times in 1 Peter. 

Remember who you are – 1:17—2:12

  • Blood bought – the highest price imaginable was paid for your freedom and redemption. Do not waste His great sacrifice for you. 
  • Born again – you’re not the same old person you used to be, live like it!
  • Living stones of the Temple of God – like with any building, the materials make a difference and they must be strong. When one stone fails, the rest are then at risk. Be strong, the Lord deserves such a Temple. 
  • Chosen race – the Jews have long understood the privilege of being chosen, do we?
  • Royal priesthood – offering acceptable sacrifices to the Lord of our lives– which sometimes includes suffering. Offer such sacrifices with honor. 
  • A people for God’s own possession – God’s treasure!
  • Aliens and strangers – the best way to live in this world is to understand that we are different, we’re supposed to be, so live that way. 

 Submit – 2:13

Yes the government may persecute, there may be temptation to despise and rebel against the kings, governors, and even masters who mistreat, hate, or take advantage of us, but act like Jesus and submit to the authority, because Jesus did. Do what’s right. 

Marriage– 3:1ff

Yeah, but what about that man/woman who is so mistreating me!? Oh, in that case — do what’s right! Submit to your husband like Sarah did to Abraham, who was not the most honorable of men to be married to – lying about his marriage relationship to Sarah to men who wanted her. Treat your wife with understanding and honor even if you don’t think she deserves it. Treat the aggravating spouse well – do what’s right. 

Give an answer – 3:15ff

This is two fold in its exhortation. Not only should we have a good verbal answer, but we need to have a good behavioral answer to them. We can study up on all the Christian evidences we can get our hands on and have a debate worthy answer, but it will do little good, if we respond poorly to the suffering we encounter. What kind of answer to the revilers in your life do you give?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing

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Planning for the future – James 4,5

Posted on February 12, 2012 by parklinscomb

 James continues sharing God’s word with us in our reading today in ways that are elegantly simple, straightforward, and convicting. 

 

Wrong motives – 4:3

Have we ever considered this seriously as a reason that God doesn’t answer our prayers? It could be, couldn’t it, that sometimes our motives are entirely selfish about some things, and perhaps that the Lord desires us to be a little less self-absorbed? Sometimes our motives are even less noble than selfish, too. God knows the motives and intentions of our innermost thinking. 

 

Resist the devil – 4:7

We’re told here that resisting the devil will make him flee. Does he not flee sometimes because we don’t flee as much as we should? Maybe we hang around – thinking, only thinking, about it. Maybe sometimes we even inch a little closer. That’s not fleeing. Fleeing is what Joseph did with Potiphar’s wife – no hesitating, no hanging around, no inching closer, just bolting. I’m not merely talking about physical running away – although that is necessary sometimes – I’m talking about turning the temptation down, flatly and with finality, as soon as you realize that you’re being tempted. 

 

Lord willing – 4:15

Making plans is important in order to accomplish anything of any great importance – even God planned. However, when we make plans without including God and His will, we commit a faithless act. That’s James’ point here. Every day we get is a gift from God. Every breath, every work, everything is a gift. We’re not on our own here. To lose sight of that is to lose sight of God. 

 

Blessed who endured – 5:11

We all suffer as Christians, but not all Christians endure it well – or at all. We admire the prophets and the apostles and other Bible heroes who endured so much for righteousness’ sake. And we understand that their martyrdom or courageous endurance of trial and temptation gained them Heaven  But do we have intention to do so ourselves?

 

See you tomorrow, Lord willing

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Be doers of the word — James 1-3

Posted on February 10, 2012 by parklinscomb

James is a great book written by James, the brother of Jesus, called James the Just. He was a major figure in the early Jerusalem church, and was key in the important letter to the churches on the status of the Gentiles in the churches (Acts 15:13ff), which Paul and Barnabas carried back to Antioch and defended across the Gentile world as they planted churches.

James’ style is direct and practical. His emphasis on the necessity of works to accompany one’s faith cause Martin Luther, a champion of the Protestant, reactionary doctrine of salvation by faith alone, to consider excluding it from the Bible. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and James continued to grace the Protestant Bible, as it should. With these preliminaries out of the way, let’s take a look at the first three chapters.

James returns often to certain themes, so in commenting on it we’ll deal with it more thematically than other books.

Faith must include action

Again, part of the reason that Luther wanted to exclude James from the Bible is that he thought that James contradicted the teachings of Paul about faith. Luther’s perspective was coming from being a former Catholic in the days when works, to the point of Catholicism becoming a works only religion, was the prevalent understanding of Christian teachings. Actually, Paul and James beautifully complement each other, because saving faith will naturally be accompanied by action. The “faith” that many lukewarm disciples hold could best be compared to a mere opinion — something you think, but don’t necessarily do anything with. Faith, on the other hand, is something that you believe strongly enough that you will naturally take action, strong enough to become your reality. This is why James hammers the idea so directly and so often in his letter — apparently there were those who held an opinion, but not a real faith.

He uses a great illustration as he encourages us to do what the Scripture says; he says it’s like looking in a mirror. No one after looking in the mirror in the morning, merely turns around and walks out the door to engage their entire day as they are unless they believed the mirror was lying or how one looks doesn’t matter (in which case they’d probably not look in the mirror in the first place). If you believe that your hair is messed up, you have sleep in your eyes, you have a boogie in your nose, or perhaps you have a bit of dried drool in the corner of your mouth, you will naturally want to fix it. Unless you believed that your place of employment was going to pay you or your work, you probably wouldn’t work there — or if you like the work that well, you’d still go find some gainful employment to pay the bills, right? That’s what faith does.

Faith believes the Bible when it says that sin will kill us, and therefore, it naturally wants to avoid sin. Faith believes that the Lord sees everything, even our hearts and intentions, and will judge us and therefore, naturally lives rightly. Faith believes that the Lord is really served every time we serve someone else, and therefore, it naturally and gladly serves others. Faith believes the Lord, when He said He is in our midst in worship, and therefore it focuses on worship and offers a whole heart and mind to it. Faith believes it, when the Lord says that this life is temporary, and therefore doesn’t emphasize the material. Saving faith believes it, when the Lord says that obedience to Him in faith, repentance, confession, and baptism is necessary to wash our sins away and become His disciple; and therefore, it obeys. Opinions either don’t do these things at all, or pick and choose what they wish to obey. Real faith will change us. Let me consider a couple of things in particular about how faith will change us.

Consideration of the poor

It will change how we treat those less fortunate than we are. The text here focuses on the orphan, the widow, and those less materially well off than we are, but I think it could be stretched to include others that we may look down on, those less beautiful, less svelte, less smart, less educated, less style conscious, less athletic, less… anything that might make us look down our noses at a brother or sister (or anyone for that matter). Those who have advantages in wealth or any other advantage have no reason to look down on another — even if they got their by poor choices (like we’ve never made a poor choice in our lives!). Faith sees that we are really brothers and sisters in Christ, and must treat each other like family — in love, concern, equality, concern, sympathy, forgiveness, encouragement, and even putting others above ourselves (Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;”).

The tongue

James reveals that the tongue can really send us to Hell. Do we believe that? If we did, would we be so careless with it? The list of sins that we can commit with the tongue is actually quite long — we’re not just talk about swearing and lying and gossiping. There’s much more, not the lest of which is even teaching false doctrine (Gal. 1:8,9). There’s a Christian discipline that has been long used as a means for learning how to curb the tongue — silence. And occasionally, if we have a hard time with our tongues, it might be a way to teach ourselves to stop and think before speaking.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Hang tough – Hebrews 12,13

Posted on February 8, 2012 by parklinscomb

 The great crowd of witnesses — 12:1

Although it isn’t likely that those who have gone on before can really see what the current world is doing, the figure of speech here does motivate us to faithfulness to think that great, faithful men and women, who themselves overcame the trials they had encountered, are cheering us on – “You can do it!” This is the reason for the long list of faith heroes, who brought to their attention a wide spectrum of trials overcome – if they could overcome, so can you!

 

Consider Him – 12:3

Jesus becomes, then, the greatest overcomer. To those Jewish Christians it was important for them to consider and that they we’re not being called upon to do any more than the Lord Himself had already done – enduring the cross, its shame, and the hostility of the Jewish people’s leadership. There’s important stuff for us to consider here, too, even if we aren’t Jewish. Family, friends, associates, neighbors, and others can and do pressure us to abandon His way and commands. But we mustn’t lose heart, and one of the ways we can do this is by considering Him. 

 

A Father’s discipline – 12:4ff

But to help these Jewish Christians make a bit more sense of of their trials, the writer very effectively throws the easier-to-understand illustration of a father and his children alongside their sufferings. Certainly we can learn something from this, too. God isn’t negligent, He is quite active in our lives. Our suffering isn’t evidence that God doesn’t love us, but quite to the contrary. The pain of the discipline isn’t pleasant, but we know how we have each grown from the discipline of earthly fathers and even more so the discipline of our Heavenly Father. 

 

So what? – 13:1ff

Like any good sermon, the sermon to the Hebrews has actionable application. The writer isn’t wordy with his application of his doctrine, however; it was brief and to the point – almost to the point of be proverbial or bullet-pointed. But as brief as they are, they are also clearly connected to the foregoing doctrine. 

  • Love – the church is the family of God, we are in covenant together, and we need to provide the love and encouragement for each other – Jews and Gentiles alike –  because the trials are hard. 
  • Be hospitable – welcoming brethren, especially Gentile brethren, could easily have been a point of contention among those who sought to bring the church within the circle of Mosaic Law. 
  • Sanctify marriage – with the rejection of the Mosaic Law, there appear to have been those who mistakenly thought that Christian liberty allowed sexual immorality (see 1 Cor. 5 and 6 for example) and they needed to be reminded that moral behavior still was applicable. 
  • Never depend on money – given that many we being economically oppressed the Jewish Christian audience needed to be reminded that it was God that they must depend on. 
  • Remember the example of faithful brethren – who did not cave in to the persecution
  • Beware of false teachings – specifically the Judaizing kind, but it applies widely to other ideologies the will try to supplant Christ. 
  • Offer a sacrifice of praise – away from the Temple of Jerusalem and in the Temple of God’s church
  • Be benevolent – sojourners on their way to a better country are always glad to be generous, because they know that the “legal tender” of this world has no value in the next, and the only “currency exchange” to Heaven’s “legal tender” is benevolent generosity (Matt. 6:20.21)
  • Obey your leaders – those who would keep you within the fold of Christ the good shepherd
  • And pray for us – anyone who opposes false teachers will find themselves persecuted and tempted to be silent

 

See you tomorrow, Lord willing. 

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The power of faith – Hebrews 10,11

Posted on February 7, 2012 by parklinscomb

Today’s reading starts climbing to the sermon’s climax. We’ll see Jesus’ superiority clearly established, we’ll see the superiority of faith established, leading toward a strong encouragement to persevere in the face of the persecution they were dealing with. In what ways is Christ superior? Well, to recap a few…

  • He is a superior word
  • He is superior as both God and man
  • He is superior in that He is the perfect high priest mediator
  • He is superior to Moses as a Son is superior to a servant
  • He offers a superior rest
  • He is a superior high priest to Aaron
  • He serves in a superior “tabernacle”
  • He offers a superior hope 
  • He offers a superior sacrifice
  • He is the initiator of a superior covenant
  • And today, a once for all sacrifice with superior blood for cleansing. 

Blood of bulls and goats — 10:4

The substitutionary sacrifice of animals was what God had required for sin, since (it would appear) the initial fall of man. But the blood of animals was not really sufficient to expiate sins; animals were innocent, but not willing. Jesus’ blood, on the other hand, was superior because of Who He is, but also because He was both innocent and willing.  His blood doesn’t serve as a reminder (v.3) of sins as the animal sacrifice did, but caused our sins to be remembered no more (v.17). And therefore, we may draw near, to the real holy place, with a sincere heart and clean conscience, because of this superior blood. Thus, going back to the shadow of the Temple and the Mosaic covenant makes no sense at all. To a modern Gentile who might be considering falling away to something else, consider the Lord Jesus Christ’s superiority; as a Christian you have found the one and only way to God and Heaven, as much greater than anything else as the earth from the sky – no brag, just fact. 

We are not of those who shrink back to destruction — 10:39

And beyond the positive reasons for staying with Christianity, there are also the warnings. 

  • There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins
  • A certain terrifying expectation of judgment
  • Severer punishment for those who have trampled underfoot the blood of the covenant and insulted the Spirit of grace
  • God will avenge

And so, in answer to the question about whether or not they would be faithful, the writer is certain that his Hewish Christian audience would stand in their Christian faith, tithe preservation of their souls, rather than shrink back to destruction. May it be so with us. 

Without faith — 11:6

It is impossible to please God without faith. Though there will always be folks who will demand sight — tangible, empirical proof of God — getting to Heaven is about faith based on evidence. And this faith will never be about a mere opinion. It will always be naturally accompanied by godly behavior — good morality, benevolent deeds, love, mercy, generosity, forgiveness, etc. Too many in our world – too many in the ancient world, too – think that holding an opinion about Jesus is enough, confessing him with the mouth is sufficient, that calling oneself a disciple will “do the trick”. But saving faith, real faith, always prompts deeds. We’ll see more on this in James, but in the meantime let’s look at what faith does…

What does faith do — 11:13-40

  • It remains faithful events death like Abel, v. 4
  • It builds an ark for – what? – rain (what’s that?), v. 7
  • It leaves home to go a place God would show, v. 8-12
  • It lives as aliens and strangers, v. 13
  • It passes the tests, v. 17
  • It looked forward to the promised future reward, v. 20
  • It stands up to mighty kings, v. 27
  • It does the impossible, v. 29
  • It conquers the impregnable, v. 30
  • It abandons old loyalties to follow God, v. 31
  • It gains approval from God

See you tomorrow, Lord willing. 

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Greater and greater — Hebrews 7-9

Posted on February 6, 2012 by parklinscomb

Christianity is not one religion among other equals. It’s not even one of an elite group of valid religions. It is the uniquely true, valid, and singular way to God. The Jewish Christian audience to who the writer addressed his remarks needed to really “get” this. But it remains an important matter for modern Christians today lured by popular ideas, strong cultural trends, avoiding social ostracism, or even the Athenian lust for novelty (Acts 17:21). This is the point of the book of Hebrews and the writer in our reading today continues to pile more and more evidence to drive this point home. 

The Messiah, the new Melchizedek — 7:1ff

One argument that some Jewish Christians may have had to answer, and which may have caused them a little concern, is the question of priesthood. Here the writer of Hebrews not only assures his readers of a priesthood, but like in the rest of the book, he demonstrates how the Christian high priesthood was superior to the Jewish priesthood. Jesus, as Messiah, was of the prophesied priesthood of the order of Melchizedek (Psa. 110:4) — superior to the Levitical priesthood as demonstrated by Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek and receiving a blessing in return (Gen.14:17-20). As the writer’s argument progresses in our reading, we find that His priesthood is superior because: it is greater than the order of Aaron (the Levites), it is eternal, and it takes place in the real Temple in Heaven.

Ushering in a new covenant — 8:6

And where there is a change in priesthood, there must also be a change in covenant. Here is where many Jews stumbled hard, the idea of an new covenant. The trouble is was that it was unthinkable that regardless of how faithless Israel might become, God would ever abandon His cove neat with them. And according to Romans 11 He still plans on incorporating Israel again. But there is a new covenant that mustn’t be ignored, because it is the only way to salvation.  

The perfect purification — 9:1ff

And where there is a superior high priest offering His own blood, the purification and sacrifice is clearly superior. The references through this section talks both directly and indirectly about the clear superiority of Christ’s sacrifice, which should comfort all who have ever been haunted by their sins — the cleansing agent is the mighty, powerful, infinitely effective blood of the Son of God! No sin is too great for Jesus blood to cleanse and atone for!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing. 

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Slugs and anchors — Hebrew 4-6

Posted on February 6, 2012 by parklinscomb

 Today’s reading continues to encourage Jewish Christians to remain true to the covenant established by Jesus by drawing analogy been their present circumstances and the circumstances of most of their forebears in the wilderness — because they wanted to turn back. Such people the writer do not enter the great rest of God. 

This “rest” he speaks of can be a little difficult to follow, because he is using (each for different reasons) the term rest in several ways. 

  • The rest of the promise land, Canaan
  • The rest of the Last day of creation, when God rested
  • The rest of eternal life

And to put it in a nutshell, he’s trying to say that there is more than one rest (Canaan) to enter. His proof: that David spoke of it in Psalms 95. 

Hopefully, then, having clarified things, let’s look at other passages that grabbed my attention…

Hearing united by faith — Heb. 4:2

There are some that are of the belief and practice that coming to church and enduring the sermon is quite sufficient for obtaining the home of Heaven. They hear and hear and hear, but they ever do much (anything) with it. There are good folks who will sit in an  audience in church who hear numerous invitations to obey the Gospel, but who have never progressed past the hearing stage and have yet to be baptized. There are others who have become Christians, but who haven’t progressed much beyond that — we’ll talk more of them in the latter part of chapter 5. They all have failed to unite hearing and faith, that is, hearing and believing enough to prompt them to action, to change, to die to themselves and make room for Christ to live in them. This is what the writer fears for these Jewish Christians who had read the Scripture over a lifetime, who’d heard who knows how many sermons, and who had participated in who knows how many Bible studies; but who in the last analysis were failing to do what they had heard. It’s a oft repeated principle in the Bible, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.”

Sharper than any two edged sword — Heb. 4:12,13

And this word will be our judge and will be able to discern the fine details of life, including every secret, motivation, and intention. The context includes references to Israel’s receiving of the Law, styled “good news” in vs.6, but also their disobedience to it which was their downfall and failure in the wilderness, which prevented them from entering Canaan’s rest. It is the same word of God that must be obeyed now with the same fear and reverence that it was due at Sinai and otherwise as it was revealed from Moses’ during the wilderness sojourn. The words of Jesus and the apostles were not a second rate revelation from God; rather they were even superior to Mosaic Law. Therefore, they must not be abandoned or disobeyed by returning to the synagogue as  some early Jewish Christians were being tempted to do — as if returning to the Law would be an acceptable alternative or plan “B” to avoid persecution (a major factor in this temptation). The lesson for modern meniscus similar — especially to modern Jewish Christians facing similar pressures and persecution to return to the synagogue — returning to a previous life is not an acceptable alternative. We will be closely judged (the point of the metaphor of a keenly sharp two edged sword) by Jesus’ words (John 12:48) and we must neither abandon nor disobey them. 

Jesus was heard — Heb. 5:7

Despite the fact that He was God’ only begotten Son, despite the fact that was sinless (pious), despite the fact that of all people His prayer should have been heeded and answered with a yes, the Father still answered His prayer in Gethsemane, “No.” Suffering is part of being human since the fall; plus, there was a major promise and plan to fulfill in the cross. So, next time the Lord doesn’t answer your prayer the way had hoped, consider 1) how Jesus was heard but didn’t receive a yes and 2) that it may have nothing at all to do with how faithful or obedient you’ve been — you have been heard and loved and there is real concern from God for your plight, but sometimes things just have be this way. Sometimes there are bigger issues at stake than our own suffering. As a child I didn’t always understand why my parents did or didn’t do some things that really wanted them to do. I didn’t factor in keeping a roof over my head or food on the table. I didn’t even have my own long range good in mind — just what I wanted now. 

Grow up — Heb. 5:12

Here the writer chides the audience for their apparent lack of Bible knowledge that should have led them to these same conclusions on their own; they had been Jews and then Christians long enough that they could have been and should have been teachers of these things themselves, but they weren’t. For example, he’d like to remind them about Jesus’ priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, but instead he is afraid (probably in hyperbole) that they may need remedial Christian fundamentals. Their apparent lack of knowledge and understanding was putting them in danger of falling away (chapter 6), so he was encouraging them to grow up! There are important lessons here for us, too. We mustn’t neglect our own study of Scripture. We must move beyond the basics, otherwise we place ourselves in danger of falling away. 

Do not be sluggish — Heb. 6:12

God deserves our best efforts and our immediate obedience. Being sluggish in our response to anyone’s command says something slavish about us — that we really don’t want to do it, but are feeling forced to do so. Sluggishness also implies hesitation, weighing whether we’ll do it or not. And that why he exhorts us to avoid being sluggish. Glad, faithful, willing obedience jumps to the task and sees it through with diligence and enthusiasm. There’s no slavishness about it, just grateful love. 

The anchor of the soul — Heb. 6:19

Hope, one of the three pillars of Christianity, is styled here as an anchor of the soul. Possibly because of the the book of Hebrews, the anchor became a symbol of Christianity that can be seen in ancient catacombs in Rome. But why is hope an anchor? It has to do with the what the Christian hope was and is — not some vague optimism in life, but a very specific certainty that death was not the end of life, but  rather would flow into a comforting existence in Paradise, a resurrection, and an eternal home in Heaven! Such a hope — a sure expectation of God’s promise — kept early Christians, like those addressed in Hebrews, anchored to the Lord, rather than breaking away in the midst of fiery opposition. It is for this reason that I would suggest that hope always be a prominent topic in sermons and study materials. Are you anchored securely?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing. 

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