The deceitfulness of sin — Hebrews 1-3

Posted on February 4, 2012 by parklinscomb

The book of Hebrews is different than the other letters of the New Testament. First of all, it is actually a sermon, “a word of exhortation” (Heb. 13:22), a common first century phrase for a sermon. As a result there is a certain larger picture theme to the book that it’s several divisions contribute to, just like a modern day sermon might. Second, the book or letter is not in the usual letter style of the day – starting off with the author’s name and proceeding to the addressees’ names, and then to the matters at hand and closing remarks; the author and addressee’s part is completely absent. Third, and because of the second reason, the book’s author is not certain, although according to chapter 13:18ff the original readers knew the author well. Paul, Apollos, and Barnabas are the most prominent guesses as to it’s authorship; I am personally partial to Paul as the author. 

Hebrews’ theme is essentially the superiority of Christ and the new covenant to the Mosaic covenant. The target audience was clear Jewish Christians who had been persecuted to the point of temptation to return to the synagogue and the Mosaic Law. It consequently contains 5 very strongly worded warnings against falling away – which, by the way, underscores the truth that falling away is not just an idle threat (as proponents of Calvin’s theology will often teach). Because of this theme, many of my remarks about this book/letter/sermon will highlight the superiority of Christ over the Mosaic Law. Please never misinterpret these remarks as being anti-Semitic; some my best friends over the years have been Jewish by race and sometimes by faith, and my wife’s father’s family were observant, orthodox Jews. There was a time when the Mosaic Law was in effect, and had I lived before the cross I would have needed to convert to Judaism to be part of God’s covenant people. But in Jesus the Messiah, a new convenient has been established, which is superior to the Law of Moses and supersedes it. To any Jewish folks who might be reading this, let me say with all sincerity, I would to God that you would objectively examine the claims of Jesus in view of the Law and the prophets and come to a saving and obedient faith in Him as the Son of God, the Messiah. 

With these things in the back of our minds, then, let’s dive into a few specific things found in our reading today. 

God has spoken through His Son — Heb. 1:2

I’m reminded of one of Jesus’ parables as I read this verse, the Landowner of Matt. 21:33ff, in which the landowner sends a number of servants and messengers to the vine-growers who rejected, beat, and killed them. Finally, the landowner sent His Son, the heir, to speak with them, expecting that they would respect Him more. God has communicated to men through many ways over the dentures. All were legitimate messengers of His will, but Jesus, the Son, deserves special attention. This is the writer’s point — listen, really listen, to Him. Listen to Him above Moses, above Elijah, and above the other prophets. This was important for Jewish Christians — especially those being tempted to return to Judaism — to “get”. They all are messengers of God’s word, but Jesus is the very Word of God Himself (John 1:1ff). 

We are bombarded, too, with a number of voices in our modern world, but must be Jesus’ voice that we revere most — above preachers, above culture, above popularity, above philosophy, above psychology, above diversity. Who are you listening to?

Taste  for everyone — Heb. 2:9

One of the ways in which Jesus’ new covenant is superior to the Law of Moses is that Jesus offers a superior sacrifice. Many religions recognize the problem of sin and attempt a solution for it, but it is Jesus’ solution that fixes the problem. Moses’ covenant provided for animal sacrifice as a substitute for sinful men, which was practiced until the destruction of the Temple. But even this sacrifice (the book of Hebrews will go into this in detail later) could only be something like a good faith marker — it didn’t really fix the problem. This is because although the substitutionary victim, the animal, was innocent, he was not willing. Jesus, however, was both innocent and willing to takes our place — tasting death for everyone (at least in potential; some will be unwilling to believe). What a God we serve! The sinless, perfect, and eternal God was willing to personally take “the hit” for what we’ve done. It’s not something that Moses could’ve done; nor for that matter, (touching on other world religions) could Mohammed, Buddha, the Hindu gods, or any other leader of any other system of religion. 

A merciful and faithful high priest — Heb. 2:17,18

We’ll deal later in the book of Hebrews with how a Jew from the tribe of Judah could be a high priest; but putting that matter aside for the moment, what a wonderful advantage we have Christ as our great Mediator and high priest, who although equal with God the Father, is still sympathetic to our plight as humans since He has experienced what it is be clothed in flesh — the suffering, the temptations, the appetites, the helplessness, and more that is part of being human. May we never be tempted to say, “Lord, You just don’t understand; it’s so hard!” Because yes He does know — intimately. 

Be careful…so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin — Heb. 3:12ff

This section of the sermon is a call to the Jewish audience living in New Testament times not make the mistakes of their Hebrew forebears who in disbelief and disobedience found themselves barred from entering the “rest” of the Promised Land. But in the midst of this warning is an interesting phrase, “the deceitful ness of sin”. And for any of us who have done a post-mortem of our own sins, this doubtlessly was something that really came to the fore — the “promises” made by temptation were hollow indeed, it wasn’t what we thought it would be, the penalty was really there, and the pain was not worth the “gain”. The deceitfulness of sin — it promises the moon, and only delivers death. And yet like poor old Charlie Brown who gets sucked in by Lucy about kicking football, we keep on running full-tilt for sin on the promise that something will be there, when we swing our foot for the ball — only to find air and a hard fall awaiting us. 

See you tomorrow, Lord willing. 

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Adorning the doctrine — Titus and Philemon

Posted on February 3, 2012 by parklinscomb

In an earlier posting I outlined a possible or even probable life of Paul beyond the years reported by the book of Acts. In this suggested “history” I noted that Paul could have dropped Titus off at Crete on his journey immediately following his release from his first Roman imprisonment to Ephesus. Possibly Paul had stopped at Crete only to pick up supplies, but discovered Christians there who had not been organized into churches. Understanding the need for getting these disciples organized into congregations and oppose Judaizing influences, Paul quickly decided to leave Titus to accomplish these important missionary objectives. And this is the reason for Paul’s letter, instructions for appointment of leaders and the specific matters for Titus to emphasize in his teaching and preaching – given the widely acknowledged character of the citizens of Crete.

I also included Philemon in our reading today, since it so brief. Philemon was a Christian in Colossae who Paul knew personally, apparently including Philemon’s whole household. During the time of Paul’s first imprisonment one of Philemon’s slaves, Onesimus, ran away to Rome. When in Rome, Onesimus, looked Paul up — possibly knowing Paul to be kind and generous and needing some help. What help he apparently got was more than he had originally come looking for — he got the Gospel. Onesimus proved to be quite useful to Paul in his imprisonment, but Paul realized that he could simply use someone else’s “property” without their permission, so he gave Onesimus a terrifying task, to turn himself in to his master. Paul didn’t want Onesimus to return without some sort of protection, so he sends him with Tychicus and this letter (see Col. 4), pleading his clear repentance and true conversion.

With all that information in the background, let’s take a look at a few specifics.

Living a life that belies our confession — Titus 1:16
Confessing Jesus is simply not enough to constitute saving faith. These men of whom Paul talks had “named the Name” but it had not effected their lives. There had been no changes in their sinful lives, and this had made them useless for any good, positive deed – doubly denying the Lord. Here’s a serious problem that still persists among believers – and probably will until the end of time – the foolish notion that one can merely confess Jesus and all will be well. Belief and repentance and obedience are inseparably connected in saving faith. Real, biblical faith in Jesus actually motivates actions and changes us – it will not leave us the same.

Adorning the doctrine — Titus 2:10
The word for “adorning” is the Greek word from which we get the word for cosmetics! Pretty up the Gospel and the teachings of Christianity, he is saying; make it attractive! How? We’re not talking about putting Vanna White sort models in front of the church building or going door to door with our best looking people; we’re talking about living the kind of lives that make the world sit up and take notice.

The early church did this very well as they lived good, kind, admirable, and helpful lives in their everyday existence, and then when arrested and condemned for their faith, died courageously without denial. They became so admired, in time, that the world wanted to learn more about it and submitted to Christ. This wasn’t just living an introverted, beaten-down life that might elicit something more like pity, but a life that even the pagan world would admire: honorable, courageous, conscientious, hard working, courteous, willing to take a stand for right, sympathetic, forgiving, with solid marriages and families. The Christian life will be different, more beautiful, than other sorts, when it is being lived rightly. So pull out the cosmetics Christian, and adorn the doctrine with a shining and admirable example of what living the Christian life is.

An emphasis on good works — Titus 2:14 / 3:1 / 3:8 / 3:14
Paul was concerned about the laziness of the Cretans, so he made sure that this was an emphasis in this letter. In this short letter he talks about it four times:
The Christian must zealous for good works — enthusiasm, passion, and a heart for good works
They must be ready for good works — this word implies preparation, practice, and even setting resources aside, so that when the time comes there will be readiness
They must engage in good deeds — and there must be a pulling of the trigger. Enthusiasm and preparation are great, but they must not merely remain in the abstract
They must engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs — and we need to avoid the temptation of addressing only the easy or favorite good works, but the higher priority, greater need good works

Even more than asked — Philemon 1:21
Philemon is an interesting study in persuasion and Paul pulls out most if not all the stops on this persuasive endeavor on Onesimus’ behalf. But perhaps one of the most persuasive things Paul says is his confidence that Philemon will do not only what he asked, but even more. There’s nothing like praise of someone’s character, appealing to their demonstrated honor to motivate them to do the right thing. Here Paul pointed out Philemon’s past cooperation and tendency to do even more than requested. And wouldn’t this be a good example of adorning doctrine?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Benefits for now and later — 1 Timothy 4-6

Posted on February 2, 2012 by parklinscomb

Paul, as we talked about yesterday, had left Timothy in Ephesus to keep false teachers from getting their foot in the door of this church’s heart. He also had a lot of instruction for general organization of the church including elders and deacons. Some have asked the question about why Paul would be doing such a thing, since the church in Ephesus already had elders (see Acts 20). The answer to this probably lies in the fact that Ephesus had been the launching pad for many of the churches established in the province of Asia, and those on Paul’s mission team (his fellow workers) may have looked to Ephesus or even Paul – or Paul’s representative, Timothy – for further spiritual help and instruction as they grew as a congregation. So, Paul is telling Timothy the basics of what to look for in congregational leaders.

Anyway, Paul continues his instruction to Timothy in today’s reading.

Pointing theses things out — 4:6

In the early part of this chapter, Paul reveals what doctrinal problems lie in the future for the church and in vs.6 wants Timothy to warn the church regularly about it. Preachers don’t do this so much today, lest they be seen as being too negative, narrow, or exclusive. But Paul identifies this as being part of being a good servant of Christ Jesus. The historical outcome of not doing so is a religious world with great doctrinal diversity, but little truth. Good servants of the word find a way to balance biblical warnings and encouragements to the benefit of God’s church.

Godliness is profitable now and later — 6:8

Here’s a statement that might resonate with today’s exercise and athletically oriented culture. Bodily exercise is good and beneficial, but not nearly as good as the exercise of godliness, which Paul notes is good for both the life here and now and the life to come. It’s really too bad that so many in this world assume that Christian living is only looking toward the afterlife, that it is a hard life of self-denial and trial all to get to a Heaven that has to be accepted by faith. The truth is that although living the Christian life is challenging, it is also quite rewarding in the life here and now. I like the Christian life. When lived right, it promotes the most noble of virtues, courage, and kindness; it promotes right relationships, true justice, self-discipline, and long term joy and happiness in this life. It seeks to overcome evil with good and hate with love. And after all that there’s the security of God’s love and forgiveness, God’s purpose for my life, and the courage that can face death with solid hope of a home in Heaven.

Pay close attention to yourself and your teachings — 4:16

Here’s a key to effective service to the Master. It won’t be enough to pay attention only to one’s teaching without paying attention to one’s moral behavior. Nor is it enough to merely pay attention to one’s moral life and be sloppy with teachings. The goal is to save both ourselves and those we minister to. Neglect of either is disastrous; I’ve observed the results of both to my great sorrow – good men who fell enslaved to sin or while living honorably compromised the truth and led others astray. Pay close attention!

Honoring widows indeed — 5:3

Here’s a category of individuals that has yet to be established in modern times again like elders or deacons. In a modern society such women are taken care of by our social safety nets of Social Security and Medicare. But the downside to the wider society doing such things is the lack of sisters who offer their hands and hearts to others (presumably other sisters) in ministry. Many times or elderly simply retire, not just from secular work but from everything except worship assembly and the occasional ladies’ class. Too bad! There are riches of years of wisdom and kindness and time that are sometimes squandered. Now, of course Paul puts limits on it and reveals the dangers that such a ministry might pose to the well being of the church (tale bearers), but the advantages are also clearly great.

The love of money — 6:10

This is the source of the oft quoted “money is the root of all evil”. The problem is, of course, that is has been misquoted. It is the “love of money” and it is the “root of all kinds of evil”. Christianity is not anti-money; it is anti-greed, anti-selfish, anti-materialism, and anti-hoarding. This passage doesn’t castigate the rich, bu t simply warns them about the dangers and encourages them to a channel of blessing to others in need. And this is a crucial teaching for those of in the western world to hear and apply. We are all rich in comparison to the rest of the world and we need to be careful lest the love of money derail our Christianity through materialism, the greed for more and more, the lack of faith that God will provide and replace what we give, and the selfishness that keeps us from sharing.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Organizing a church — 1 Timothy 1-3

Posted on February 1, 2012 by parklinscomb

What we know historically about the apostle Paul after the end of Acts is limited, but through reading Paul’s letters from prison and later, it is possible to piece together a couple of possible post-Acts scenarios of his life. It is widely thought that he was released from his first Roman imprisonment, and that this is the implied meaning in Acts when we’re told he was in Rome two years — there was a limit to how long someone might be kept to see Caesar. Upon release, Paul probably would have sent Timothy to Philippi with the news (Php. 2:19-23). Paul, then, probably traveled from Rome to the province of Asia by way of Crete, where he probably dropped off Titus to teach and organize the churches there (possibly Pentecost disciples). Paul, next, probably arrived at Ephesus and traveled to Colossae, as he had promised, and then returned to Ephesus. He was possibly then joined by Timothy in Ephesus, who reported on the church in Philippi. Paul apparently then left for Macedonia, perhaps Philippi, and left Timothy as an opponent of the false teaching there. This, then, is the possible setting for Paul’s first letter to Timothy.

It is full of very practical ministry instruction for ordering and organizing a local congregation and how one ought to conduct oneself as a Christian leader. I personally think it should be required reading of at least once a week for a year for every young minister.

Correct strange doctrines — 1 Tim. 1:3

One of the repeating charges in both letters to Timothy is that of holding to sound doctrine and correction of false ones. This wasn’t because Paul suspected Timothy of being unsound, but because Paul knew how prevalent, persuasive, and dangerous false teachings were both Timothy and the churches he had planted — he had argued his share of debates with synagogue rabbis, Judaizing teachers, Stoic philosophers, Greek pagans, and eastern philosophers. Even with Paul’s and Timothy’s teaching in the Asian churches, the book of Revelation in its letters to the seven churches of Asia shows that some had indeed been seriously infected with false teachings and that Paul was quite corrrect to stress sound doctrine.

And doctrine is important. Doctrine informs our faith (tells us what we should believe, because it is true) and our faith motivates our actions. Some, Paul tells us later, suffered “shipwreck in regard to their faith” (1 Tim. 1:19), which appears to have included the acceptance of a false teaching, which had led to rejecting “a good conscience” (good moral behavior).

Foremost of sinners — 1 Tim. 1:12-17

I run into people from time to time who listen to the Good News, and profess a desire to be saved, obey the Lord, enjoy the hope of Heaven — but their just not sure about something. It’s not that they doubt the Lord’s word or His power to save; it’s that they doubt that the Lord would want to save someone like them, who had done the things that they’d done. I also run into Christians from time to time who have indeed placed their faith in Jesus, repented of their sins, confessed Jesus as Lord, obeyed Jesus in baptism, and are doing their best to live a disciple’s life, but who are still not certain of their salvation for the same reason. Maybe Paul had run into a few of these folks, too, and wanted Timothy to have a great answer, when they offered their objection. The answer: “If Paul could be saved, surely you could be saved!” For the person who is really mourning their sins, really poor in spirit (Matthew 5), this question of whether God would even want to save us is a common one. It’s probably why tears still well up in our eyes, when we sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see.”

Praying for leaders — 1 Tim. 2:1ff

Good leadership is hard. There’s always plenty of folks who want to persuade you to do their thing, regardless of anyone else, regardless of justice, regardless of right. And then there’s the temptations of power itself to do and get whatever I want personally. And sometimes leaders need to repent — the hardest of all things for them to do. That’s why leaders need prayers and why God is pleased when we pray for our leaders. But there’s one more reason that Paul throws in here — because God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Good political situations make the Good News easier to spread across and within borders. Let’s not just pray for our own leaders, so that our economy gets fixed; but let’s pray with God’s larger mission in mind, for the leaders of the world who make spreading the Gospel hard or easy.

Women and the exercise of authority — 1 Tim. 2:12

This passage is a key one in the discussion about women and leadership. Some have accused Paul of being a woman-hater, or a slave to the culture of the day. Both of those accusations are false:

  • The New Testament’s teachings (including Paul’s) have done more to liberate women than any single thing in history
  • Hellenistic and Roman culture routinely used women as priestesses in their pagan temples; so, when Paul teaches against women in leadership in the church, he is actually being counter-cultural — on the basis of God’s word.

And by the way, women can be leaders, among themselves; the command is against women exercising authority over men in the church.

Elders and deacons — 1 Tim. 3:1-13

In the fully organized church there are both elders and deacons. The elders (also known as shepherds, pastors, overseer, or even presbyters) are given charge over spiritual matters in the church. And the deacons (the word in Greek meant table servant) were given charge over practical material needs of the church (see Acts 6). But not just anyone may do these things; they must be men of high quality as Paul describes for us. Sometimes men are appointed to leadership on the wings of their own popularity, charisma, business success, or political connections. But God’s leaders must be qualified and will be held strictly accountable for what they do or don’t do (see Acts 20).

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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The man of lawlessness — 2 Thessalonians

Posted on January 31, 2012 by parklinscomb

Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica is a much fierier encouragement. This is probably coming from a heartfelt sympathy toward the church and anger toward persecutors Paul felt due to a possible escalation in persecution and perhaps violence against the church. If you’re a parent, consider how you would react (or have reacted) toward another kid bullying your kid; the Thessalonian church was like Paul’s child. In the midst of his passionate empathy, Paul has some interesting things to say…

Your faith is enlarged and love grows greater! — 2 Thess. 1:3

Growth is an expected outcome of the Christian life. There is never a time, in this world, when the Christian can claim perfection. Even the apostle Paul said, (Philippians 3:12) “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” There were times when some of those that Paul had led to Christ had stopped growing, because they mistakenly thought that they had reached perfect maturity (e.g., the Corinthian church). So, Paul was clearly pleased to see their growth and progress in faith and love.

Would Paul (much more important still, Jesus) be pleased at your growth? Where were you this time last year? Where are you now? Would people, have people, noticed any spiritual difference?

Retribution to persecutors — 2 Thess. 1:6-10

There’s not too much in the New Testament about God’s vengeance on persecutors except here in 2 Thessalonians and later in Revelation, but that’s not to say that God isn’t all that interested in it. Throughout the New Testament we find commands to abstain from our own revenge against our enemies (including persecutors), and the reason we are given is that one day God will judge all men and settle all outstanding scores. Paul is reminding the Thessalonian church of God’s sure and certain intentions and comforting them (many might have suffered significant loss) against seeking their own revenge. But why doesn’t God do something now? Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:9 that God’s patience should be understood as His mercy that wishes to give every person a maximum chance to repent and be saved. But we mustn’t let His patience fool us or discourage us — when the Lord comes again, those who disbelieve and disobey will find no more mercy, only just retribution.

The man of lawlessness — 2 Thess. 2:2-10

The confusion about the second coming of the Lord continued to be an issue in this young church. False teachers, falsely implying that it was Paul’s teaching, had confused these young Christians into thinking that maybe the second coming had already occurred (just like Jesus had said would happen, Matthew 24:23-28). So, Paul, to make things a little clearer, reminds them that Jesus would not come before the coming of the apostasy and the man of lawlessness (vv.2,3). What this event is and what this man is remain a mysteries in the true biblical sense — something revealed only in broad outlines without details or specifics (in most cases they are only clear in hindsight). But there certainly seems to be a number of parallels to this idea in many New Testament passages: e.g., Luke 18:8; Matt. 24:15-31; and Rev. 11:1ff. The one that is most striking to me is Rev. 20 in which Satan is shown bound for “1000 years” (a long indeterminate period of time), but loosed toward the end of time to “deceive the nations” (implying persecution). All this was being said to help the Thessalonian Christians that they hadn’t missed the Lord’s coming somehow.

I can’t help but think about all the brouhaha about the end of the world in the popular media these days. Don’t be taken in by the smooth talkers and hype; Paul’s words remain true today that the end will not come until after the man of lawlessness does his thing. Jesus’ words likewise remain true: Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

Deluding influence — 2 Thess. 2:11,12

Speaking of that time, when the man of lawlessness will be doing his thing, Paul talks of the man of lawlessness’ deluding influence which will have a powerful effect on those who didn’t receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, and they will happily, perhaps even blissfully believe what is false. Of course, such a happy embrace of lies — “All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest” (Paul Simon) — has been the practice of many in the world for years. But the key is the unprecedented level of those who will not receive the love of the truth. Which begs the question of each of us, do we love the truth?

Freeloading forbidden — 2 Thess. 3:6-15

Lastly, a substantial portion of the last chapter is devoted to the problem in the Thessalonian church of freeloading. Some were continuing to dodge work and expecting charity from the wealthier brethren. Paul points to his own example of work to feed himself, when he ministered the word of the Gospel among them. Things had apparently gotten so bad that he was having to resort to withdrawal of fellowship from the offender. The lesson for us is that we do need to eat our own bread, when at all possible. Being taken advantage of is discouraging for those who work hard and are generous with what they have; this is the reason for Paul’s encouragement, 2 Thessalonians 3:13 “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.”

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Hold on to what is good — 1 Thessalonians 4,5

Posted on January 30, 2012 by parklinscomb

Today’s reading continues with Paul’s letter to a very young church. Some of the things, therefore, which Paul talks about will be reasonably elementary, but it is always worth while to review the fundamentals, especially in a day like ours that is working so hard at influencing us away from the Lord.

Sexual purity — 1 Thess. 4:3-8

Thessalonica was a typical Greek (Hellenistic) city, which included, among other things, a very loose sense of sexual propriety. Granted, there was a strong Jewish representation in this new congregation of the Lord’s people, and they would have at least been aware of God’s law about sexual morality. But Paul knew that the influence of sexual sinfulness is always a strong one, and that old pre-Christian habits and “turn ons” sometimes die hard; so, he wanted to bring up the topic of sexual purity and strongly forbid sexual sin — 1 Thessalonians 4:8 “So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

Here is a teaching that may be thought of as a bit elementary by some, but because it will be considered “old-fashioned” by others, it still must be stressed and strongly forbidden. Especially among young people, who get bombarded by Hollywood morality, who have been rendered rudderless through lack of parental guidance, who have been confused by sexually perverted folks who call themselves religious leaders, who have been taught how to practice sex “safely” (and therefore been given an implied green light), and who are having their minds addled through hormonal overload that they confuse with love. They just don’t know the Christian teaching about sex and sexuality anymore, so we need to teach it and stress its rights and wrongs.

A Christian ambition — 1 Thess. 4:12,13

In both of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonian church he mentions a problem in the church with those who are not working. Not everything is clear about this situation, but it appears that since there was an expectation that Jesus could be coming back at any moment that the poorer brethren thought, “Well, then why should I work, since my generous richer brethren could feed me.” We do know for sure that later Paul tells the church that if there are those who refuse that they should not eat. What this teaches us today is clear that we should work, we should eat our own bread, and we need to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life. This last command piqued my curiosity and it turns out that in the ancient world (not unlike modern times) the idle often got into trouble, sometimes politically, sometimes criminally. What Paul commands here in the “quiet life” a turning away from rioting and activism.

Clarification on the second coming — 1 Thess. 4:13—5:11

The hope of Christianity to these young Christians was still pretty vague. They had been taught that Jesus was coming again and could possibly be expected at any moment, and they’d been taught a little bit about the resurrection of the dead. Unfortunately they knew just enough to get confused, so Paul clarifies. And you know, I’ve found that the hope of Christianity is still kind of vague among many who call themselves Christians; so, here’s a quick (and hopefully clarifying) look at some of the last things as Paul lists them here.

  • When Jesus returns, He will bring with Him all (in resurrection) who have died
  • Those who are alive, when the Lord returns will not go ahead of those who have already died
  • The second coming (the end) will come in a flash (twinkling of an eye) in which the dead will rise first, then all who are alive will be changed to their incorruptible and immoral bodies (see 1 Cor. 15:50-58).
  • Then all men, the dead and those who were living at His coming, will leave this old world (due to be destroyed — 2 Peter 3)
  • The timing of the second coming will be a complete surprise, like a thief in the night, like a woman suddenly going into labor
  • Therefore, keep alert and obedient

Appreciate your leadership — 1 Thess. 5:12ff

Leadership of any kind is more difficult than usually imagined by those who follow. It is especially difficult for church leaders, because it contains all the usual challenges of leadership (getting people organized to accomplish something) but also caring about the followers (more than worldly leaders often do) and caring HOW they get people to do work together and accomplish things. As a consequence there are a couple of exhortations in Scripture to appreciate and support your leaders.

Examine, hold fast to the good, abstain from evil in any form it comes — 1 Thess. 5:21-22

Critical thinking is an increasingly rare commodity these days. We keep ourselves entertained pretty much 24/7 — who has time to think? Besides that we have plenty of talk show hosts and celebrities to tell us what to think — don’t ask me how they reached their conclusions, but I think they’re cool, and I want to be just like them. But Paul commanded, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, 22 “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” That word “examine” means to inspect something closely; turn it upside down and all over and look it over up close — think critically about what you’re taught, what you’ve heard, the influences in your life. Hold it up against the standard of all that is good and holy, the Scriptures and the Lord to compare. And then hold on tight to what is good, and jettison every form, appearance, and look of evil. It was what was so admirable about the folks in Berea, interestingly enough, the very next town Paul went after Thessalonica on his missionary journey: Acts 17:11 “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Letter to a baby church — 1 Thessalonians 1-3

Posted on January 29, 2012 by parklinscomb

What do you say to a group of brand new disciples to keep them faithful and growing. This was the challenge and the worry of the apostle Paul. If you look at Acts 17 you see the circumstance Paul was faced with. He had left the Thessalonian church when it was a mere three weeks or so old in an unstable situation of persecution. Imagine Paul’s relief when he found out that they were doing not just OK but really well. But now what could Paul say to shore them up, encourage them, and make sure they stayed on the right path? That’s the essence of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.
Faith, hope, and love – 1 Thess. 1:3
Early Christianity held that there were three main pillars of discipleship to Jesus – faith, hope, and love. And so Paul comments on how well they had been doing using these three pillars. Their good works coming from their faith in Jesus was great, but even more, they’d actually labored (there’s a special Greek word for strenuous work, the kind that makes you sweat profusely) because of their love for the Lord. And they had continued steadfast in this work and labor motivated by their hope in the Lord. No wonder their influence in that region had spread so far! There’s a great lesson here for us 21 centuries later about the place of these things in our own walk of life. How far and wide would the Gospel be spread in our own region, if we let our faith in the Lord, our love for the Lord, and our hope in the Lord really motivate us?
Accepted as the word of God — 1 Thess. 2:13
How do you see the Bible? Just another book (I hope not)? Something to big to read? Something that you can take or leave as you wish? Or something to really sit up and take notice of and obey? How you see it will determine whether you’ll succeed as a Christian (like the Thessalonians) or fail, like Paul was afraid of. Take God’s word seriously, don’t try to avoid it or brush it off, it is God’s word and God is not to be trifled with.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Conduct yourself with wisdom — Colossians 1-4

Posted on January 28, 2012 by parklinscomb

Colossae was part of the orbit of Ephesus. It appears to have not been personally evangelized by Paul, but by someone among Paul’s fellow workers, Epaphras. It was in the valley of west central Asia Minor with Laodicea and Hieropolis as neighbors.

When one reads someone else’s letter — like we are doing, when we read this one — one must try to “read between the lines” about some things, because one only gets one-half of a conversation. In the letter to the Colossians we read of Paul’s concern about 1) their understanding of Jesus’ nature, 2) pressure from Judaizing teachings, 3) the worship of angels, and 4) self-abuse of the body. Putting these pieces of evidence together, we can conclude that the church at Colossae was facing a challenge of false teaching that included elements of Jewish religion and early dualism or gnosticism.

In a nutshell dualism or gnosticism taught that spirit is good and flesh is evil. With that as an assumption (a bad one), gnostic believers often believed that Jesus could not possibly be the true Son of God (since flesh is evil) and 2) our own human flesh needed to be severely treated to try to rein it in. These are things that Paul needed to nip in the bud, before they became a real problem in Colossae. Sadly, gnosticism did grow and bloom in the mid-second century, despite Paul’s teachings; but it was defeated generally in later years, largely due to Paul’s teachings.

With these things in the background, let’s look at a few passages in today’s reading…

The image of the invisible God — Col. 1:15

Despite Paul’s inspired teaching, there still are people who find it hard to believe that the Son of God, part of the Godhead, became flesh and dwelt among us. But Paul is crystal clear on this matter, Jesus the Christ is no fake or emanation (a favorite idea among the gnostics); instead, He is the very image of the invisible God! Later, Paul will underscore this idea with phrases like: Colossians 1:19 “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,” or Colossians 2:9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” These passages combined with John 1:1 or the story of the Transfiguration, Philippians 2:5-7, Hebrews 1:1ff, and others profess in a loud voice that in Jesus was a truly amazing thing — God became flesh and dwelt among us. Now there are a number of ramifications coming from that one truth, but the one in particular that Paul and other inspired first century teachers seemed to emphasize is that He, therefore, must be obeyed. He’s not a bud, He’s not a good teacher, He’s not a great prophet, He’s not demi-god; He is God in the flesh and must be both heard and obeyed above all others and above all else.

If indeed you continue in the faith — Col. 1:23

There are a number of these sorts of warning in the New Testament; this one just sort of jumped out at me, so I thought I’d make note of the fact that we really must be faithful to our calling, because we really could lose our salvation through neglect or deliberate disobedience. There are those who continue to preach that once one is saved, he/she can never be lost again. The Bible, quite to the contrary, teaches something different. And that’s the reason that we’re commanded to meet together on Sundays to worship the Lord and encourage each other, because it’s frighteningly easy to begin to drift away. Read your Bible, pray without ceasing, go to worship, keep contact with faithful Christian brothers and sisters, deliberately find ways to serve others and the Lord. These things help us to remain on the right track.

See to it that no one takes you captive — Col. 2:8

Words and ideas are much more powerful than we usually give them credit for being. They can change our whole lives in the extreme for better or the worse. Paul was concerned for the Colossians, because he knew the kind of slick-tongued philosophers and pushy teachers of Jewish tradition that were out there; and he was afraid that they might be taken captive (imprisoned) by their false but great sounding teachings. Earlier, Paul had told them, Colossians 1:5-7 “… the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,” so that they would know that they got the “full version” of the Gospel, rather than a “starter version”. In other words, he is assuring them that they heard and understood the Gospel correctly from Epaphras the first time. Do we sometimes think that we got the “starter version” by just reading the Bible. Shame on us, if we do. The Gospel doesn’t need improvement by me or you or anybody else — period.

The shadow of the Law, the substance of Christ — Col. 2:17

If there was any “starter version” of spiritual reality, the truth, the Mosaic Law seems to have been it. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but Paul is here assuring the Colossians that going back to the Law of Moses was going back to the elemental things, the shadows of the substance that we have in Jesus! And indeed, there is a really rich study on a large scale through the Old Testament, especially Genesis through Joshua of “type and ante-type” — shadow and substance, parable and reality.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly — Col. 3:16

This is that other verse in Scripture that demands a cappella singing of Christian worship, rather than instrumental music. If you’d like more information about this issue, here’s a good place to look: http://mhtchurch.org/musicandbible.html

Conduct yourselves with wisdom — Col. 4:5

Does evangelism have to be a church program? Or can it be an individual life-style? Vss. 5,6 help us understand that evangelism is not just a church program, but is something that each of us could easily be involved in by 1) conducting ourselves circumspectly among outsiders (do nothing among them that could be construed as improper), 2) use the opportunities that arise (sometimes known as “teachable moments”), and 3) think ahead to have a good and ready answer to questions that others raise to Christians.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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To live is Christ — Philippians 1-4

Posted on January 28, 2012 by parklinscomb

Philippi was a Roman colony, populated primarily by retired Roman soldiers. Romans colonies were little islands of all things Latin scattered throughout the empire. Here Latin was the spoken language, Roman law was the law of the city, the toga was the expected dress of its citizens, and Roman religion and custom was rigidly observed — important in understanding some things in Paul’s letters.

The church at Philippi was one of Paul’s favorite churches. It was the first church he established in Europe, and it was a congregation who apparently helped support him, possibly being a sponsoring congregation (4:15). It began with the conversion of Lydia in Acts 16, a probably wealthy business woman (being a seller of purple dye), from whose house the church was launched.

Paul is writing them from a Roman imprisonment. They had sent a gift to him for his financial support, and inquired into his welfare and prospects of release, because of their great personal concern for him. His letter to them is an unshrinking encouragement to them to not be concerned whatever the outcome of his imprisonment might be — that he was ready even for the death. The message and theme is one of joy and encouragement to continue to live the Christian life in full courage, faithfulness, and service. For that reason this letter from Paul is a favorite of New Testament readers and a source of great encouragement to Christian living over the centuries.

To live is Christ, to die is gain — Phil. 1:21

What’s the one truly important thing in your life? Paul’s imprisonment in Roman was reason for considerable concern for his life, because it could have easily ended in execution. But counterintuitively Paul was little concerned about the outcome. His life was all about following Jesus, so that whether by his life or by his death, Christ should be glorified. Would you be able to say such a courageous thing? Such courage, such indifference to death, comes only when our life is completely about Jesus.  Otherwise, we clamor and claw to survive in this life. The world has a tough time with this concept, because to live is — well, to enjoy oneself, to be happy, to experience everything, to finish your bucket list, etc. What is life for you?

Have this mind in you — Phil. 2:5ff

What problems that appeared to have been present in Philippi had at least in part to do with unity. Status, honor, and pecking order are perennial enemies to unity in every age and every culture; they were the major issues between the apostles in Jesus’ lifetime on this earth. And they appear to have been causing an erosion in the fellowship of the Philippian church.  And so Paul focuses on the mindset that most promotes unity, Christian humility and service, and for the perfect example he points to Jesus. To become a man, the Christ had to “empty Himself” of His “God-ness”, His equality with God the Father. We probably will never know all that such a thing really means, but Jesus deliberately “let go” of it for our sakes — like Paul was trying to urge some Philippian brethren to “let go” of their grasp of status — and serve. But even more, Paul goes on to say, than becoming a man and a servant (and all the things that being human involves) He also submitted Himself to something God should never have had to experience, death. And not just any death, the terrible death of the Roman cross (excruciatingly painful and humiliating in the extreme). Nothing should, therefore, be too lowly in our service to others. Such service to others may have been a special problem among some brethren who were Roman citizens, an exalted station in life, especially in a Roman colony — especially if slaves were among those who were to be served.

It has application to us today, too. Is there a line that you would draw and say, “That’s just too much! I wouldn’t do that!”

I count all things to be loss — Phil 3:8

It would appear that another “status” issue may have been troubling the church. Some Judaizing teachers had come their way, had attempted to persuade the church to be circumcised and follow Moses’ Law, and possibly even flaunted their Jewish pedigree to add to their powers of persuasion. To them Paul says, “Rubbish!” No, literally, he said, “Rubbish!” All those such credentials and confidences in the flesh he now considered loss, trash, garbage, rubbish. There was one thing only that was worth anything, (Philippians 3:10, 11) “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” It’s the very thing that you’d expect from someone who’s already said that to live is Christ and to die is gain. What’s loss and what’s gain to you?

Learning the secret — Phil. 4:12,13

How can we be content, whether living with humble means or prosperity, being filled or hungry, experiencing abundance or being in need? There is a secret, and if anyone knew it you’d expect it to be Paul, who had experienced it all. Here it is: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” At first blush, it sounds kind of simple or perhaps even a non sequitur — how does that get me to contentment? But it is the real answer, and it clearly is a secret (since so many in our age are generally discontent). Trust in the Lord!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Lay aside the old self — Ephesians 4-6

Posted on January 26, 2012 by parklinscomb

There just seem to be some sections of the Bible that are full to overflowing in good stuff. Ephesians, especially chapters 4-6, is one of those spots. Again, I’m going to have a hard time paring things down to just a few things to comment on lest I compose a full-blown Ephesian commentary. Suffice to say that you’ve got a real gem for reading today; don’t neglect it, do absorb it, and let it change you.

Preserve the unity of the Spirit — Eph. 4:2,3

Chapter four could easily have started like Romans 12:1, “I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God…”, because it begins a practical application of the doctrinal matters that he just finished talking about — in this case the joining of Jew and Gentile into the new Israel, the new Temple of God. Unity was really important to God then and it remains important to God now. Consequently, Paul uses some specific words that apply to them and us:

  • walk worthy of your calling
  • with all humility
  • and gentleness
  • with patience
  • showing tolerance for one another
  • in love
  • be diligent

Of all these commands, I’ll focus on the last, “be diligent”. The word means to be alert, to work hard, to focus — on unity. It takes diligent humility, diligent gentleness, diligent patience, diligent tolerance, and diligent love to have biblical unity (which I’ll talk about in the next section here). Nothing short of this sort of diligence will really ever be successful — and that is why the world of Christendom is so today so fractured and divided! What if we were to be diligent in first of all appealing to the Scripture only (not to anyone’s creed, dogma, disciplines, or catechisms) to follow the Lord’s pattern; and then diligently sought humility (service), gentleness with each other, patience with each other, tolerance toward each other, and love. Unity really is possible, it just takes more diligence than we want to give.

One — Eph. 4:4-6

Lest there be any kind of question about what the Lord meant here about unity, Paul talks about it clearly. There should only be one body (church), just like there’s only one Holy Spirit. There’s only one hope (it’s not a buffet) — the resurrection of the righteous and Heaven — just like there’s just one Lord Jesus. And there’s just one faith (in this context this is referring to a set of doctrinal teachings that Christians must believe — found in the New Testament) and one baptism (the word means immerse, which was the practice of the first several centuries in Christianity, and is in Jesus’ name for forgiveness of sins, Acts 2:38), just like there’s only one Father God. And all this was being said, if you’ll remember, to a group of Christians that would have been happy having a Gentile church and a Jewish church; “It’s all really one,” they might have said. Paul profoundly disagreed. The present denominational world looks at the division that is Christendom and tries to put a happy face on it by saying that it’s really all one, but (as they say) denial is more than just a river in Egypt. That is not unity, not the way it is described here. We need to get diligent, don’t you think?

Lay aside the old self — Eph. 4:22-24

From here Paul continues with his practical application with the very practical matter of how one really gets serious and effective in changing one’s life. Paul illustrates by using clothing — taking it off and putting it on. The principle is deceptively simply and extremely effective, if we’ll really practice it — you must not only stop doing the sinful thing (putting off and laying aside), but you must also replace it with something good (put something else on)! That’s why they suggest eating 10 pounds of green beans on a diet (OK, I slightly exaggerated here). The principle is not merely to stop eating the high sugar things, but to start eating the better things — until you are full of the better things. Someone has well said that if we were to do ALL the thing that we’re supposed to be doing as Christian, we wouldn’t have time to do the bad. And that’s the principle right there in a nutshell. And from here on Paul gives a whole list of things to stop doing and the appropriate substitute:

  • lay aside falsehood — speak truth
  • don’t sin while your angry — so something positively about it immediately
  • don’t steal — work, make money, and give it away
  • don’t speak unwholesome things — say things that build others up
  • put away angry speech — say kind things, forgiving things

A cappella — Eph. 5:19

For over a thousand years Christianity worshipped God through a cappella music (singing without instrumental accompaniment). In fact, such singing became so identified with the church that the very word “a cappella” means “in the manner of the church”. Historically, the Catholic Church didn’t adopt instruments until AD1000. And protestant groups didn’t adopt instruments until the early 1800’s; famous protestant leaders like Luther, Wesley, Calvin, and others strongly opposed instruments in worship. And the reason is because of a word used here and in Colossians 3:16 — the Greek word “ado”, which means to sing without instrumental accompaniment. The proof of this truth is found not only in history, but also in the practice of most of the Orthodox Greek Church, who, of course, read directly from the Greek text. A cappella is the music that God, according to Scripture, prefers. Some would object that a cappella doesn’t sound good; I would answer, first of all, that is false, and second of all it doesn’t matter, if a cappella is what God wants. God’s ear is attuned to hearts and obedience not whether someone is singing on key or not.

Nobody’s a doormat — Eph. 5:21-33

As I premarital-counsel couples, I almost always get a bit of a “look” from the bride-to-be, when we start talking about the biblical teaching of who gets the last word in the home. We turn to Eph. 5:22 and read and I can almost visibly see her ears “switch off”. I once was told in a letter by a bride that I had ruined her wedding day, because I had made her say, “love, honor, and submit” in the vows; she was mortified in front of her friends. I told her that whether she said the words or not, God was still expecting her to do that — marriage is not a make-up-the-rules-to-suit-yourself affair; the rules are established by God and are non-negotiable.

The looks etc. probably come from the lie (usually coming from the liberation orgs. propaganda) that traditional marriage and traditional vows of submission make marriage into slavery — where the wife becomes the doormat. The truth is — and I always emphasize this — if everyone (husband and wife) is doing what their supposed to be doing, nobody is a doormat. That’s why v.21 is in there — submit to one another. Yes, a wife should submit to her husband and let him have the last word. But husbands are supposed to love their wives like Christ loves the church — a self-sacrificial love that has her best interests at heart always. Paul even puts it a second way for guys: we should love our wives like we love our own bodies and make sure that all our bodies’ needs are met — we get this illustration especially well. So when everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to the wife submits to her husband’s loving rule, because she trusts that he’s looking out for her and the family’s best interest.

By the way, the young woman who wrote wasn’t married long. Irreconcilable differences, I heard. I wasn’t surprised. And neither should any of us be, if we decide to do things our own way.

Stand firm — Eph. 6:11-17

The Christian armor passage has a lot to say to us, but the part that I wanted to focus on is 1) our enemy and 2) our job. We are not merely at war, we are in the war. The enemy seeks to take us down at every possible opportunity. He has recognized his ultimate defeat from God and that he cannot take down the church (God’s people), but is determined to take as many individuals as he can (Rev. 12:17). We must therefore, be wary, because he won’t come looking like a bad guy (2 Cor. 11:14,15). And secondly, our job is to stand firm. Ancient warfare was usually muscle against muscle and the expectation of the soldiers was to stand firm against the advances of the enemy. So also we need to stand firm against Satan, stand firm right where God has put us — in Scripture, in the pattern of the church, in unity, in teachings, in mission, in righteous living, in good deeds, etc. Stand firm.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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