Friday, June 29, 2007

Philemon 1

Paul had a need for assistance while he was in prison, and he had the authority to keep Onesimus with him for that reason. Instead, though, Paul chose to send Onesimus to Philemon because of some previous arrangement. This tells us a couple of things about Paul. First, we learn that Paul is highly respected in the Christian community and he knows it. He doesn't come across as a snob, but he is definitely confident in his position. Second, it tells us that Paul prefers to put the needs of others ahead of his own even when his needs probably outweigh theirs. Instead of keeping Onesimus for himself, which would have been completely justified, he took Philemon's needs into consideration and sent Onesimus away.

Are we willing to give up something that we really need for the benefit of someone else? Are our relationships that important to us?

Colossians 4

How do we, in today's church, treat outsiders? In some cases, we do a great job of inviting them in and encouraging them to join the fellowship, but I think in many cases, the church appears to be a clique where acceptance is difficult. We tend to look down on anyone that is not already attending our churches as if they are somehow inferior just because they haven't been to our church before. We treat them almost as children that are nice to have around for a while and then send home rather than as human beings that are in need of love, comfort, and relationships.

I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I tend to shy away from talking to complete strangers, but what if I am the only person that can reach them? What then? Paul exhorts us to extend grace to those that are new to church and to season our speech with salt. I think he's meaning that we leave out all of our churchy, preachy vocabulary and just talk in a manner that anyone can understand and at a level where anyone can participate. If we do that, then we don't leave any bad taste in anyone's mouth and we are likely to be able to start building relationships.

It's a rare situation where someone finds Christ through a complete stranger. Generally, it's the result of a relationship, so make sure that you are open to making new friends.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Colossians 3

What a challenge! No matter what we do, we are asked to do it not only with all of our heart but as if we were doing it for God. How much different would our world look if everything were done as if we were working for God?

Me? I spend far too much of my time, I think, trying to make sure that the people I work for are pleased and not nearly enough time thinking about whether or not God will be pleased.

Colossians 2

It happens over and over again. So called Christians are not satisfied with the gift of God and a relationship with Him. They believe that you have to work at this and start to impose their own rules over the situation. Seemingly good, these rules almost always degenerate into judgments against one another and divide the body. How can that be good?

Paul reminds us that the real connection must be to God and that we should be focused on what He wants us to do. Why should we live our lives in fear of doing something wrong when we are already forgiven for our sins? Sure, we are going to sin, and God is going to forgive us. Why focus on that? That's such a bleak way to look at Christianity.

The legacy of a believer is not about the things that he didn't do but the things that he did. And when you are doing the things that God asks, you don't have time to do the things that you shouldn't anyway.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Colossians 1

God has rescued us from the darkness and given us redemption. At least, if you are a Christian, that is true. And the prayer that Paul has for us is that we can now live a life worthy of God's gift. Is that even possible?

I think probably not, but it's definitely worth a try. We cannot hope to please God on our own, but when we do the work of the Father, I think that we might have a chance. Does this mean that good works are a requirement of salvation? Absolutely not!

The result of salvation is an indwelling of God's spirit – the Holy Spirit. And the natural expression of that Spirit is good works that bear the fruit of the Spirit. When we become Christians, we will naturally want to do good works. Not the other way around; doing what the rest of the world considers good works does not make us a Christian.

So the real question is why are there so many non-believers out there that don't see the good works of Christians?

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Philippians 4

When you look around at the people living alongside of us, it seems no surprise when you someone struggling to make ends meet that they believe contentment will come with the next raise. It seems ironic to us, though, that someone with all the success in the world would still struggle with finding contentment. Paul says that he's been both in need and he's had plenty and he's found that the secret of being content doesn't have very much to do with what you have physically at all. It's all about Christ.

Can you be content to just know Christ and accept that sometimes you will have and sometimes you will want for physical things?

Monday, June 18, 2007

Philippians 3

Paul can recount, as can many of us, a litany of things that would make him seem qualified to preach the Gospel and by human standards qualify him for heaven. Paul, though, says that it is not any of that that matters. Without Christ, his achievements are no good. Without Christ, he would not be preaching the Gospel anyway. Without Christ, he would never find heaven.

Are we truly living with the understanding that it is only Christ that matters? Or are we caught up in the idea that we need to know more, do more, be more, and appear to be more? I think many of us want that appearance. I think that many people in the church want to look like good Christians more than they actually want to be good Christians, and those people are dangerous for the Gospel. Those are the ones that most damage the church when an outsider sees their behavior on Sunday as opposed to every other day of the week. Those are the ones that are the biggest challenge for others to overcome.

Philippians 2

One of the major themes of the New Testament seems to run in direct contradiction to our society: put others ahead of yourselves. Our country is founded on and values rugged individualism. We take care of ourselves and make our own way through the world. Yet this seems at odds with the example of Christ stepping down from heaven and giving up everything for us, and it seems particularly at odds with Paul's statement to "consider others better than yourselves."

Is our society completely upside down? Or are do we need to dig deeper into this passage? It's probably a little of both. The fact is that for many in our society there is but one focus: me. For those people, life is filled with the selfish ambition and vain conceit that Paul warns against, and while some of them will succeed for a while, most will have to realize that it's a futile effort if you are not building up others.

For the rest of us, we can see that our society, for all of its bluster about rugged individualism, wasn't really founded on the concept of working alone. Thrust into an untamed wilderness, the first settlers had little choice except to work together or starve. Later, as wagons moved westward, the best protection against the elements and animals was working as a team. So, although we talk about working alone, we are really meaning that we are trustworthy and reliable as individuals. We value the concept of being trusted to work alone, but we don't really expect people to work alone, in fact, we expect people to work together.

This is an important concept to understand because ties in with the "first shall be last" concept of Christ Himself. The best way to succeed is to help someone else succeed.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Philippians 1

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." What an awesome statement. How many of us can truthfully say that we believe that dying is gain? Not in the sense that we are suicidal, but just that we fully recognize the depth of the glory of heaven and the gain that we have by being there in constant communion with God. I think that most of us don't really recognize death as a gain, we are conditioned by our society, in spite of our Judeo-Christian heritage, to view death as something sad, and we are driven by our peers to obsess over earthly things rather than spiritual growth.

The really amazing thing is not that Paul made this statement while in prison. I think many people in prison would welcome the freedom of death. Especially if they were in a Roman prison; they would just be looking for some relief. The amazing thing is that Paul, fully recognizing the gain of heaven, also recognizes the job that is left for him to do here, but he doesn't see that job as something to hold to for personal gain.

Paul was one of the greatest heroes of the New Testament. A founder of churches and leader of the Christians. He could have chosen a life similar to that of a modern day televangelist. He could have had wealth, and followers, and people sitting around just looking for a reason to stroke his ego. Paul didn't want all of that, though, he only wanted to be with Christ, and he reluctantly accepted the fact that he needed to stay on earth to continue the work of Christ.

It's not that he didn't care for others and was selfish about wanting to go to heaven. He obviously cared a great deal about others. He just realized that as good as it was to be close to Christ on earth and doing the work of the ministry it was nothing compared to actually being in the presence of Christ.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Ephesians 6

Paul writes about slaves obeying their masters and masters treating their slaves properly. In the context of their culture, that makes perfect sense. Most of the Roman Empire was populated with slaves and those slaves supported the economy and technology of the time. In the present, we have outlawed slavery, but this same principle can be applied.

Although we are not strictly bound to a master, most of us do still work for someone much as the slaves of old did. Of course, we are free to change jobs generally at will and we are free to hire and fire our workers generally at will, but the principle of working for someone else is still in place. I think that this really cuts to the heart of the passage.

It's not about condoning or condemning slavery. It's about condoning the idea that we all work for someone here on earth and that we should all do that to the best of our ability. It's about recognizing the fact that many of us in management or higher levels of our companies have others that work for us, and we should respect them and treat them with dignity. Finally, it's about recognizing that even though hierarchical organizations and command structure are necessary here on earth, they do not exist in God's eyes. He sees us all as equally sinful and equally redeemed, so we should be careful to not be too prideful or too envious of our earthly situation.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Ephesians 5

In our hustle and bustle world, we go through life so quickly, that we tend to miss the opportunities that God puts right in front of us. How many times have you looked back on your day and realized that you completely forgot to pray or that you had a chance to tell someone about Christ and avoided it because you didn't have time? It happens more often than I would like to admit.

Paul admonishes that Ephesians here not only to avoid the sins of their society but also to identify those opportunities to share Christ. We don't have much time on this earth, so we must use what we do have to our advantage. Paul even goes so far as to say that a wise man will have his life in balance such that he can actually make the most of those opportunities and by extent, then, those of us that have other things in the way are foolish. Is your life in balance so that you can make time when opportunities to share present themselves? Is your life in balance such that when you share moral values with others they can trust you as being honest about your life?

Monday, June 11, 2007

Ephesians 4

As a church body, we each have different gifts and responsibilities. God has created this in His perfect plan, and when things are working together, then the system is really pretty cool. Unfortunately, we are not yet in heaven, so we can only approximate the perfect church in our sinful world, and that means that conflicts will arise and could distract from the perfect plan of God.

We are not supposed to pretend that conflict doesn't happen in the church or put on a false front that claims that everything is good when it is not. In fact, we are encouraged to truthfully deal with these conflicts and get them out in the open. Even so, we should also be aware that this could lead to anger. Sometimes conflicts cannot be resolved peacefully, and that is okay. It's okay to be angry.

"Be angry but do not sin." How is that possible? When you are angry at someone, do not cross the line into hate, do not cross the line into blaming and name calling, and do not let your anger simmer. If you are angry deal with it and settle the issue that day, and be sure that whatever words you speak are wholesome and designed to resolve the issue.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Ephesians 3

Paul's prayer for the Gentiles in Ephesus is that they would learn the truth of God and be able to enjoy their relationship with Him. Recognizing that they were not raised Jewish, he slowly introduces them to the idea that they are not an anomaly and that God has always planned to extend salvation to the Gentiles.

God created His chosen people, the Jews, for the purpose of communicating his presence, will, and nature with the world. He did not chose them solely for salvation. Recall that the first of the patriarchs were not even Jewish. Abraham and Isaac were not a part of any organized culture or religion, they just knew God. It wasn't until later that Israel was born and the Jewish religion was even later than that.

Somewhere along the way, the message was tainted and the Gentiles were believed to have no part in the inheritance of heaven, but Christ changed that and through revelation to Paul made it clear that the Gospel must be preached to the world. The question that we must ask ourselves after reading this passage is whether or not we believe that God can and will save anyone or if we try to keep the Gospel within our own circle of friends and make our judgments about who can and will be saved?

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Ephesians 2

We were created to do good works. As Christians, we are commissioned to do good works. We are not saved by those good works. It's important to make that distinction. Good works comes after salvation. It is the resulting action from salvation and not the cause. As a matter of fact, before salvation Paul says that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. We are incapable of actually doing any good works. We are made alive by the spirit and by God's grace, and once we are alive, we are capable of fulfilling our purpose to do good works.

Don't be confused with whether we have to do good works or not. We certainly do not have to do anything for salvation, but realize that the natural result of salvation is good works. So, salvation that is not followed by good works may not have been salvation at all.

Ephesians 1

Paul says that when he heard about the church at Ephesus, he immediately started praying for them. He praised God that they existed and prayed for God to help them survive as a church. How amazing it must have been to be so excited about the creation of a small gathering of believers. I've never really experienced that. We almost have a glut of churches in our society.

Everywhere I turn there's a church of one kind or another. Most are some flavor of Christianity, but some are for other things. The point being that if one went away or another appeared it really wouldn't impact me very much. Even if I heard of a new church in some distant land where there were not very many believers, it probably wouldn't impact me the same as it did Paul. It's just not a significant event in my mind when I've been so de-sensitized to the existence of churches.

My prayer is that I would recognize the struggling churches and the new churches being started all over the world and learn to pray for them and their growth as we all try to live out the Great Commission.

Romans 16

It is of the utmost importance that we recognize those that help us succeed. Paul spent much of his time travelling, preaching, and writing letters, and as such he is credited with building and nurturing many of the earliest churches in the world. Thankfully, Paul recognizes that he didn't work alone.

As he closes this letter, I am reminded to share my thanks with all of those that have helped me over the years. Some have helped me succeed in my job. Some have helped me succeed in ministry. Some have helped me be a better parent. Some have helped me be a better husband. And some have helped me have more fun. The point is that we are not alone, and we do not live in a vacuum. We work together with others every day, and we always need to remember the help that they provide in our success.

Romans 15

The strong take care of the weak. We all know this, but do we handle it correctly? Too often the strong help the weak for the purpose of either becoming stronger or just so that others can see them. The important focus of this passage is to recognize Christ's example in this. Christ, God as man, was the strongest of us all. He was able to withstand all temptation and was without sin. And He definitely used His strength to help the weak, but not so that He would be stronger and not so that others would see. He did these things so that the weak would be stronger. He did these things to build us up.

If you are stronger than someone else, then help them. But make sure that you are doing it in a way that is truly helpful to them and not in such a way as to help yourself through them. We are not called to take advantage of other Christians but to build one another up.

Romans 14

Even within the boundaries of what would be considered appropriate behavior, there are things that can cause us to sin. For example, there are no remaining boundaries on proper eating behavior, but someone that eats in place of a relationship with God is in sin. We all have to eat, and we can all eat whatever we want, and some of us even use eating as a substitute for a relationship with others. All of that is okay (not necessarily sociologically or dietary wise, but it's okay in terms of your relationship with God). However, if you replace your relationship with God with eating, then you have moved into an area of sin with something that is really not generally considered sinful.

Now, if you have that issue and must be careful with what and how you eat for fear of damaging your relationship with God, then who am I to tell you any different? And if I do not have that issue, then who are you to tell me that I need to be more like you? The focus is not on the action – the eating, not eating, or anything else – the focus is on your relationship with God, and if we both have that, then we are both right.

Be careful here, because this is not moral relativism. This is not saying that just because something feels okay to me makes it okay. It's not saying that just because something feels wrong to you doesn't necessarily make it wrong for me. This is strictly within the confines of things that are already established to be okay morally. Things that are outside of the moral boundaries are wrong regardless of how you feel about them, and those things always damage your relationship with God.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Romans 13

We are obligated to follow both God's law and man's law to the extent possible. When man's law contradicts God's law, then clearly God trumps man, but until that point, we must obey both. As such, we should also recognize that God is going to hold the rulers to a different level of responsibility for their actions. They are obligated to devote their time to the people, and if they do not they have failed God and the people. Regardless, this is not our judgment to make. We are simply commanded to give respect and honor to those that God has placed in charge of us.

Romans 12

God has put together the largest team in history and called it the church. Each of the players perform different functions as we race toward the end of time and the ultimate goal of completing His mission of spreading the Gospel throughout the world. And just like the fact that not everyone on a sports team does the same thing, not everyone on God's team does the same thing. Some of us are made to work within the team building each other up, teaching, and helping to counsel those that have fallen. Some of us are made to stand on the front line preaching directly to those that are unbelievers or have never heard the Gospel. Some of us are made to stand between the two working closely with Christians and helping to nurture those that have heard the Word but have not yet made the commitment.

Wherever you are on this team, it is important, and without your position the team would fall apart. Don't think that those that preach are the most important or that those who travel to foreign countries are the most important. Without the support of those that teach and counsel and disciple, the preachers and missionaries would be no more than voices in the wind.

When we start to believe that some positions are more important than others, then we begin to grow envious of one another and we start to fight internally. Our Gospel is peace and love and salvation for man, how effective can that be when the observations from outside reveal internal strife, tension, and aggression? Learn to live in peace with others and allow the Lord to straighten out the details.

Romans 11

The Hebrews are God's chosen people. However, God chose to remove some of them and allow Gentiles to be brought into His family because of the unbelief of the Hebrews. At present, the Gentiles seem to have the market share on Christianity and many of us seem to believe that we have become God's chosen people. We've forgotten the history of this story. The Hebrews are still God's chosen people.

Let's not be arrogant about our position in the family of God. Sure, we are Christians. Sure, we are part of God's family. Sure, we are saved. Remember, though, that God was willing to cast off a portion of His chosen people and bring us (the Gentiles) in to their place. If that is the case, then what concern does He have for Gentiles who choose not to believe? We must stand in awe and humility when we realize that position that grace has afforded us in the family of God.

God choose as He wills, and He has chosen to show His mercy and grace to those of us that are Christians. This is not something for us to boast about or to be proud about. This is simply something for us to be grateful in, awed by, and humbled through. Thanks be to God for saving me.

Romans 10

Like so many "Christians" today, the Israelites were excited about serving God. They went to temple, said their prayers, memorized scriptures, etc. Like many "Christians" today, they understood the awesomeness of God and had such devotion to Him that they could make a true Christian question his own reverence. But it wasn't enough, and it's still not enough today.

Being excited about God and reverent to God is great, but God is not interested in that as your primary focus. God is interested in your relationship with Him and your acceptance of His Son as your savior. If you pass on the salvation and the relationship, then you've created a situation where you are trying to judge yourself through your zeal for God. You've exchanged the opportunity to actually be made righteousness for the illusion of righteousness. Don't try to make your own righteousness. Trust God and accept His Son so that you can truly be righteous.