skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Congregations are shaped by their teachers and preachers. Since most congregations have just one preacher then he has a tremendous shaping effect on the congregation where he preaches.
If that preacher is intellectually dishonest then the congregation has a tendency to be composed of those who have a low scriptural I.Q. or those who are apathetic towards the scriptures. Those who have a high scriptural I.Q or who truly care about God’s word won’t tolerate intellectual dishonesty and will look for another church.
Examples of intellectual dishonesty would include agenda based teaching. That is… having an opinion about something and gathering and massaging scriptures to support that opinion.
Here’s another… if there is a scriptural dilemma and both sides have merit, only present the side you agree with and ignore the other view.
When I was a young Christian (and had a low scriptural I.Q.) I would listen to the preachers and teachers and take their arguments and go out and wage war with the denominations. Some of the time, the arguments were leaky and wouldn’t hold water and I would stand there looking like a spiritual idiot holding an empty bucket. That’s because I was shaped by someone who was intellectually dishonest or scripturally naïve themselves.
The goal for congregations should be to honestly examine the scriptures and to encourage those with different views to speak up so those views can be considered. Otherwise we might end up with a congregation that is spiritually inbred and that ends up with severe and crippling spiritual defects and handicaps.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8.
Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. James 4:7
The Devil is a coward… always has been and always will be. He looks like a Lion to the weak but those who are strong know how to handle him. Boo Satan… run away.
In 1 Peter 2-3, we read of responsibilities that Christians have toward Government, Masters/employers and spouses. The section culminates with these words… “and who is he who will harm you if you are excited about doing good”.
God’s word does at least two things for us; it prepares us for heaven and it teaches a way of living so we can live peaceably on this earth.
The Government may oppress you but generally not if you respect their authority.
Masters/employers may oppress you but generally not if you are a hard worker.
Husbands may oppress you but generally not if you respect their authority and are subject to it.
Living a Christian life can protect you generally from the harm others may inflict upon you. In addition, the Christian way of life is a powerful tool and Satan is afraid of it because it leads other people to God and away from Satan. Satan... the cowardly Lion.
When Joseph was about 17 years old his brothers took him and threw him into a pit and conspired to kill him. At the last minute some slave traders came by and they sold him into slavery. Eventually he ended up in a land far away from his home and was sold to an Egyptian.
I’m sure Joseph was very emotionally troubled by all this and had a lot of questions. What had he done to deserve such treatment? What did the future hold in store and where was God in all this?
Twenty-two years later when Joseph was about 39 years old his brothers came to Egypt looking for food because there was none where they lived. Eventually Joseph revealed who he was to them. They were terrified at his power and how he might punish them. But that’s not what happened. Instead he told them…
“ Do not be distressed and angry with yourselves, because it was to save your lives that God sent me ahead of you…. it was not you that sent me here but God”.
Sometimes bad things happen to us and we have a lot of questions about how God our Father could allow such things to occur. Some even lose their faith in God. The faithful (like Joseph), while not understanding the reason for what’s occurring, never lose their faith and confidence in God.
Joseph’s attitude was that the troubles he was going through were for some greater purpose and he had that confirmed to him 22 years after he was sold as a slave.
The next time we are having some troubles remember Joseph and wait for something great to happen. God uses his people to achieve great things and he rewards them.
Joseph was a much favored slave in the home of Potiphar. He had been bought and paid for but because God and his blessings were with Joseph… Potiphar recognized Joseph’s abilities and elevated him to a level of friendship and partnership.
Somewhere along the way Potiphar’s wife recognized Joseph for other reasons and invited him to have sex with her. It must have come as a surprise to her that Joseph declined. My guess is that Mrs. Potiphar had never been rejected before.
In declining her offer Joseph tried to reason with her, he explained that her husband had been so good to him that he could not betray him and even more importantly could not betray God who had been even better to Joseph than Potiphar had been. But she was beyond reasoning. Every day she tried to entice him to have sex with her.
Lessor men would sooner or later have sex with her. That’s what she wanted why not give it to her? But Joseph believed in God and that belief propelled him to resist her and not be in a situation where he was alone with her. He was acting with his brain and not his hormones.
But one day Mrs. Potiphar set a trap for Joseph, she dismissed all her household servants and waited for Joseph to come in to attend to his duties. No doubt she was dressed in a revealing way and looked good and smelled good. Once more she grabbed his cloak to prevent him from leaving and begged him to go to bed with her but Joseph slipped out of his cloak and got away.
Realizing that despite her best attempts she would never have sex with Joseph she made up a story and accused him of attempted rape. If she couldn’t get him one way she would get him another way. And so Joseph went to prison.
I’m convinced that Joseph was no different than any other young man. He liked women and was attracted to what God had created for man but he also knew there was a line he could not cross.
Joseph is a great example for young men today. There is a class of women today who are very sexually aggressive whose only desire is to use their charms to achieve sexual victory over God’s people and over the spouses of God’s people… undoubtedly as agents of Satan.
Don’t sin against your body which is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Don’t sin against a husband and most importantly don’t sin against God who has done so much for us. Use the brains that God gave you and control yourselves.
