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During that short spell when we weren’t assembling because of COVID I found out I could get a lot done and getting things done is my love language. I didn’t have to prep for an assembly. I could be outside doing what I do then come in for about an hour and watch services on line, take our Lord’s supper and then go on doing the things that I do.
I could even watch on line services at any time of the day. How convenient and how easy and how much more productive I was doing my Rob-things.
I could still do that because we still have on line services.
In our Veterinary business I’ll see a client who is really attached to a pet and ask them if someone offered them $10,000 for their pet would they take it? Of course they wouldn’t and neither would I.
And you couldn’t pay me $10,000 to stay at home and watch church services on line either.
You see I missed my fellow members,the smiling happy faces, the kids playing in the courtyard, lifting up of our voices in song, the prayers… all the things we do TOGETHER!
Imagine if you were in Heaven living in one of the many mansions and you were flipping channels on your heavenly TV trying to find the channel with Jehovah on his throne instead of being with Jehovah?
Here’s the facts I wouldn’t take a million dollars for one of our pets or take a million dollars (from Satan) to miss services. There… I said it.
What would happen if you saw a handicapped person hobbling around and you criticized them for being too slow or getting in your way and you talked bad about them yelled at them? That wouldn’t seem right would it?
What about folks who have behaviors that are annoying like those with quick tempers or who have the habit of blaming others for their own mistakes or laziness or complainers, etc.?
I tend to think of folks with behavior issues as also being handicapped.
Maybe life has handicapped them emotionally and they are a product of their experiences. Maybe they can’t help themselves for their behaviors and it won’t do a bit of good if we call them names (morons, idiots, etc.) or even think of them in terms like that.
Here’s the thing… we may not be able to heal the physically handicapped but God’s word can do wonders for the emotionally crippled of the world. That healing process begins with his doctor/soldiers having the right attitude.
Even if the emotionally handicapped can’t be healed... can we blame them and treat them poorly for a handicap?
Galatians 6:1, “Brothers. If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness…”
So the question is what is meant by a “spirit of gentleness”?
A spirit of gentleness might describe Priscilla and Aquilla’s action of correcting the teaching of Apollos (Acts 18:26). They took Apollos to the side and explained.
One example closer to the context of Galatians was by the writer himself.
Paul upon seeing the Apostle Peter’s sinful conduct didn’t waste any time and “opposed him to his face”… not just explained as in the case of Apollos. Paul addressed his fellow Apostle in a public fashion before all... not in a private fashion as was done with Apollos. (Galatians 2:11-14)
So this thing about “restoring in a spirit of gentleness” is a truism and generally what we should do. However circumstances might modify our action of restoration.
For instance was this the first occurrence of a sin or the one hundredth?
In such cases gentleness would be the aroma for the first effort but somewhere along the way sterner stuff is going to be required or our efforts are going to have the stench of futility.
No one patches old clothes with a piece of fabric from new clothes because it destroys the new clothes and doesn’t look good on the old clothes.
No one puts new unfermented wine in an old wine container because as the wine ferments and expands it will destroy the old container and the wine will be spilled and lost.
New unfermented wine must be put into new containers that are designed to expand when the wine ferments and expands.
The old clothes are the Mosaic Law. You don’t tear up the Law of Jesus Christ (the Law of Love) and use it to try to patch and fix the Mosaic Law. You ruin both that way. Get rid of the old garment and wear the new garment.
The new unfermented wine is the Law of Jesus Christ. It can’t ferment and taste good if it is stored within the container of the Law Of Moses because the Law of Moses is too small to contain the Law of Jesus Christ.
The container of the Law of Moses was the nation of Israel
The container of the Law of Jesus Christ is the whole world. And thats’s a wine that tastes far superior to the wine of the Law of Moses.
So don’t try as some tried to make the Law of Jesus Christ a patch on the Law of Moses and don’t try to hem Jesus in with the Law of Moses because he’ll just naturally break out.
Let Jesus be unique like he is and let him stand on his own.
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Put on the dandiest garment there is and taste the drink that tastes like no other.
I was talking to my son-in-law the other day and he said on the way home from church he was quizzing the kids about the Bible. Finally my six year old grandson said “let me ask you one” and asked… “what day of the week did the whale spit Jonah out?”
When I heard that I was amazed that a six year old would ask the kind of question that I had never even thought of before. And especially amazed since that information (day of the week) was not included in the Bible record.
But then I remembered that Jesus said this…
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet” (For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth). “The men of Nineveh will rise in the judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:39–41)
Perhaps as Jesus was in the grave three days and then was raised on the first day of the week that perhaps Jonah also three days in the belly of the whale was delivered out on a Sunday.
