Proof of Faith

The letter that James wrote has a lot to say about proving our faith, which begs the question… does our faith need to be proven?...apparently so. James illustrates two ways faith is proven.

The first is by successfully conquering temptation to sin (James 1:2-3). When the Christian is faced with temptation and refuses to sin he has completed one leg of the race.

The second way faith is proven is by faith inspired works (James 2:14-26). The scriptures are replete with examples of faithful people whose faith inspired them to perform so called “works” and those works are illustrated in great detail.

The section on faith and works is concluded by the statement “faith without works is dead”. You may have conquered sin but there is still more to do. No one wants to have dead faith or even weak faith. Our goal is to have strong, vibrant faith.

The body builder goes to the gym every day to lift weights. One day is “arm” day another is “leg” day… so forth and so on. Eventually his physical body is transformed to the image of Herculean strength.

The spiritual faith builder exercises his faith by working good works every single day. As he does so he is transformed and his faith gets stronger and stronger until he is shaped into the spiritual image of Jesus Christ.

Our faith is proven in two ways; by refusing to sin and by proving our love for others by providing for their needs. Follow that formula and you will be well prepared for eternity.

How Important is the Lord's Supper?

Ephesians 3:10-11.

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord”

When we consider the Lord’s Supper it’s important to understand its purpose. When we understand it’s purpose then questions like how it is observed and how often we take it can be answered easier.

Christians have assembly obligations… the Lord’s Supper is one of those. Certainly partaking of the bread and the wine reminds us of Jesus’ body and blood and all the things represented by those things including the establishment of the new Covenant.

However something else happens as suggested in the Ephesians text… God’s wisdom is on display to heavenly/spiritual beings… demonic and angelic.

Think about this, as we are fulfilling our assembly obligations, including the Lord’s Supper, Satan is furious and God is happy.

When Christians decide to stay home and neglect the assembly and the Lord’s Supper… Satan is smugly smiling and God is sad.

Our assembly obligations have significance to ourselves, to our fellowman and to spiritual beings in the Heavens.

How often should we take the Lord’s Supper? Apostolic example suggests weekly and that sounds pretty smart to me considering that every time we do... God's wisdom is on display.

"The Unity of the Spirit" Eph. 4:3

This is from a discussion list. Howdy, Rob Perkins here.

First of all when 100 plus translators choose to capitalize the “S” in Spirit I give that a lot of credence. I see that in Ephesians sometimes we see “Spirit" and sometimes we see “spirit". In 5:16, we see…”but be filled with the Spirit” however in the footnotes (AS) they say “or in spirit”. I think the lower case makes more sense in this passage but only mention it because in some cases the translators give an option. I respect options.

Of course the epistle was written because there were issues between greek and jewish Christians. Hence we see in 1:13, both groups had the commonality of being sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

In 2:18, both groups have access to the father in one Spirit, and are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

In 3:16, Paul prays that they would be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man.

All these texts have Spirit with the upper case “S” then we come to the text in question… “giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. I see no reason to suddenly decide to take issue with the translators and argue for the lower case “s”. I’m not sure there is a compelling reason to do so. Perhaps because the action is placed on the believer to “keep the unity”. However, a similar action is placed upon the believer when he is told to not “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”

We give diligence to “keep the unity of the Spirit” by “walking worthily” (4:1). Similarly we “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” (4:30) by also walking worthily, i.e., no bitterness, wrath, anger, etc.

I also suspect “Spirit” in 4:3 is capitalized because it is preceded by the definite article “the”.

Esau and His Birth Right

Most Bible students are familiar with the story of Esau. He was the oldest son of Isaac and Rebecca and as such was set to receive the “birth right” that his father (Isaac) had received from his father (Abraham). Of course that “birth right” was the great promise made to Abraham that through him and his heirs, “all nations would be blest” (along with the other promises).

Esau however traded his “birth right” for a bowl of red stew. The scripture says he “despised his birth right”. The Hebrew writer (12:16) describes Esau as godless.

Let me suggest that Esau’s despising of his “birth right” foreshadows the Jews despising of their “birth right” by their rejection of Jesus Christ.

Esau was so hungry for food (and didn’t at the time truly understand the value of his “birth right”) that he traded it off for a bowl of stew. He was godless and didn’t believe in the promise of God.

The Jews were so hungry for their position of authority in their nation that they couldn’t recognize the value of Jesus Christ and sacrificed him to maintain their position among the Jewish nation and the Roman Empire. They too were godless and didn’t believe in the promises of God.

Later in life Esau deeply regretted his hasty decision and begged his father with tears to receive the blessing of the “birth right” but it was too late. It was also too late for the ones who killed Jesus Christ.

The story of Esau also foreshadows events for us today. God still makes great promises to mankind. The wise will contemplate the great value of those promises and act accordingly. The foolish will reject them and chase after the pleasures in this life. What is it going to be… will we be wise or foolish? Learn the lesson of Esau. He is speaking to you and I.

Conquering Temptations

The letter written by James contains information on how Christians can be spiritually complete (which by the way should be the goal of every Christian).

Christians should be happy about temptations because the successful victory over temptations is proof of faith.

The author also defines those who fail at temptations. Those who are novices in their faith may have areas of weakness in their hearts that are simmering at a low level. If those areas are not extinguished and opportunity arises they can burst into flame and cause one to be spiritually burnt up.

The author identifies some of those temptations as “filthiness”, “wickedness”, “outbursts of anger”, “discrimination”, and “the love of money”.

I have a note section on my IPhone where I list every weakness that I think I have and every weakness that others have told me that I have (I also have a section on the positive things people have said about me).

I think and pray about those weaknesses and welcome opportunities (temptations) to defeat those things so I can be spiritually complete. I have confidence in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that assures me that God will not allow me to be tempted more than I can endure.

It’s a blessing when people say good things about you but it’s a greater blessing to hear the negative things.

We’re building a spiritual house both individually and collectively (the church) for a “dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21-22). Let’s make it the best it can be. It starts with conquering temptations.

Tearing Down Barns

In Luke 12:16-21, Jesus tells the story of a rich farmer who had a good year and harvested a big crop. The harvest was so big that he didn’t have room for it all so he decided to tear down his old barns and build new bigger barns. He also decided he was going to take it easy and enjoy his wealth and not work so hard.

God condemns him and sends him to his eternal reward. Jesus finishes up by saying, “So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

You see when I was a kid and read those verses I thought it was a sin to tear down an old barn and build a bigger, better one. That’s what I got out of that.

What the passage is really teaching is that the rich farmer should have given some of his wealth to help the poor and should have kept working to help even more. That’s how you are “rich toward God”… by helping his people. It’s not a sin to tear down an old barn and it’s not a sin to retire. It is a sin not to be “rich towards God (by helping those who are in need)”

I look back at some of my misconceptions about the Bible and shudder. Of course I was just a young man but it illustrates the need for teachers and mentors. It also illustrates God’s patience and about having the attitude of continual Bible study to perfect our understanding.

We should be very humble about what we think we know and always be willing to listen to and evaluate a different view point.

I hope I didn’t condemn anyone for tearing down a barn but knowing me… I wouldn’t be surprised.

Abimilech

Abraham and his wife Sarah moved into the region of Gerar in which Abimilech was king when Abraham was about 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old.

Abraham judged the people of the area as having no respect for God and worried that they would kill him to possess Sarah. So, worried for his own life, he asked Sarah to present herself as his sister. Sarah was indeed his sister (and wife) as they both had the same father (different mothers).

Abimilech, King of Gerar, sees Sarah and is apparently smitten by her great beauty and takes her. In those days and times Kings had all kinds of power and could take any single woman they wanted.

God prevents King Abimilech from having sex with Sarah because he knows Abimilech has a clear conscious and doesn’t want Abimilech to sin ignorantly. However, as punishment for this sin of ignorance, he prevents Abimilech’s wives and concubines from conceiving. Abimilech is in total ignorance of any of this until God visits him in a dream.

In this dream God tells Abimilech he is “as good as dead” because he had taken a married woman with the intent to have sex with her (commit adultery). God also identifies Abraham as being a Prophet with the ability to pray for Abimilech to keep God from killing him (he has a way out).

The penitent Abimilech, restores Sarah to Abraham. He tells Sarah, I am giving your “brother” 1000 Shekels of silver to cover the offense.

Abraham prays to God for Abimilech and God “heals” him.

Here are a few take aways…

God interacts in the affairs of mankind. He certainly did in this case and I see nothing in the scriptures to show that he has stopped.

You can be punished for sins that you are ignorant of. Be careful with your actions, someone may be manipulating you but you are still responsible to God for them.

The punishment can include a negative affect on the quality of your life and even death. If your life isn’t very good right now it may be due to some sin against God that he is punishing you for.

Abraham’s faith had not fully matured (even though he was a prophet). He was still afraid of what others could do to him. Your faith may not be very strong right now but don’t give up… it can get better.

Abraham was selfish, he was willing to sacrifice Sarah’s honor to protect himself. That’s pride… serving self and not others.

Abraham manipulated Sarah by asking her to do something wrong to demonstrate her love for him. A lot of men manipulate women by prefacing a request with “if you love me”.

Sarah allowed herself to be manipulated and her weakness almost caused an innocent man to be killed.

Abraham mis-judged people, he told half truths and concealed the other half, he manipulated his wife into a deception and he lacked faith in God.

God still loved and cared for him.

I suppose God revealed all of Abraham’s weaknesses as a message to you and me. God isn’t looking to punish his faithful people when we occasionally make bad decisions. It’s not a deal breaker for Him. What is a deal breaker is open rebellion against Him. When we make mistakes and sin we should recognize it, repent and strive to do better and not despair and give up. Have confidence in God… he is our Father.