Mediation for the day.

In my Greek class, we are working through 1 John. I started reading it more throughly from the Greek. I was in 1 John 3:14. The ESV reads, "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death."

The last part the verse struck me. I translated the Greek, "He who loves not remains in death."He remains there because he has not crossed over, or as the ESV reads pass over, from death. The one who does not love is still in their sins. Verse 15 confines the thought with "everyone who hates their brother is a murder." This connects hate with Cain. Those that hate are like Cain. This is a powerful statement and one that we should not pass by to quickly. As Christians, the way we treat other Christians show our devotion to God.
In what ways to we hate each other? This could be as simple was trying to be better then a fellow members. It could be seen as easily as not helping when someone is in need. Remember of you have hated, Jesus stands to forgive you (1 John 2:2).

Why Death is Better than Birth?

Today in my devotions, I was reading Ecclesiastes 5-8. As I was reading felt the need to understand better what Solomon is telling is in Ecclesiastes 7:1-5. He writes,

1 A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad a heart may be happy. 4 The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure. 5 It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man Than for one to listen to the song of fools. (NASB)

This is not a up lift piece of the Bible but it does spread light into how we should look at our lives. Solomon ended chapter 6 talking about wisdom and fools. This leads to the 7:1 in say that a name is better that ointment and death is better than the beginning of life. This asks the question of why a funeral is better than a birth? This question is answered in verse 2b, "Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart." It is when someone dies that we realize that life ends. One day, we will be like the one that has not breath in their lungs. Psalm 90:12 connects this notion of realizing our days. The Psalmist says "So teach us to number our days/ that we may get a heart of wisdom." It is this reality that makes people more effective for God. It is understanding that I can not get caught up wasting time. This also means that taking a day of rest will help sustain life in the Lord. To stop work and rest in Lord to be refreshed until the final rest comes when Christ brings the new heavens and new earth. 

The Art of Debate and Why I Get no Where with It.

I finished a debate. It went nowhere quickly, but that's getting ahead of the story. So I once made a facebook post about a very minorly controversial topic, which proved to be very emotionally charged when discussing with a friend of our family who is a believer. In a series a responses to that post, a sparring debate was lit over whether or not preaching about sin in churches was condemnation without love. To me, the need to preach about sin was very obviously the correct view, but I soon learned that my friend was driven by much more than just logic, and as I later view this post, I see that I was too. After a few, yet quite lengthy rounds of argument (all publicly displayed, I might add), I became exceedingly frustrated that my friend did not see the same truth I did. I pulled out of the argument in a way that might seem like a cop-out. I just claimed that my ideas must not be understandable because my explanations are not always the clearest in writing. Anyways, here are a few lessons that I have learned about debating on Facebook from this experience:

1. When using theological terms, explain.: In this post I used the term "antinomianism." That is a belief that one can continue to sin without regard of the holiness of God thinking that grace will pardon their sin. However, I did not clearly explain this to my friend when I tried to show them how antinomianism quickly becomes legalism. My failure to explain left my fried at loss. I then become an arrogant person by showing off my great knowledge. This is obviously not what I want to display as a Christian because it is a very prideful action.
2. Read other posts carefully before re-posting: After reading this debate again in preparation for make this blog post I realized that I should have replied with a completely different argument. I originally chose to debate the purpose of the law, but upon review, I see that I should have gone a different route by saying that people don't like hearing about sin because they enjoy their sin and do not want to repent.
3. Do not get emotionaly attached to the need to win: It is not about winning the debate. As much as this debate dealt with sin, righteousness, and the gospel, my tactics should have been loving and I should have depended on the Holy Spirit to convict and bring repentance. I focused too much on logical arguments and tended not to let the Holy Spirit convict my friend.
4. The point is to glorify God: This debate all together felt like a failure to me and I believe the root cause was my lack of love. This must be the hardest to write because it deals directly with my sin: my failure to love and spur another Christian towards love and good deeds. I could be off base with this a little but I am pretty convicted about it. I guess I get emotionally worked up about arguments like this because they seem to be an attack on the gospel, which I love. However, my friend must also have been worked up about it because they were holding their ground. Though I may have been right, when the debate became emotional, I automatically lost.

I think that those 4 points explain pretty well why I did not get anywhere with this debate. At the end of the day, it just felt futile. This could have been because of my pride. I felt like I should have won  because I have the truth, based on the Word of God through a line of godly people that openly proclaimed it.Don't get me wrong, I still believe that we should contend for our faith, but let's just say I've learned a lot about how to contend in love. So ends this post.

Holiness is Happiness

"Her ways are ways of pleasantness--and all her paths are peace!" Proverbs 3:17

The Satan-deceived world imagines that godliness is a thing of gloom--rather than of gladness; that it is something which the saints endure--rather than enjoy. On the contrary, holiness is happiness!

It is neither the mirth of the fool, nor the giddy gaiety of the thoughtless--but a "peace which passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7), and a heart-satisfaction not to be found elsewhere! So far from piety robbing us of freedom, it conducts into true liberty--delivering from the bondage of sin. Christ's yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

God has established an inseparable connection between holiness--and happiness; between our pleasing Him--and our enjoyment of His providential smile.

Worldly mirth is at best evanescent--but the delights of holiness are eternal.

Only the One Who made us--can truly content us!

This quote is from Arthur Pink. Today it served as my devotional piece. As I reflect on this piece, I notice that I have thought that. Some how, I thought, I must be holy (on my own power). It was something I had to endured. God would reveal my work-righteousness but His mercy and grace. Now that I have understood more about the work of Christ Jesus, I see the pleasures of obeying God. It is no longer something that I feel tied up in. It is freedom and peace that cannot be know by any heathen.

God has been working on me to desire Him more, to find pleasure in Him, and to serve him with His strength. It has been, at times, like a miracle that I finished some of my papers. Now as I reflect on how this short work trip in Spain is going. I see the amazement of God working in my life. I have desired to prayer more, I have more of a desire to learn about Him through His word and through other godly men that have written about Him. This is all happen as I try to live a holy life with the power of God. I am not saying that I am at a perfect happiness because I am not. But I am happier to serve God and to obey His rules and to serve Him. Sola dei gloria.

Meditations on 2 Timothy 1:8-14

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”
(2Ti 1:8-14 ESV)

This passage of Scripture starts a couple of theme that will be played throughout the rest of 2nd Timothy. This themes are suffering and following doctrine. The section starts with a “therefore,” therefore before I start with this section I will summarize the last section to help start understanding this section. Verses 3-7 talk about faith of Timothy. In verses 3-4, Paul mentions that he never forgets Timothy or his faith, Verse 5, Paul mentions Timothy’s grandmother and mothers and a claim that Timothy has the same faith. Verse 6 Paul tells Timothy to grow the gift that God has given to him because of his faith. Finally in verse 7, Paul mentions that God has given a spirit of power, love, and self-control to Paul and Timothy instead a spirit of fear.

With that now in our minds, it is the spirit of power, love, and self-control that in mind when Paul writes “therefore” in verse 8. So when Paul mentions to Timothy that he should “not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,” it is based on these spirits that Paul mentions in verse 7. Not only is not to be ashamed of these testimonies, Paul instructs Timothy to share in the sufferings for the gospel. Both Jesus suffered and Paul is suffering for the gospel. Jesus’ suffering was to ransom sinners to God, which is what makes the gospels. Paul is suffering for the spread of the gospel.

This suffering is according to the power or ability of God. In the Greek text, the word translating “by” is “kata” meaning according to. This means that God is actively involved with the suffering. It also shows that the suffering for the gospel is done with the ability of God. So God gives the spirit of power, love, and self-control in order for Paul to suffer on the strength of God and now Paul is instruction Timothy to do the same.

I am going to stop here and lets think about how this knowledge can impact our lives. Now here in American, we do not have to worry to much about suffer to the point of dying but there are other suffering that Americans do have. I have a friend who suffers because he is standing for the gospel at a church that has watered it down. He suffers at home because he wants to go street witnessing but his wife is also caught in the modern day evangelical nonsense of people can only be saved in a church. Even though my friend is suffering and at this time I can not think of a time i suffered for the gospel, this passage hits both of us. It tells me not be ashamed of God. Jesus talks about this when he tells His disciples that they should not fear man but fear God. This is the play out of that understanding. God has given us Christians the power to overcome suffering and to overcome being ashamed.

I can tell you right now, that I am ashamed of the gospel currently in my work place. I work with a guy who walked away from Christianity because he was taught the gospel. He sees people with zeal and with no knowledge preaching at him yet they commit grieves sins. I have yet to preach the gospel to him. He needs it just like I needed and still need today. So I am ashamed to give the gospel because I feel that it will ruin a relationship. My pride here is what stops the gospel from spread (which means I have sinned). So in this little verse, there is some much that I need to change because God is in control. I should be willing to suffer a lost of a relationship and have tensions at work. It will this suffering that will put on display God’s power. So it is when I trust in God for his power, that I will not be ashamed of the testimony of Christ. The theological point here: Suffer for the gospel because God has given to the Christian His power to be with them.

Meditations on 2 Timothy 1:1

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus."

What a great verse to think about. As always when doing a Bible Study, one should observe the text. Notice right away that the verse has 4 sections: An...by...according to...that. The first section is fairly easy to observe. Christ Jesus describes the word apostle by narrowing down to whose apostle. The Greek text is without a definite article before apostle. Which could mean either "an" or "the" apostle. The Bible shows that Paul was not the only apostle of Jesus so "an" is a better fit.

The next section starts with "by." The word "by" is a representation of dia in the Greek. The main action of the conjunction is through. It was through God's will that Paul would become an apostle. The New Living Translation has a better phrase to understand this. It says, "chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus." Also "will" is defined as God's will which sets it apart from Paul's will. This shows that God had ordained Paul for apostleship before it happened because was part of His plan.

The 3rd section talks about the promise. The promise is more defined by “the life.” Paul’s calling to an apostle was to fulfill the promise by proclaiming it. This is found in the conjunction “according to.” Commentartors mention that according to should be viewed as the purpose of Paul’s ministry. So Paul’s purpose is to fulfill or proclaim the promise of life. In other words, Paul is telling Timothy that God selected Paul to proclaim the promise of life. The promise of life is not this present life by the life that God gives in eternity, which proclaimed through the gospel. Paul’s whole ministry was to proclaim the gospel to lost souls. Giving the lost souls an opportunity to be saved by God to have life for eternity. This life was lived out by Paul when Luke describes the travel of Paul through Acts.

The 4th section is about where that promise of the life is. The verse tells us that the promise of life is in Christ Jesus. The promise of the life is given to those who have repented and trusted in Christ. The promise of the life is heard through the gospel which is centered around the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That is why the promise is in Christ. It was Christ that defeated death so those who believe will have eternal life.

I know that I could go deeper and I might edit and go but here is the point. Paul’s life as a Christian was ordain by God for the furthering of the gospel. He did not choose to be a apostle but God selected him. The same is true for us today. God select us for our ministry to further the gospel of Christ by His will. This does not mean to be an apostle but through other gifts that He gives. Our task though is to become obedient to the call of being faithful witnesses. This is done by denying our own will and accepting God’s plan.

An example in my life of this is street witnessing. God has given me an able to teach and overcome a fear of man (sometimes) to proclaim Christ on the street. I do not like talking to strangers but for some reason God has given me the gift When I do witness to people, I do not stumble when preaching the gospel and I am able to defend to gospel. This is totally based on God’s grace.

To Him to be Glory:

Solus Christus!

Spring Break

It is Spring break time. Look for some posts from me.