CHOOSING OUR LOYALTIES

Titus 2:4, 5
(4) . . . so that [the older women] may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, (5) to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

The Bible uses a woman as an example to illustrate loyalty. She is to keep her loyalty in one place, to the people God defines as important to her. This loyalty takes the first precedence over other places which might side-line or even oppose her family and children.

We can only be truly loyal to one place, not several. When there are different simultaneous requirements to several loyalties, we must choose one and let the others fall aside. What are other loyalties? They can include work outside or inside the home, her birth family like her mother father brothers sisters etc. They might be her friends, her ardent beliefs such as politics or perhaps a different church.

There are no exceptions. As the Bible says, if a husband is to "love his wife as himself" he also must have the same kind of loyalty, or better, toward his wife and family.

PEOPLE TURN AWAY

It seems that Christianity will be a challenging work, at times without a lot of reward. Some people will turn away.  This will be because some people will not accept good doctrine, they would rather follow their own lust. At such a time it is good to read 2 Timothy 3 and 4 to see that this is expected and understand that the good Christian must continue as God instructs.

Those others will turn away their ears from the truth to fables. People will want to hear any other thing than the Word of God.  Their ears will "itch" for such things.  Among those may be two kinds that turn away: those that never were taught what God has to say, that grew up with parents or conditions that were away from God; and those that have heard and know what the Word of God says but choose to walk another way.

Why is this so? Perhaps it is because God's way does not always guarantee immediate gratification of certain things. Some things take work and persistence.

But does anything worthwhile come without effort?

RECENT PAINTINGS

These are the latest pictures I painted and gave to my boys:

 

 

PUSHED OUT

We see from Exodus 1 that Pharaoh wants to subdue the Hebrews, but he does not consider expelling them. Verse 10 says: “Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, otherwise they will multiply, and in the event of war, they will also join those who hate us, and fight against us and DEPART FROM THE LAND.” [emphasis added] Why did he not want them to “depart from the land? I speculate they brought value to Egypt that the Egyptians either did not have or did not care to develop.

The initial Hebrew, Joseph, had come to Egypt because his own brothers hated him and would have killed him or sold him into slavery. However, because of his character and work ethic he rose in Egypt to position and importance wherever he was; either as a servant or as a prisoner or as second in command to Pharaoh. He always did the best he could for whoever "owned" him. The “owners” prospered because of Joseph’s service; they liked what Joseph did for them. Because of Joseph in Pharaoh’s service Egypt not only was saved from famine but also prospered. Pharaoh brought Joseph’s family to Egypt and gave them land. All were content.

Apparently for a long time the Hebrews were no threat or irritation to the Egyptians because they not only stayed in the land but multiplied. The Egyptians were agreeable to this because the Hebrews were content to stay in the land. There was nothing reported in the Bible about any Hebrew discontent or rebellion. I would guess the Egyptians enjoyed the food stuffs, crafts, and skills the Hebrews brought with them.

Eventually a Pharaoh that “did not know Joseph” (see verse 8) becomes worried about the Hebrews because of their sheer numbers. Ignoring that the Hebrews had been among them for a great while he worries they will side with an enemy in the event of a war. He ignores that they had apparently never showed any signs of discontent or rebellion. He decides to put them under hard tasking; in other words, they became slaves. Even though the Hebrews are oppressed they still do not rebel or leave. I am curious why the Pharoah did not think this drastic change in Egyptian attitude would not make the Hebrews favorable to leaving

And that, under Moses and through God’s help, is just what they did.

MYSTERIOUS WORDS

I finished one of C. S. Lewis’ books last light: THE FOUR LOVES. I did not understand a lot of it. It looks as if he just writes out what he is thinking in his mind. The sentences tend to be long having many commas and parenthetic phrases. Some of the sentence phrases contradict other phrases within the same sentence. For example: “While I say this, and I am not saying that, we must realize the other thing is happening.”

Part of my problem is I sometimes skip over an important word. It may be a small word like “not” which reverses the meaning of the sentence.

I found I had to read slow, moving my lips, and saying “period” when I came to one. Even then I would not understand what I just had read.

The back cover of the book said Lewis was a brilliant, important man. It must have been intended only for other brilliant, important men.

POSITIONING BY TRADITION

2 Timothy 1
God has a plan for us, a calling, according to his own purpose. God has had a plan for us which in was in place before we ever started to plan our own lives. It was in place "before the world began". Paul was called to be a preacher, apostle, and teacher of the gentiles. Paul served God "from his forefathers". The tradition of serving God came to him from his family. His father served God, his grandfathers served God, his nation served God. Paul grew up in a family that served God. Timothy also had a line of faith starting with his grandmother Lois. The tradition of serving God makes it easier for us to serve Him.

Some of where we are in life will be because of God's positioning. The more we have been sensitive toward God, the more likely we have not disturbed the positioning God has made for us. The more self-centered and worldly we have been, the more likely we have made the position less effective.

How can we know what God’s positioning is for us? We can know by:

-- the word of God
-- prayer
-- opportunities
-- observation
-- words and examples from other people

As Paul said, Timothy had "that good thing" - - whatever that was. Maybe God is not specific about what Timothy's gift was so that the book of second Timothy can be applied to all believers. In other words, this is not just a personal note from Paul to Timothy, this is a note to all of us. Let us all daily consider our positions. Even if we do not come from a tradition like Paul or Timothy we still have a position. Are we doing a good job? Where could we do better?

SERVING STICKS

God (Jesus) washed the disciples' feet and said, "as you have seen me do, so should you do to one another ". But this is not actually true, has not God always been the master and not the servant? Was it not his creation to use and protect as he pleased? Yet he gave it to his created beings to use. He provided for them. He overlooked many insulting and grievous transgressions against him.

What do we do? Like Him we create; we take sticks of wood and construct a house. Then we become concerned over the house. The house becomes our protection, it is our peace giver, it is our thing of beauty, it is our future, it is our life giver. We forget the source of us and all that we use. We forget who made the trees, the metal ores, the materials for concrete, paint and glue. We forget our creator.

We do not realize the house is not serving us, we are serving the house. We have come to worship the house. God serves us and provides for us, but he remains God. We are never, were never, and will never be God. How can we forget God and serve a pile of sticks. Can we not remember: "as you have seen me do, so should you do to one another."

WHAT ARE DOCTRINES

Much of our understanding of the Bible is based on teaching, and teaching is based upon doctrine. Doctrine is a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school. In Christianity doctrine is a systematic way men have that describes what the Word of God says about a certain topic. We can think of a doctrine as represented by a window through which we look at a portion of the Word of God. One window may open on one area while another views a different area. Each window looks at a different area; Some windows cover only their own area while other windows overlap the area other windows also view. Some larger windows can include smaller windows.

One doctrine may be about marriage, another about Creation, another about proper and improper conduct.

There are elements within the Word of God that can be taken and used as building blocks for doctrines. Yet doctrines taken individually cannot represent all of what the Word of God says to us. Some doctrines can use one or more elements of other doctrines. It is possible many doctrines linked together can approximate much of what the Word of God says.

The Word of God is always larger than the efforts of men to classify or explain it. Given the limitations of our flesh, God has told us (mankind) more than we can comprehend, understand, or explain.

In the world of technology by comparison: no single man can comprehend fully all the knowledge wrapped up in a microchip. God has made His Word greater than microchips.

Doctrine classifies and simplifies God’s word so that we can understand and apply it to our lives. Trouble comes when doctrines take what God said simply and makes it so complex that men become discouraged or go wrong. Trouble also comes with the notion that God's word is so complex that men must simplify it by doctrine for doctrine can be wrong, either partially or wholly.

Some doctrines help us, and others hurt. We must carefully weigh what each proclaims. To do the weighing we need scales, and the only true scale is the Bible.

FAITH – MIND OR FEELING

Is our faith a matter of the mind only or is there some feeling mixed in with it? Some charismatics look for the feeling/experience alone. The legalistic look for teaching only from the Bible and refuse feelings. When the Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight, does that mean we must set aside the feeling and recall from our minds what God said in walk that way? What feeling could there possibly be that would be a reason or justification enough to go against God's word? What if I don’t know enough about God’s word to challenge a feeling -- or accept it?

What if sermons can be rated as to worth, say from $1 to $2, When a preacher could preach a $2 sermon, what does it mean when he preaches $1.80 sermon? Do I have to add to it $0.20 from my own storehouse so that it can be a balanced sermon? What if the preacher delivers a $2.00 sermon, do I do damage it when I add $0.20 to it? What if this happens Sunday after Sunday? What about the parishioners who don't have anything to add? What do they do?

The way I define faith, at least religious faith, is very simple: I choose to believe something and do not require any proof. I believe God exists; I do not need to prove it. I believe the Bible is the written word of God; I do not need to prove it . Some choose to believe there is no God. Some believe the Bible is merely the work of men. We all have the agency, the power, to choose what we believe. When your life in the flesh is over (and the day is coming when it will be over) what can you do when you find there is a God, there is life after death and there is a judgment?

INSTRUCTIONS

The Bible is not the only place to obtain good instructions. We also can get our instructions from other people, godly people, as well as the scripture.  God has many ways to teach us, but it is not always easy going. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul told Timothy to be strong in the things he heard from Paul as well as in the grace of Christ Jesus. It is hard to work to keep on the true course. Along the way we must (like Timothy and Paul): endure hardness, keep from entanglement, strive lawfully, suffer trouble, endure all things. As we meet others we should: put them in remembrance, give them a charge, challenge them to study. We all need to shun profane and vain babblings, depart from iniquity. As best we can we need to recover from hurts from bad thinking, we should flee youthful lusts, follow righteousness, avoid ill-conceived questions. We should not strive, but be gentle, meekly instructing others as we have opportunity.

Be cautious of: "words that are to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers, profane and vain babblings". Bad words will eat like a canker. We must be aware so we can identify, avoid, and fight against false teaching. Yet we should not jump down the throat of everyone that says something wrong. We should attempt to achieve a right understanding in line with God's principles.

Then we can be a means of changing those who want to be godly. If they won't change, we should avoid them and take steps to protect the innocent, if necessary.

THE IMIGRANTS OF THANKSGIVING DAY

We can be thankful for the Christians who wanted religious freedom and left England to come to this land to gain the liberty. In a way, we can also be thankful for the Church of England which was then repressing them. Were it not for this grouping of churchmen who had grown used to their organization of ecclesiastical power, the other groups – the Pilgrims and Puritans – would not have sought freedom from them. And we can be thankful the emigrating groups were not dominated by those whose sole purpose was to gain riches, control, and power.

READING AND LISTENING TO THE BIBLE

There are many ways to go through the Bible beside actually reading it, for example: audible Bibles.  Many versions are available at Amazon.com. I recommend any audible version without music or sound effects. I hate those. The “extras” are not needed and distracting. In audio Bibles there are many different readers to choose from.

You have options of many different versions: KJV and others. We are currently using the NKJV (New King James Version). It uses less old English words (like thee and thou). Make sure you use a translation, preferably by a group of people, not a single person. A group keeps individual biases to a minimum.

Commentaries are not needed. God says what he means and knows how to say it. You can understand the Bible for yourself. Sometimes (and not often) it takes a while to catch the meaning. Sometimes after many readings. Sometimes another person’s opinion helps (but remember it is only that person’s opinion). Avoid someone who just paraphrases what he thinks the KJV says; it needs to be a translation from the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.

My wife and I have been reading together for 47 years. You must start somewhere. You really can’t get past “Day One” (just starting to read - or - listen). As far as the actual place to start, I started at the gospel of John. As a new Christian the Old Testament was difficult for me. Yet you need the Old Testament to understand the sacrifices, religious seasons and history. A regular reading place (like a room, or the kitchen table) and a regular time are really helpful. We read for 47 years that way. 

 You will never reach day 17000 without starting at day 1.

DISCERNING THE LEADERS

2 Timothy 3
In first and second Timothy Paul has been instructing Timothy as the new pastor of the Ephesian church. He is warning him of the presence of evil men there who may be influential in the congregation. He tells him to turn away from such people. He reminds him to take the example of the manor of life and leadership Timothy saw in Paul when he was with him.

The descriptions of bad men fit well some of the current day church people. It seems to me that the list can apply equally well to lofty legalists and flamboyant charismatics. Aberrant charismatics are more open and easier to see than those hiding behind a prim, stony exterior. These have the "form of godliness but deny the power thereof". We are warned:

". . . evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them . . ."

And here was the key for Timothy (and for us):

". . . and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." [2 Timothy 3:13-17]

We, like Timothy, should continue in the things we have learned from scripture and from other good and reliable sources. This is how we get to know basic truth, by continuing in things we have learned, tested, and proved. We shun the bad when we discover it as bad, and learn things having come from good sources.

IT IS THE FAULT OF THE KING

In Exodus 20 Moses has performed the miracles in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and has come to the foot of mount Sinai to receive the commandments of God. He has gone up to speak with God and has come back down to bring the people of Israel up to hear themselves directly from God. Verses 18 and 19 say: "All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.’"

What they wanted was an intermediary, someone between them and God. They wanted Moses to tell them what God said, they did not want to listen directly to God. Later, in Deuteronomy 17:14 we are told what the people would say: "I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me". Here is another middleman, a man, not God, to lead them. They wanted someone to take responsibility for doing the work of governing. They did not want it for themselves. They wanted to point to the government for the common provision and common security, they did not want to bother themselves. "I can do whatever I want to do but it is the outside government that is responsible". We want the government, parents, to do something for us, yet in other things we want complete autonomous power, we do not want interference.

If there was lawlessness it would be the King's fault, if there was general immorality it would be the King's fault. The King would pay for their health care and their education, the King would be responsible for their mental health.

I perceive this as a general sin: "Let the government do this or that for me; I am not responsible."

God wants people to obey his law. Everyone should obey God’s law within himself. Every man is to know what God's law is and every man should keep the law. He should regulate himself so that he knows and obeys the law. Every man is responsible for his own actions and thoughts. Every man is responsible to administer his actions. Every man must govern himself.

But people do not want God, they want a King, a responsive Big Brother"

Knowledge of God’s law, his requirements, his wishes is readily available to us: it lies within the Bible, largely unread on the coffee table or on a shelf nearby.

TREATMENT OF WIDOWS

First Timothy 5 speaks of treating people in the church as family. We are not to, “ . . . sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, and to the younger men as brothers, to the older women as mothers, and to the younger women as sisters, in all purity.” We are to be particularly careful of windows. The first in line to be responsible for widows is her family, the most responsible of them being her own children. Following them are her extended family, primarily her nephews. If there are none, the responsibility falls to the church.

However, God speaks very strongly against widows having a life of ease. There is an obvious difference between the woman who "continues in prayers and supplications night and day" (we suppose for food and basic needs) - - and the woman of verse six who lives in pleasure (not having to worry about food and shelter).

In contrast to these is the widow shown in verse 10. This woman has enough to have performed good works, brought up children, lodged strangers, washed less Saints feed, relieved the afflicted, followed good works. Apparently, she had something to work with when her husband died. She spends her time actively pursuing God's work rather than "wandering about from house to house."

Then there is the younger widow. The Bible says it is better for the younger widows to marry, to bear children and guide the house, then to risk a time of idleness where they can learn a and use poisonous tongue.

A conclusion to draw is:  do not draw automatic conclusions about a woman who is a widow. Before offering help, whether church or family, we must consider her true situation.

RELEVANT REVELATION

I had a recent conversation someone expressed his doubts about the true relevancy of Bible revelation. The book of Revelation says of itself in 1:3: " Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near."

He seemed to take the same position that people ages ago took, which was noted by the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:3-4: “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.’”.

What can we who believe what the Bible literally says is truth? All things do appear to have continued just as they were from the beginning of creation, and Jesus has not yet come down “with a shout, with a loud voice, with the trumpet of the archangel”. This is where we apply faith, just as we did when we believed in Jesus as our savior. We believe He is who He said he is. We believe He did as the Bible says he did. We believe he will come again for Christians, and we forever will be with him.

The problem is:  if the book of Revelation is somehow wrong and written by out-of-touch old time zealots years ago, what other books of the Bible are wrong?

We are free to believe whatever we choose, but should we quake with uncertainty every time some other doubter raises an objection? There will always be those who will not believe all that the Bible says.  There is no reason to take the word of a man over the word of God.  They can, but we won't.

QUALIFICATIONS OF CURCH OFFICIALS (AND OTHERS)

I thought I would write some exposition of 1 Timothy 3 which concerns the qualifications of church officials. It speaks of Bishops (Overseers) and Deacons and addresses some qualities they should have. All of us, in fact, should attain these qualities. Upon re-reading the chapter in a couple of different versions I see that it is clear enough so that another reader really does not need my help.

However, we notice in today’s Church that many men (and women) in these positions have come short. (And we ourselves, if honest, know we also are short on these requirements).

This leads me to make a general comment pertinent to most, if not all, human organizations: Church, Government, School Districts . . . They are like ladders starting with a bottom rung leading to the top rung. It is common among men to want the position of top rung. Most start the climb from the bottom and proceed upwards. A few get to start a little further up because of family, wealth, or other reasons. Everyone wants the next rung (or two or three) up. Some are patient and trudge along at a fair, legal rate. Ohers are impatient and force themselves up in an unfair, perhaps illegal rate, pulling the ones above off and stepping on the fingers of the ones below.

On our trip up the ladder, we must keep in mind the qualifications set for us by God in 1 Timothy 3. At the end of our life God does not judge us on the rung we attained, but the manner by which we climbed the ladder. Have we been: blameless sticking to one spouse, vigilant, sober (levelheaded), of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not greedy for money, nonviolent, etc.?

If we have not, we can do better today.

QUESTIONABLE SURVEYS

I’m always careful about entities that ask for me to fill out surveys. They may not want what the survey title seems to really ask. It may just be seeking personal information. Maybe that information is your email address or your phone number or other personal information. Maybe all it wants is just to know someone responds at this point of access.

For example, I'm a conservative. The Republican party sends survey requests. Since I am a registered Republican, they already generally know what my opinions might be. The survey questions seem to stroke for emotional responses like (and I exaggerate), "Do you feel the country is going in the toilet?", "Do you think every democrat ought to be replaced next election?" There is always a request for money contributions (the real reason for the survey). I am sure the Democrats to the same.

Other example are: Trump Haters and Trump Lovers. These sites are based on emotional opinions. These sites often want money. They often want your phone number. There is also a possibility they are being used by the opposite side to develop information to harass you. They could be digging for your personal information, phone numbers, addresses and other potentially harmful information that could be harmful.

I personally very rarely open a survey let alone fill out surveys. For one thing they rob me of my time. I stop filling them out as soon as I understand the real purpose is to get donations or to steal personal information. Keep in mind, they already know something about you. They know you have an interest because you contacted them. Whether by phone, or text or email or by your visiting their website they know how to contact you. I think it is best not to respond. If they show a form that asks you to “verify your phone number”, and you see your phone number is already there, it might be a trap. You may have enabled an “autofill” feature on your computer which automatically filled in the phone number field. By filling in the “verify your phone number” field you may be giving a criminal your personal information. Too bad if you have already spent a lot of time completing the survey; just let it go, delete the form, and go about your other business.

THE REPROVING DUTY

Some jobs are hard. Second timothy 4 tells us (via instructions addressed to Timothy) to stand firmly and to contend for the faith. We are to reprove, rebuke, an exhort using patience, persistence, and teaching. We are warned that there will be those who will resist and pull away.

Using the new American Standard Bible consider some of the action words found there:

PREACH: to talk or, and correctly interpret, the word of God. Just to be clear, I take the “word of God” to mean the Bible. This does not mean someone’s dream, feeling, hearsay, or what they read in a commentary.
Be PREPARED (be ready): to have read the Bible to have considered what it says, and to have considered how best to explain it either to a believer or someone who does not (yet) believe.
CORRECT: to help another more perfectly understand the meaning of some biblical passages.
REBUKE:  to correct a person who, for whatever reason, seems to purposely be misrepresenting what the Bible says.
EXHORT: to encourage others to read the Bible and understand it the best they can; and tell them to tell others and encourage them.
Using PATIENCE: we should realize all are not at the state of development we have achieved, and; some others have developed more than we have.

Even when we do this, we must be aware some, perhaps many, will, “not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Sound like today? Sound like some public posting sites?

SETTING AND RELIEVING DOUBT

Psalm 11
The first part of this Psalm shows questions of doubt that  an enemy is trying to put into a believer. Or perhaps it is a question of doubt the believer himself is asking.

“In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, ‘flee as a bird to your mountain? For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they have set their arrow on the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ ”

These dark questions are what we commonly fear. They suggest: You should retreat, the wicked are working, they do it in secret, no one sees, if the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do?

The rest of the psalm answers the doubts.

“The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes see, His eyelids test the sons of mankind. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked and His soul hates one who loves violence. He will rain coals of fire upon the wicked, and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous. [Yet] He loves righteousness; the upright will see His face.”

God still reigns in heaven and earth. God sees all; God tries everybody. He hates and will punish the wicked. God sees and will reward the upright.

It is easy to doubt in the dark times, the times of trial. This psalm reminds us God sees, reigns, and takes action against the wicked and for the righteous. To relieve the doubt we must remember He loves righteousness; the upright will see His face.