Hasten To The Word of God

AN ADVENT STORY IN A BUCKET OF RAIN

 

 

Christmas Advent celebrates the arrival of God on the scenes of our lives, specifically in the form of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ born 2000 years ago to the young virgin woman Mary. Because of His birth (and His life, death and resurrection) we have more access to a closer relationship with our Creator. Those who step up and embrace such a relationship will find much help in the struggles of life and much joy.

Some years ago feeling oppressed and trampled upon I ended up standing on the rocky edge of the ocean in the shade of two large trees having a grumble time with Almighty God. Weeping out frustrations, begging for answers, and even singing out my hope in His goodness I conversed for probably 30-45 minutes.

Suddenly a question popped into my mind. Is God actually listening to me right now. Are my words reaching Him specifically or in an entangled morass of zillions of other peoples’ prayers. So I loudly sang out a series of complaints aimed at the Lord God, “are you listening God or am I speaking in vain”.

After a few minutes of this, a huge “bucket” of rain poured down on my body and completely drenched me. Running through the resulting heavy rain back to the car, a thought popped into my mind. That was the Lord. He heard. Only God could be so specific in both timing and aim to start the rain on my head. Standing in the rain laughing with tears of joy, my entire countenance changed. Singing praises to God in the rain I found the answer. God heard me right then and would answer my need. In joy and peace I drove away.

Through out the centuries before Jesus, people prayed for help and direction from God. Speckled throughout time, God almighty would chose an imperfect human to bring us answers, help and direction. We have the stories and words of guidance in the Old Testament. Two thousand years ago God fulfilled His promise to send from heaven His anointed one, His Son, to walk among us and bring us into new and close relationship with Him. We have the stories and teachings in the New Testament. Jesus is the answer of all answers for anyone who will reach out to Him in truth and trust. Christmas is the celebration of His birth. Easter is the celebration of His resurrection back into the heavenlies to sit at the right hand of the Father. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  

In the coming of Jesus is God’s long awaited answer to all human struggles. Now the doors of heaven are waiting for all who would seek Him. Come, sit down with Him and have a conversation of the heart and soul.

 

Matthew 7:7  (JESUS said) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

 Isa. 11:10-11  10 In that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the peoples. For him shall the nations seek. And his rest shall be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, who shall be left, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

 

 

PRIDE AND ALLOWING OURSELVES TO BE BESTED

 

 

Prov. 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

Prov. 26:18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.19 I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.20 And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

 

Pride is something I’ve pretty much always avoided talking about. It’s not that I think I am so proud and dare not discuss it. Rather I know that I am like most humans and have a natural tendency toward pride from time to time. We generally do some small bit of exulting when we do well, because really we know we are not all that great. We feel good when we accomplish something. The real problem comes when it gets out of balance and we don’t exult in others when they do well or when we don’t give space for them to do well. And that is the point I wish to discuss today.

Leviticus is kind of scary on this subject. God must always be first. God is love and when we keep Him first we love well. When God is not first we love poorly and slip into different kinds of destruction, one being pride. When we walk in God’s Love as we should, God’s Holy Spirit rains on us and we produce the fruit of the Spirit and the anointing of the Spirit flows through us upon others. The peace of God falls upon us, we praise and honor God and rejoice in Him.

When we get off track and give ourselves the credit justly due to God, Leviticus says God will break the pride of our power and life gets hard around us. We know that life around us can be hard anyway. So, the idea that God would make life harder when we take honor upon ourselves is just scary. But the truth is that we humans do it to some degree all the time.

One area I am thinking of this morning is that of churches and leadership. The world teaches us that leaders are supposed to be better than others. Certainly, leaders need to be accomplished to some degree in order to be able to lead others somewhere. Too often I have seen this taken to the point of control. If we control who serves around us and only allow ministry to those who won’t in our opinion do better than us, then we can maintain our position of leadership. If we just don't give opportunities to others to grow, we can prevent them from possibly doing better than us. This is an issue of pride and fear. Keeping this attitude will make life hard around us. It will also make life difficult for those seeking to mature and gain experience in their Spiritual giftings. And that doesn’t please God who loves us all and wants all of us to be released into the fullness of our callings.

Speaking practically, men do this to women, and then women do it to each other. Men and women who believe that only men are to be leaders and teachers or preachers often become inwardly furious when they see women besting them in some area of church leadership. So, they begin to work to prevent and control these women. Pastors and church leaders will do this when they watch someone preaching a better sermon or teaching better. They feel that their position of superiority is being challenged. So, they simply will refuse to honor or encourage that person in those things giving them fewer opportunities. This is the ugly side of pride. And we will sense the heavens becoming like a wall of iron and the earth like a wall of bronze in being immovable. We will be stuck and either go backwards or simply not move forward.

One of the errors in this is thinking that in order to serve well leaders must do better than those around them. In general they should have a certain degree of competency. Men who think men must be leaders, think they must know more than women. Really men just need to give their strengths, whatever they are, to serving those around them. Being concerned over who is doing better than whom is not an option. In this way anointed leaders can allow themselves to be ministered to by whomever God sends. The best leader releases those around them into ministry and service so much so that eventually he or she will be surpassed in excellence from time to time. This has the potential to blossom into amazing Spiritual ministry and growth.

But pride will stop it all, pitting one against another, shutting down the wind of God’s Spirit. Let us instead concentrate on opening doors for others to do well and rejoicing with them when they do.  So, if you suddenly get a lot of bananas, share some.   :)

 

 

IS BIBLE COLLEGE BAD FOR CHRISTIANS

For the past several years I keep hearing whispers by spiritual minded Christians that Bible learning and schooling in Bible colleges is bad for Christians. The idea is that somehow too much learning hinders one from hearing the Holy Spirit influence our minds and hearts. In addition to that we hear that all one needs is a good memory and the clear words of the Scripture will be sufficient.

First a few words from a friend about rightly dividing the words of Scripture as 2 Timothy 2:15 says we should do.

“When I come upon a baffling passage or set of passages, it is an indicator that I need to dig deeper, seeking more context. The whole Bible is inspired by the Spirit, but a human is limited in what they can hold in their mind at one time. If I am given a few jigsaw puzzle pieces and am informed that they are part of a larger picture, yet I cannot get them to fit together, I suspect I need to look for more pieces.”

What my friend is describing is inductive study. Inductive study has to do with reasoning into. I like to think of it as leaving the Scriptures in their Biblical context and see the meaning from within Scripture. The opposite is deductive study, which means to deduce from one’s own thinking. In other words if we take a Scripture out of the context and reason from that particular set of words it’s meaning, that is deducing. Deductive study can and does create a barrage of ideas according to the thinking of different people with different ideas and experiences. What Christians desperately need to do is to do inductive study, leaving the Scriptures in their context and finding the meaning from the context of the book they are written in as well as the entire Bible.

I am fairly certain that all Bible Colleges have courses on how to properly study the Bible outlining exactly how to do inductive, contextual Bible study. This is essential for everyone and in my opinion pastors, preachers, and Bible study teachers should have the training to be instructing Christians how to do that. It would indeed cut in half the amount of dissension in the Body of Christ. Instead we have a large number of untrained, uninformed, opinionated Christians following believers who talk the loudest and sound spiritual. And often these people like to say that college almost always shuts down a person’s ability to hear the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us.

However, there is a believer in Scripture that was a diligent Torah observant Jew, who was trained by the most famous Hebrew teacher of that era 2000 years ago.  Gamaliel was the grandson of the famous Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder. Almost any Hebrew book or set of Torah translations will have notes by Hillel. Gamaliel, influenced in his studies by his grandfather Hillel, became famous for his knowledge and understanding of the Torah and writings. He became a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the time of the early church. Paul of Tarsus who wrote a large part of the New Testament letters is the believer who was instructed by Gamaliel. In fact, Gamaliel even defended Paul and the apostles when the Jewish High Court, the Sanhedrin, wanted to kill Paul and the apostles. [i]

Now Paul, a highly trained student of the Scriptures, used his training and knowledge to impart understanding of God’s Word. Anyone who thinks the Holy Spirit did not inspire him is being foolish at best. Paul is one of the best examples of using our minds and hearts to understand God’s messages to us. Paul extensively used examples from the Torah and writings. He praised the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what they heard were true. [ii]

Reading in ontext also means to read before and after the verse one is reading. Often the writers set the stage for a point. If we read before,  we may see what he was thinking about. Reading after may give us some further clarity. Sometimes we best see the picture by reading the whole epistle or story and then go back and note all the elements. Not doing these things is how one gets odd and often antiBiblical concepts and teachings.

If more believers learned how to effectively search the Scriptures we would have less divisions in the Body of Christ today. And we would have far fewer injustices being proclaimed as God’s ways. Searching the Scriptures does not mean only doing a search on one word and compiling Scriptures into a teaching. Believers need to learn what it means to read in context. One compelling picture of “context” is to put oneself in the authors’ cultural setting and to hear as if one were there at their feet listening. This would include a picture of life in that era, knowledge of the things they might experience and insight on what was happening around them. It would also include some degree of understanding that the language we read Scripture in was not the language spoken by the apostles of the New Testament or the writers of the Old Testament. We read a translation. Thus, sometimes it really does help to find a means of understanding something of the original words used, whether going to a book (or app) written by some studious college trained person, or by seeking out a linguist. Just as the Holy Spirit used Paul with all his training and knowledge, so we can be not only helped in our studies by the Holy Spirit, but also directed by the Holy Spirit through our studies. College training need not get in the way.

Training and/or degrees from Christian institutions of higher education does not get in the way of hearing the Holy Spirit speak to our spirit. Rather if submitted to the Lord, our learning will amplify our ability to hear.

 

[i] Acts 5:27-42, [ii] Bereans Acts 17:11

 

 

 

STIGMATIZING THOSE DIFFERENT

 

To stigmatize someone is to mark them as disgraceful or contemptible in some manner. To mark in a negative manner is to brand, to make an end judgment, to deem as unworthy or below oneself. This is something we humans do that is usually an inaccurate assessment of one’s whole person.  The picture above is me in the 1970's.  Hippie Teri.  Now there were some interesting viewpoints of hippies from back then.  :)

Humans are a unique creation of God’s. We have a capacity to be a vessel for either good or bad, and also for both. Thus, judgments and perceptions must be fluid in that we know that people can change directions or go deeper in the direction they are in. We cannot see that deeply into a person’s heart even though some people are more adept at perceiving where a person is at in the present.

Sometimes I wonder how God manages to stay compassionate to those who stray far from His amazing love in how we treat others. And then there is Genesis 6:17.

For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all life under the heavens in which there is the breath and spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die.

The hatred, contempt, fear and pain in human’s hearts and experiences of life must have just been too much for God to handle or to see, after creating humanity with so much hope for grander things. It is interesting that God says, “I even I”. In both the English and the Hebrew it looks like God is even dismayed with Himself. In Hebrew, “I, even me”.   God’s judgment was correct but even then God’s amazing love led Him to determine to find another way to lead mankind toward redemption. Four hundred years after the flood came Abraham who was to be the progenitor of God’s people. Out of the faith of Abraham was born a deep and intimate relationship with God bringing forth the Torah and eventually bringing forth the Messiah to the entire world.

Today we have racism and misogyny as the great universal dividers of humanity. The unimaginable wickedness that is born of this stigmatizing of national differences and gender differences must be painful beyond our understanding to the heart of God.

I just watched a tape of former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard in 2012. She was addressing some proposition being put forward by a member of their parliament (?). The proposition was openly misogynistic and she addressed many of the instances of this attitude in the members present, which was an incredibly brave thing to do. Because of her speech to which the majority said, “hear hear”, the Macquarie Dictionary of Australia adjusted its definition of misogyny to include, “entrenched prejudice of women”. To say I am shocked is an understatement. The hatred of determined misogyny is deeply ugly in so many ways. I think I understand just a pinch of why God said, “I, even I” am going to do this thing (cause a flood to wipe mankind off the earth) because I am overwhelmed with the darkness of heart that mankind has come to with misogyny and racism.

Those are the big ways we brand people we have chosen to elevate ourselves above. We make their very humanity as less than ours because we brand things that cannot be changed, such as gender and nationality (skin color, body shapes, etc.) as less desirable. And when we do that we lead the way to degenerate treatment, cruelties beyond normal thinking, tortures, limiting life styles, etc.

We also brand small things as reason for rejection such as religion, careers, life styles, social status, wealth, political choices, health, and intelligence and so forth to an unending list. To say that arrogance and criticalness have infiltrated humanity and the church to a huge degree is an understatement.

Why do we do this? I have concluded that the biggest reason is because we do not know or understand God’s LOVE. And since I am speaking to the international body of Christ, believers in Jesus as Lord and Messiah, I believe that it is our fault that we have allowed these stigmatizing sins to run rampant in the world without any noticeable check. And yes, that includes me.

We who know the intimate deep love of God toward all, without racism or misogyny, need to speak up. It is time. We will be castigated for it and called many ugly names, no doubt. But if you believe and know God does not segregate, brand or limit people through racism or gender stereotyping, I believe that gift was given for us to share with patience, compassion, forgiveness and diligence. And I sincerely hope that more people will stand up and stand against this international condition of a lack of God’s Love.

Let us read the Bible with prayer and share the truths of God’s healing, deliverance, and freedom to live with all who will hear us. And let us start today.

The FIVE FOLD MINISTRIES in Eph. 4

In Ephesians chapter four Paul talks about gifts that God gives to the church.  There are only four places in the New Testament where this Greek word doma, translated as ‘gifts’ is used.  In Matthew 7 and Luke 11 Jesus talks about fathers giving good presents to their children.  In Philippians 4:17 Paul talks about monetary giving and aid for his traveling necessities. Basically, the word means a present, something given voluntarily without expecting payment in return to show favor or give help to another.

In Ephesians 4, this word is used in reference to Jesus giving the church individuals who would be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  There are those who think that this is an hierarchical listing of ministries.  But Jesus never thought in terms of hierarchies.  In Matthew chapter 20 Jesus admonished the Thunder Brothers, James and John, not to think in terms of authority, but to think in terms of serving others. And Paul spent a total of 13 years alone with God seeking personal and specific instructions from Jesus after Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus.   In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul listed the ministries as: Apostles, Prophets, Teachers and Workers of Miracles.  These are two lists tweeked differently.  And I trust that Paul knew what he was talking about.  The question is, do we.

The spiritual word that God woke me up with this morning was that these lists were also not categories cleanly divided from each other. I kinda already knew that but the Holy Spirit was giving me an expanded view. These were areas of focus that would result in building up the body of Christ.  They were also not restricted to one locale.  Even those with a pastor’s heart and ministry can travel and minister to other churches effectively. Pastors are not limited to a specific physical place or group of people as much as we think they are.  Some are, but not all. 

 Also, most often people with God’s callings on their lives are associated with more than one of these descriptions.  Conversely, sometimes people need more than one shepherd’s influence or more than one teachers insights, and more than one prophet’s insights and encouragement, and more than one apostles admonitions for unity, and more than one miracle worker and healing ministry’s prayers and insights, and so forth.  When we think of it that way, it just makes sense.

Thus, the ‘fivefold ministries’ are not limited to five AND they are not cleanly divided from one another in ministry. They are not divided from each other in focus but are often linked in different ways. Some individuals have ministries of prophetic teaching, or apostolic shepherding, or teaching evangelists, or teaching miracle workers, or, or, or.  The list of possibilities is huge.

Those in these callings are not limited to specific physical locations but may travel.  Traveling between churches and locations only makes sense because these people are God’s GIFTS to the whole body.  The person is the gift, not the ministry.  The ministry is God’s workings into the lives of the believer the things that God wants him or her to impart to the Body of Christ.  And just a word of caution here.  These people must grow into their callings with the associated manifestations of the Holy Spirit.  They are not bombed with perfection. The Holy Spirit must work their callings into the person.  It is a process just like sanctification.

This is why several of the New Testament writers admonished us to pray for our leaders, and to pray for everyone.  After all, most people are not really aware of who God is raising up to minister to them.    So, just to be on the safe side we pray for those we know are called, for those we don’t know, and then for all our fellow believers.  But be specially attentive to support, honor, respect, assist and encourage those we know have a calling of any sort on their lives. 

Individuals that Jesus calls, He equips.  That equipping sometimes starts even before they accept Christ as their Savior.  In other words, they may have a lifetime of experiences of learning in preparation for when they come into the rulership of God and Jesus tells them what He wants them to do.  Jesus uses the very lives of these individuals.  That is why they are themselves the gifts to the church.

 

 

Note:  previously wrote on this subject here: http://tiro3.typepad.com/spoudazo_logos_blog/2014/02/the-fivefold-ministries-gods-gifted-people.html

Elders, Women and 1 Timothy

 

Briefly here are some of my thoughts on how to deal with 1 Timothy, women, and the subject of teaching elders.

 

Firstly, Timothy was having a problem with wrong teachings.  We see this in Paul’s first responses in chapter one.  Men and women were trying to teach about things they really knew little of.  Here is where some scholars believe Paul is referencing gnostic ideas being taught which may have come from the teachings of the Diana worshippers.  New converts.  Of those people Paul only names two whom he handed over to Satan because he thinks they are not teachable, and they have rejected good conscience. And one wonders if they were true believers.

 

At least one of these debaters was “a woman”.  Paul has more compassion for this person as he first reminds others about his own ignorance before He believed.  He reminds Timothy that God treated him with mercy and patience.  So, while he admonishes the whole group of debaters to cease fighting and to pray, and to the women in general to dress more modesty (possibly relevant to the flamboyance of Diana worshippers), he speaks of this one woman (or perhaps a few women) differently.  In a different tone of emphasis Paul says to LET the woman learn.  Paul uses a common phrase applied to learners, that of learning in quietness and full submission – yielding their attention to the teacher.  And the woman is not to attempt to teach or usurp the teacher’s position of teaching.  

 

The word translated as “exercise authority” is more complicated than that.  Exousia means simply to exercise authority as in giving permissions, etc.  Authentein, the Greek word used here, is only used this one time and is an old term possibly having a narrow audience of use.  It was used of forceful activities including murder, forcing another to one’s will and the like.  While this can seem like referring to exercising authority over another, it is harsher.  The question comes up as to why he used it.  Perhaps, that is the way the woman or women were behaving; with forcefulness, pushiness, pressuring and intimidatingly.  Perhaps, they acted a lot like Paul did before Jesus stopped him.  And Paul thought he had the higher road.  But he found out he was mistaken.  This woman or women needed to find out they were mistaken, by learning.  Because like Eve, they had been deceived.  One of the many gnostic teachings about creation taught that Adam was deceived, not Eve.  And they taught that women could not be spiritual unless they forsook bearing and raising children. (Paul mentions again in chapt. 4 verse 3)  This then makes sense of verses 13-15.

 

So, then the question becomes why did Paul then start talking about being elders/overseers.  Firstly it is likely that elders were a primary source of teachers.  While it is understood that a special anointing of more scholarly and spiritual teaching was only given to some who would be willing to spend most of their lives researching Scriptures prayerfully, like Paul; yet there had to be others who would spend time and effort mentoring and sharing the apostolic teachings in many venues.  These would be the elders who in supervisory caring ways would be easily available to the community in teaching, caring, counseling, etc.  Paul served in many areas: apostle, teacher, elder and servant.  :)

 

I believe that Paul progressed from warning about gnostic teachings, to admonitions to pray and not fight, and to strongly urging Timothy to let the status seeking, Thunder Brothers type woman (or women) learn, SO THAT they might in time qualify to be an overseer or deacon at some point in the future.  Overseers and elders are sometimes referred to in the same ways.  This points to them being older people who minister in supervisory works.

 

Contrary to what traditionalists and patriarchalists have trampled the Word to say, chapter 3 is not to men only.  It starts out with “some” or “someone” (Greek, tis), which is highly inclusive.  So, it is acceptable if someone aspires to the work of overseer, as that one desires a good work.  I’ve always loved Paul’s writing style.  And here it is notable that he starts off with “the saying is trustworthy”, and then his first qualification is to be “above reproach”, I.e. Trustworthy.  And then the second qualification is to be trustworthy in marriage.  Aner heis gyne, is a common phrase meaning “man of one woman”.  We still use this phrase today when referring to someone who is a faithful.  He is a one woman man.  Or she is a one man woman.  When used generically the gender falls back to masculine.  We see this in verse 12 where Paul is referencing both male and female deacons, but still says they must be a “man of one woman”.  Unknown or mixed audiences typically default to the inclusive masculine.  

 

This phrase was found on the tombs of both men and women in Asia and surrounding areas by a Frenchman, Lucien Deiss, his notes to the French Bible, TOB, edition Integrale.  It is noted in a book, “Familiar leadership Heresies Uncovered” by Bruce C. E. Fleming.  He also wrote a series of books called “Think Again”, which are excellent.

 

Verse 7 is often thought to be only pertaining to men.  However, the word is tis, which mean anyone, just like verse one says  “anyone who desires”.  One of the qualifications is that anyone who desires to be an overseer must manage his or her own home, household, business, etc.  The rest of the qualifications of being a deacon or an overseer/elder are undisputedly good advice for both men and women.

 

This is a short version of how I see Paul progressing his instructions on the subject of handling disorderly people with compassion and firmness.  He points out their errors, dispenses with those who he sees as unteachable, encourages Timothy in how and what to teach the rest.  And Paul does it all while reminding Timothy that he, Paul, was like them at one time, and look at where he is now.  There is indeed redemption and new life in Christ.  

 

Teachers, Bible Study, Kittens and Believers

 

I love animals, especially baby animals.  Their joy in life, innocence of evil intent and “grouchlessness” is engaging.  As I sit typing I hear the pile of reading papers, magazines, and articles sliding off the footstool along with the kittens.  Reminds me of diving off of cliffs in Hawaii, running back up and diving off again and again. Thrilling really! Oh and now my camera and purse hanging off the back of the dining room table chair has dropped to the floor for more intense inspection by Greyling, kitten #1.  So now Calley, kitten #2, and WildBoy my 2-yr (teenager) cat have all come to inspect and crawl in the purse.  Yes, I’ve done my best not to leave too much stuff available for their joyful runabouts and damage prevention.  But for a healthy kitten’s growth, I must leave something for them to inspect and experiment with.

 

TALK, TALK, TALK……

We as humans are all like God's children and precious to God. As a grandmotherly senior, teaching and occasionally preaching is my passion and has been for many years.  I was thinking this week how Bible study groups can sometimes be like a group of old and young cats of every age.  The older want to prove their prowess, the babes want to have fun, and the rest want to “get into it” much like cats crawling into my purse to investigate.   I’ve learned that I must let this happen both for the cats and for fellow believers. Such freedom creates an atmosphere of real joy in whatever we are doing including reading God’s Word. 

 

WHERE IS THE WISDOM

James 3: 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Wisdom is both the proper application of knowledge as well as godly love directed toward all for their productive benefit.  The word translated as ‘wise’ in vs. 13 above is Sophos and means skilled, expert, cultivated, learned, etc.  It is sometimes aimed specifically toward theologians, philosophers and teachers and those who want to become such.  We should encourage those seeking to become wise.

 

THE KNOWLEDGEABLE MUST LEAD AND STEER

I’ve found that Bible Study for adult believers must include things they can inspect and experiment with like kittens and my purse, but not too much.  They still need the guidance of those who have studied deeply the subject.  Someone is bound to puff up like a turkey or the arched back of a challenging kitten and proclaim that his or her answer or insight is the only reasonable one.  That is when biting and fighting can begin.  Wisdom loves them all, encourages and applauds the real insights and steers all toward more thoughtful discussion.  As Paul noted in 1 Timothy 1 some people want to be teachers of the Law, but really don’t have a good grasp of the Word, nor on the things they proclaim so confidently.

1 Tim. 1:7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

 Unless they are infiltrators from an ungodly belief system and not really Christians, it really doesn’t matter who is going off track, the answer should be the same to all believers: help them to learn.  Don’t try to silence them forever or be harsh with them.  This was Paul’s answer regarding the women in Ephesus who were desiring to be teachers.  “Let them learn”.  The principle is the same for everyone.  Encourage them to learn in quietness (not fighting) with expectations to receive something of value.

 

POINTING IN THE DESIRED DIRECTION

Sometimes, I preach a bit in our Bible groups, laying history and foundations for what is being studied.  As I do this I’m doing my best to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in directing discussion.  I stop in the midst of discussion and offer them nuggets of information they may not have.  And I ask questions that will make them really think.  Believe me, many are waiting for their chance to contribute.  Welcome it and leave time and space for it.

 

CONTROVERSY

If a section of Scripture is controversial, I’ve learned that it is best to note the controversies and help believers think about it.  This is much like ancient Jewish practices of citing scholar’s words that differ, such as Hillel, or Gamaliel.  There will always be scholars and teachers that differ on certain points.  We who teach must inform the Body of Christ how to deal with this and how to properly inductively and contextually research these different opinions.  And we should give them good researchable reasons why we believe as we do especially on controversial subjects.  Don’t run away from it and leave them hanging.  Do your research and teach them how to study inductively.  Unfortunately, too often some things are taught from poor research leaving behind context, history, grammar and whole Bible harmony.  That is why we who know better must share what we know with our brethren with wisdom, compassion and sincere affection. 

 

IN CONCLUSION

Teaching with wisdom, knowledge, good research, compassionate steering of conversation as well as using the basics of a good scholar of the Word (history, grammar, context, whole Bible harmony) and sincere affection toward all believers is bound to produce the joyful communication and discussion of a group of happy cats and kittens.  I’ve seen it happen many times.  My church’s Sunday morning Bible group which I steer is known for their laughter echoing up into the sanctuary, and our “lively” discussions.  When this happens it is not attributed to just the one teaching and steering.  The one teaching is like the good mountain guide who has been there before and just keeps walking them in the best paths of which he/she knows.  Then the Holy Spirit takes over and the unity and fellowship of the Spirit leads us toward the mind of Christ, which is to love one another, put other’s first, consider other’s interests before our own. Then we learn to wash one another’s feet in our spiritual discussion.  We learn to see the value in others that Christ saw in humanity when He gave His life and suffered death for the benefit of those who would come to Him.  To see this glorious hint of unity of the Spirit is worth all the work it takes, all the trials and failures it takes, to keep doing what God calls a teacher to do; and often brings joy to my heart and tears to my eyes.  

 

Phil. 2 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

 

 

 

 

Metaphorical use of "head" in Ephesians 5

One of the several mistakes that gender hierarchalists today make in reading about marriage is to assume a 21st century understanding of the use of ‘head’. The facts are that Paul and Christ spoke to correct the very Aristotelianism that had pervaded Judeo-Islamic philosophical and theological thinking in the middle ages before Christ. Such views still pervade our churches today, simply because men in general like power. While Aristotle viewed it important that the wife be happy, he thought it was the husband’s job to govern the accomplishment of such and that women needed governing as the weaker element. In Aristotle’s view only men were made suitable to govern. In Aristotle's thinking the very frame of women showed that they were only suitable to bear and raise children. All his teachings were pretty much based on those two paradigms.

Within a more contextual reading of Ephesians 5, there is the fact that in Eph. 5:1-2 ALL believers are told to love sacrificially as Christ did toward us. Add the closing admonition to this section in Eph. 5:21 where ALL believers are admonished to submit to one another in the fear of God and we have mutuality by both men and women. Then stepping into the relationship of marriage wives are admonished to carry that mutuality toward their husbands. For wives that was a step up and away from obedience that the culture taught. And that mutuality was to be in everything.

Husbands are then reminded that the sacrificial love spoken of in Eph. 5:1-2 is to be extended toward their wives. Nothing is said about leading the wives, or disciplining,or discipling, teaching or any such thing. Rather the husband is told that like Christ he is to nurture and cherish (provide and protect) his wife.

Eph.5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and GAVE himself for it;”


The Greek word translated GAVE is PARADIDOMI, defined by the Blue Letter Bible dictionary as: ‘to give into the hands (of another)’
‘to give over into (one’s) power or use’
‘to deliver to another something to keep, use, take care of, manage’, also give oneself up, present oneself. Just as Christ gave Himself completely up for the salvation benefit of those who would believe on Him, so husbands are to lay down their lives for the benefit, the welfare, the promotion of the life of their wives.

Add in that Paul painted an interestingly profound picture of deep attachment to one another by telling the wife (not the husband) to view the husband as her physical head (nothing to do with leadership). Then Paul tells the husband (not the wife) to view the wife as his physical body (not a slave or servant). I say “view” because each has their own head and body. The metaphorical purpose I see in Eph. 5:21-33
is to show them they are to come together as one flesh, as perfectly united in deep harmonious attachment so that they are like one unit. The head needs the body to live and the body needs the head to live. Life, true spiritual life together is what is being promoted. This is found in submissive mutuality, honor, and deep love.

The popular ideas of gender hierarchy that applaud men as superior, in control, and such cannot promote the end result that Paul paints a picture of in Ephesians 5. And the ending in verse 31 points us back to Genesis where we see that this harmonious unity is supposed to produce one whole unit, two become as one. And this is the profound unity that Christ prayed the Father for (John 17:6-19) when He said that everything He had belongs to the Father and everything that the Father has belongs to Him, indicating those believers who would believe in Him. He prayed the Father to keep them safe so that they may be one just as He and the Father are one. This is the mystery of Christ and the church. This is the mystery and glory of our relationship with God, we in Him and Him in us. And this only happens when we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him, as He has already done so for eternity for us. Then, and only then are we able to do the same for one another, including within the blessings of marriage.

 

The FiveFold Ministries - God's Gifted People

It is an unfortunate truth the most Christians today read the Bible in words and not in word pictures and concepts.  Writers and speakers speak from the pictures that God puts in our minds.  The words are the colors that the authors paint to reform the pictures and concepts in their heads so that others might see in their minds what the authors and speakers are seeing. It is not easy to do.  We understand best when we hear and read in principles and concepts or in stories by setting the scene up in our minds eye.  The misinformation comes when people read in merely words.  Words can mean different things to different people.  And words can be rearranged in the hearers and readers minds like building blocks taken apart and reformed into a new building.  

When we rightly divide the words of Scripture, instead of rebuilding them into our desires or the answers we seek, we seek the purpose of the authors who wrote them, taking into consideration the era they lived in, the cultures, the idiosyncrasies of the time, word meanings, grammar and the subject matter or story spoken about.

 

Thus we come to the fivefold ministries mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-13.  This bit of insight Paul was sharing about starts out in verses 1-5 where Paul is drawing our attention to the Body of Christ as one whole.  We all as one united family have the same Holy Spirit, the same Savior, faith and birth through belief and baptism.  We are united to God as our father (generator, parent) through Christ.  And to this one body of people Christ apportioned grace among us,  and gave gifts.  In this discussion the gifts that were given (and are still being given today) are people, not the spiritual manifestations of the Holy Spirit mentioned elsewhere.  These are people that Christ has chosen to send us with specific callings upon their lives. You see the words in verse 11 “so Christ Himself gave”.  And then in verse 12 the purpose of calling, sending and equipping these individuals was to build up this one Body into maturity. Mature believers help keep the Body united together in compassion for each other,  and attached to Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

 

These individuals as gifts are not called by churches but by Christ Himself for God’s purposes. And generally these anointed people have lifelong callings and Christ sends them where He wants them.  Sometimes they stay in one place as some of the apostles did.  Sometimes they move around as several of the apostles did.  But whatever they do they are beholden to follow the call of God our Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit.  

 

Now the type of callings they had on their lives Paul outlines in five general themes:  apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers.  The first thing to understand is that these individuals do not live or relate in a hierarchy.  The apostle does not direct the prophet, the prophet does not direct the evangelist, the evangelist does not direct the pastor/shepherd, the pastor does not direct the teacher. They are a team of people that work together to serve the purposes and plans of God.  They do have different areas of activities.  Often they will work together to address similar goals, but coming from different angles. One other thing they have in common is that they all teach. 

 

Apostles teach to draw, organize and keep people together. Apostles often start different types of ministries as God leads them. They will often travel frequently to find believers and organize them into groups to mature together as a church/ecclesia. Prophets teach the mind and purposes of God (in past and present) as well as reveal the Scriptures and present/future predictions. Prophets reveal God’s heart and purposes as the Holy Spirit gives them timely relevant words, visions, dreams, etc. Evangelists teach to reveal our need of God and help new believers stay in Christ. Evangelists have a sense of explaining God’s work of salvation that is easy for non believers and new believers to comprehend and follow.  Shepherds teach to draw people deeper in their relationship with the Lord.  Shepherds are like guardians who keep watch, go after us when we are suffering, supporting and encouraging as a parent. Teachers are like scholars who are in love with the Truth and search the Scriptures daily in order to share the wonders of the truths that God shares therein. They teach us how to rightly divide the Word of God, and point us always back to Scripture as God’s help to keep us walking towards Him.

 

It is also important to note that some individuals are combination ministries.  An apostle could also be anointed in any other of the called ministries, such as an apostle/prophet.  We could have an evangelist/pastor.  Any of the called ministries could also be an anointed teacher.  Often today we have shepherd/teachers either as a pastor or as a teacher (teacher/shepherd).  Being a called shepherd actually doesn't mean that such a person is a modern pastor of a church.  He or she could start, organize and manage any number of service ministries in the world. In the same way that todays missionaries do a wide variety of services, so can an anointed individual in one or several of the fivefold ministries be led of God to do a variety of services in churches and around the world.

 

This team of anointed and called believers should be working together all over the world.  In fact, that is something that Loren Cunningham sought to encourage in his establishment of Youth With A Mission.  They minister in many varied capacities all over the world.  But the ideal is that God's anointed individuals should work together first in their own churches, then in cooperating churches and ministries in the same city or town, and then all over the world as God leads.  Some stay local and some roam abroad.  But the main thing is that we should work together because we are indeed in God's eyes, One Body in Christ our Lord and Savior.

IN the Beloved

We are studying Ephesians and are in chapter one this morning, specifically looking at verses 6-10.  The following is a quick look at a few phrases that Paul uses in this section.

"In the Beloved" is an amazing phrase.  How many of us would call Christ "the beloved'.  It expresses a degree of adoration and intimacy that is unusual.  "I am my beloved's and He is mine". Isn't that from Song of Solomon? Our modern misogynist and patriarchal crowds could say some unkind things about that. Yet, I believe we should love God from the depths of our innermost person as the apostles give us examples of.

And speaking of kindness, vs. 6 says that God has made us accepted in Christ. The kindness and unmerited mercy of God is that He sent us His Son, and the Son came to us while humanity was in the midst of depravity.  God comes to us all the time when we are spiritually ugly to behold. How many times do we reach out to someone in sin and grant them kindness and mercy. Think of the worst sins that a person could participate in and then ask ourselves whether we would die to save that person from himself.  Of course, we cannot do what Christ did, but we can pray for one another, speak the truth to one another, and do undeserved random acts of kindness, and forgive one another.  If we follow Christ's example we see that sacrificing self for the benefit of others and doing things that promote the welfare of others is the way we should be living.  "Christ came NOT to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many".

"IN Him" we have redemption is another tweek on our perception.  When we think of Christ dying for us, we don't think of being IN Him in order to benefit from His incredible sacrifice.  Yet, that is exactly what we do in baptism.  We die in Christ and are resurrected IN Christ; resurrected to real spiritual life.  So, yes, IN HIM we find our salvation in everything.  This is something to think about when struggling.  The best thing to do is run toward the Lord and get close and closer to Christ in our turmoils.  Yet so often we see people question God for allowing something bad to happen instead of realizing sin is something that humans do themselves and to each other.  God is our escape, healing, forgiveness, and place of love and understanding.  The only wise thing to do is the remain IN Him and snuggle in deeper.

"The mystery of His Will" is indeed all about us. I can see the beauty in the world, the earth and the animals.  But humanity became perpetuators of destruction. Perhaps, part of the mystery of God's creating us is this ability to choose that He has given to us all knowing that we would misuse it.  But His will is that we come to dwell IN HIM. Elohim wants intimate pure holy communion with us freely, not by compulsion.  And the only way to do that was to let us go our own way, learn and suffer from it, and then suffer in sacrifice in order to provide a way back to Elohim's presence by purifying us in His sacrifice.

This is a love that is barely comprehensible, and surely worthy of the phrase "the Beloved".