To Be or Not to Be

 

“Jesus said to them (Pharisees), ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:27, ESV)

When we study Mark 2:27, we must first understand what was happening at the time the Pharisees confronted Jesus. Jesus and His disciples were walking through a grain field. The disciples were hungry, so they grabbed a handful of grain seeds to eat as they followed Jesus. The Pharisees challenged Jesus and His disciples about breaking the Sabbath law of not working on the Sabbath. Jesus reminded them what their venerated King David did when he and his soldiers were hungry. They went into the house of God during Abiathar’s leadership as high priest. David and his men ate the bread of the Presence, which Sabbath laws allowed only priests to eat.

With Jesus’ reasoning, the Pharisees would feel challenged if they agreed with Him. so, their acceptance of Jesus’ teaching would mean they accused their venerated king of breaking Sabbath law. If so, then why could not other hungry men eat on the Sabbath? They would not be eating sacred food, just grain. With Jesus’ reminder to the Pharisees, they may have believed if they decided the disciples had not worked on the Sabbath, they would lose power and authority among the people. Yet, if they agreed with Jesus, then that would say their beloved King David broke the Sabbath law. Never back a caged lion into a corner. Let us now learn more about Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees.

The first thought that comes to mind in seeking to understand this verse is that God created the Sabbath day before He created the Sabbath law. God’s intent of the Sabbath laws was to help people remember and focus on God and to rest. The priests of God interpreted the thirty-nine Sabbath laws God gave. Upon writing the priestly interpretations of God’s Sabbath laws handed down through the oral tradition (the Mishnah), The Pharisees codified over six hundred Sabbath laws by which the Israelites were to live. The priests’ interpretations aimed to help people follow God’s Sabbath laws closer. Their Sabbath laws ended up becoming a litmus test by which to compare themselves to one another and to the rest of the Israelites.

Like the first thought, God commanded the Israelites to keep a Sabbath day as holy, just as Moses recorded in the Ten Commandments (the Mosaic covenant). Remember, God created humanity before He gave laws about the Sabbath. so, the relationship between God and people is more important than the Sabbath laws. Recall, the Sabbath laws occurred to help the Israelites remember and focus on God and to rest. Because God called the Sabbath a day of rest, He put people’s needs as more important than Sabbath laws, because people are more important than laws. If someone is hungry, drowning, ill, or anything else, caring for God’s people became more important to God than following laws. Caring for a neighbor is obeying God. God created people for relationship with Him and other people. Relationship means we care for each other. By caring, we show love to and for God, which He intended for the Sabbath laws. Again, God’s intention for His Sabbath laws was to cause humanity to remember and focus on Him and to have a close love relationship with Him.

As we continue to study this verse, we must understand what the word “Sabbath” means. It comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, meaning peace: to rest or cease. Our minds cannot rest and focus on God if we are concerned about a person for whom we cannot care because of the fear of breaking Sabbath laws. Again, a person cannot rest or focus on God because of urgent circumstances. This makes the laws counter to God’s purpose for the Sabbath day.

God created the Sabbath as a day of rest that He set apart and commanded for worship, reflection, and rest. The Pharisees cared more about the institution called the Sabbath. Their rituals were more important to them because they wanted people to see their own piety. The Pharisees cared more for themselves than for other people. They did not focus on God in their worship, but on what people saw them do. The Pharisees broke the first covenant (the Adamic covenant) the intent for which God set aside the Sabbath day on the seventh day of creation. Their intention for the Sabbath was not God’s original intention. The Pharisees' intention focused on themselves, their power, and their authority among the people.

The question Jesus answered, though the Pharisees did not recognize it, was: Who made the Sabbath? If the Pharisees instituted the Sabbath, then the Sabbath laws would be valid in overruling caring for other people on that day. Yet, the Pharisees did not create the Sabbath. God created the seventh day and rested from His work.

Genesis 2:3 states, “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it, God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.” God blessed the day. He invoked His divine favor, which creates a covenant relationship with humanity, by instituting a day of rest on the seventh day, which He called the Sabbath day. God blessed the Sabbath day as His creation for humanity. He did more than just establish a seventh day and establish it as a day of peace, shabbat. God blessed the day for humanity to rest. With God’s blessings comes rest because His people know God is faithful. This allows people to have peace in mind, heart, and soul, hence, shabbat.

Genesis 2:3 records God sanctified the day. God blessed the day and the people in the day by sanctifying it. Calling something sanctified (holy) means setting it apart as special for significant persons for a purpose. Here, the significant persons for whom God set apart the Sabbath day is humanity. (See the Adamic covenant.) Genesis 2:3 states God’s significant purposes for the Sabbath. God blessed the day and blessed humanity with it by making it a rest day. God set apart the day—He consecrated it—for a sacred purpose, too. He made it holy and dedicated to Himself.

God, by making the seventh day a consecrated day, made the day of peace (Sabbath-shabbat) into a day of worship and devotion. He separated the seventh day from the first six days of the week, so people would use it for His purpose. God gave to Adam, who represents all humanity, a consecrated Sabbath day of rest (from the blessing) and worship (from the sanctification). The seventh day became a day of peace in body, heart, mind, and spirit. God’s seventh created day is a day to rest the body from work and to rest in heart, mind, and spirit as humanity communes with God in worship and meditation, leading to complete peace.

Understanding this makes it easier to understand God made the Sabbath long before He gave the thirty-nine Sabbath laws. From God’s thirty-nine Sabbath laws, the Pharisees created almost six hundred other Sabbath laws. Neither the Pharisees nor any person in humanity created the Sabbath. God created the seventh day, blessed it, and consecrated it for His purpose to bless humanity. Humanity is to rest on the Sabbath and focus on God in worship, praise, meditation, and prayer.

If, while focusing on God, He causes someone to remember a good that person should do to help someone else, even on the Sabbath, then, in doing that good, shows love for God. A person’s action based on impulses/convictions from God, even on the Sabbath, is obedience to God. Obedience to God is an act of worship. In obeying God by doing good for someone, a person is fulfilling the first and second greatest commandments, as Jesus taught in Matthew 22:36-40. The greatest and second greatest commandments are the summation of the Ten Commandments. We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength when we obey Him, that which God requires.

God created the thirty-nine Sabbath laws to help people abide by His overarching and original intent for the Sabbath: to be in relationship with Him. That overflows into caring for other people (being in a relationship with them). God’s original and primary intent for creating humanity was so He could be in a relationship with them, like the three persons of the Trinity relate to each other. His intent was to be in a loving and holy relationship with people. That is the overarching theme of the Bible and of all time.

Since the Adamic covenant is the primary covenant of God with humanity, every other covenant builds from it to lead people back to a good and holy relationship with God. The covenants appear circular. They each aid humanity by leading them to God—to becoming closer to God and letting Him make them more in His image.

God making people more into His image is a growth process. It involves becoming more perfected, which can only happen when people believe in Jesus and He saves them from sin and death. Merely existing on earth is stagnating and then dying when the body dies. God’s making people more in His image is His growing and perfecting them until death. At death, Jesus perfects the believer—makes him or her sinless and holy, like Himself.

God, who comes from eternity, made the Sabbath. He created the Sabbath and placed it in time, a finite part of eternity. The Sabbath did not always exist. Time did not exist in eternity until God created sun, moon, light, and darkness and called the light and darkness day and night. Because time is a subset of eternity, so the Sabbath day is a subset of time, which God created. so, God’s intent for the Sabbath day, which He stated in Genesis, is the overriding ruler of the Sabbath. Humanity’s intent and laws are not. Hence, God should be the focus of the Sabbath, not humanity or its created Sabbath laws.

Who was the direct object of God’s gift of the Sabbath, shabbat? Humanity. Humanity did not create the Sabbath and has no power to change the original intent of the day. Additionally, humanity is not more powerful than God; they cannot usurp God’s role and rule.

God did not first create the Sabbath, then create humanity and all living things. No, God created humanity before the seventh day, then He declared the seventh day as the Sabbath, a peaceful day blessed by God with rest and consecration. Man sits in time, but man does not sit in one day of time continually. Days rotate within time to come upon humanity, so they may do what God commanded: care for creation. On the blessed and consecrated Sabbath day, God gives rest and reminders so humanity can focus on and worship Him. Work and renewal, a created rhythm God knew that our bodies and our relationship with Him would need for balance and peace.

Adam did not need for God to tell him to walk with Him in the Garden of Eden. That relationship happened because God established it as part of the essence, the inner yearning, of people for connection, closeness, and union. Because God made humanity for His purpose (to be in a relationship with Him), God created His Sabbath laws to cause His initial and overarching purpose. God’s overarching purpose is to have a close love relationship with humanity and to provide rest for them after six days a week of caring for creation.

God created the days and nights for man to give Him a cycle of people, objects, and places to enjoy. He created them for humanity to sustain them while they walked with God daily. God’s love was so comprehensive, He took care of the needs of humanity to work, create, rest, and relate. Why did God create humanity with these innate needs? First, God created people in His image. Just as God enjoyed a close relationship with the three persons of the Trinity and just as God loved to work and create, He created humanity to desire a love relationship with Himself and with other people.

With these understandings, Jesus took the Pharisees in Mark 2:27-28 back to the overarching theme of the Bible. God created humanity to be in a close relationship with Him. Closely following this, He created one day of the seven, which He created, to be a Sabbath day of rest, worship, and meditation for humanity. God did not create humanity for the Sabbath’s enjoyment. Inanimate cannot feel. Hence, the Sabbath laws dictated by the Pharisees take a backseat to God’s original intention for humanity—to be in a loving relationship with God.

To make that possible, God created the Sabbath day for physical rest and to allow the mind of each person to focus solely on Him and his or her relationship with Him. God’s Sabbath laws were an aid to humans for that purpose. The Pharisees Sabbath laws did not always have the love for God as their intention. Plucking grain from the stalk while walking through a field was not work. It allowed the disciples to have nourishment as they followed Jesus. Jesus allowed it because of His love for them of their body, spirit, heart, and mind. His disciples hungered; Jesus loved and did not hinder their plucking grain.

God’s commands/laws give freedom and show His love. The Pharisees’ laws and other laws, which leaders created throughout history, sometimes hinder the wellbeing of people. They steal freedom and leave fear and failure in their place. Human leaders made these laws sometimes just to make the leader feel superior and to make others experience inferiority. Caring and loving other people were not what the impious Pharisees intended with their Sabbath laws. God’s laws give freedom to find and focus on the Father.

The Pharisees did not change or remove their Sabbath laws. Some came to believe in Jesus and He saved them. What personal laws have you created that keep you or others from feeling loved by God and you?

Choose as Jesus taught.

Choose freedom over fear and failure.

Choose a loving relationship with God.

“And Jesus said to them (Pharisees), ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man (Jesus) is Lord even of the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:27-28, ESV)

Love One Another

 

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.” (Galatians 6:1-3)

Christian, when someone is found to have sinned, you who are living Spirit-directed and close to God should, with God’s given meekness and gentleness, strengthen and help that person walk close to God and do His will. Carry each other’s burdens as they are tempted and endure trials, just as Jesus helps you carry your burdens, so they are not too heavy and give encouragement to each other. This is one way to love God and neighbor. It fulfills the law of Christ, which Matthew recorded in Matthew 22:37-40.

In case you think you are important or better than another, rid yourself of that idea. Don’t deceive yourself. None of us is better than others. We each are tempted, sin, and carry heavy burdens. That’s why Jesus told us to love each other, so we receive help, encouragement, and love, and then grow closer to God and more like Jesus.

Notice the person who sees the sin of another is aware, confronts the other person in love, encourages, and walks with that person all in the power and will of God. Living in this way affects the mind, heart, body, and spirit of a person. It grows both the helper and the recipient in their faith and walk with God. One should never note a person’s sin and broadcast it, but should invest in that person by heart, word, and action through the Holy Spirit.

Imitation and Arrogance

 

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.” (3 John 1:11)

Diotrephes refused to give shelter and food to Christians passing through his town. This happened often enough that John was compelled to write about him in his third letter. This one-chapter epistle is about what Diotrephes was doing, how he viewed himself, and what the good Christ-follower should be and do.

John began by commending Gaius for what Christians are expected to be and do—be hospitable to traveling teachers of Christ. Gaius’ actions came from his relationship with and obedience of Jesus and were the baseline of what was expected of Christ-followers.

After setting the example, John juxtaposed the alternative with Diotrophes’ actions and attitude. Diotrephes refused to receive instruction about being hospitable to traveling Christ-followers.  To John, this signaled an arrogance problem. That arrogance led Diotrephes to feel self-important and tout it aloud by slandering traveling evangelists. His heart problem led to a speech problem. Diotrophes’ heart problem led to an action problem; he refused to give shelter, sustenance, and support to Christian travelers. He farthered this attitude by forbidding his congregants to offer hospitality and excommunicating those who gave shelter and food against his command.

Diotrophes had a “me” problem. He determined church law is what he demanded. For Diotrophes, church actions were what he approved. What he commanded, said, and did was the “law.”

John’s example of Diotrophes taught a succinct Christian truth. He wrote, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God” (vs 11). John applied Jesus’ teaching of the two greatest commandments from Matthew 22:36-40. He made a teachable moment. Loving God and your neighbor includes giving shelter, sustenance, and support, at the minimum, to fellow believers.

John’s letter, directed to rebuke Diotrophes, provided edification and commendation. He taught believers should be hospitable. Additionally, John commended Gaius and Demetrius by using them as the example of how a Christ-follower should speak, act, and consider themselves compared to others.

From this short letter, we are led to consider how God is prompting us. Do we need an attitude/heart change, so we are more like Jesus? Do we need to alter how we live and what we say so we act and speak like our Savior? Do we need to grow more in our relationship with God? These questions should be part of your daily time(s) with God.

 Where do you not have a heart like Christ? In what area of life do you regard yourself as the authority? What are you doing and saying that does not imitate Jesus or look like what He taught?

Do you look and sound like Jesus, Gaius, and Demetrius or like Diotrophes?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-39)

Relationships in the Lord’s Prayer

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

— Matthew 6:14

 

Notice, this verse immediately follows the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus didn’t say feed people as God has fed you. He didn’t say keep other people from being tempted as God has you. In the prayer, Jesus acknowledged God—His holiness, supremacy, reign, power, love, mercy, forgiveness, and wisdom. 

 

The only time in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus speaks about what a person is to do is in relation to forgiving another person. In the rest of this prayer, Jesus speaks about what God does, can do, or will do in relation to us.

 

Why is it significant that Jesus spoke about our action in a prayer to God? Why did He choose to speak to us about forgiving a person?

 

In each of the other parts of this prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray to God recognizing who He is and the most important things we need. He emphasized our relationship to God.  When we pray, we are expressing our relationship with God. Just like when we speak with people with whom we are in relationship, we speak with God through prayer. 

 

Still, why did Jesus include the phrase about us forgiving as God forgives? God created us for relationship. We desire relationship with Him and other people. In every other part of this prayer, Jesus spoke about our relationship with God in recognition of who He is. If we do not forgive people, it disrupts our relationships with God and people. Unforgiveness is like a seismic shift in the earth’s core. We don’t fit together well with God and people if we harbor hatred, anger, or grudges. 

 

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to recognize who God is and who we are in relationship to Him. In doing this, our relationship with God stays intact and not fractured. Jesus, in this prayer, also reminded us God forgives and restores relationship with us, and that we must forgive and restore relationships with people as God forgives us.

 

Jesus emphasized this by pointing it out in verse 14. He said, if you forgive people their wrongs against you, then God will forgive you. Is God’s forgiveness conditional? It’s conditioned on our repentance and confession. When we need to forgive someone, all the fault for the break in relationship is not on the other person. We have erred, too. When we forgive the person, we end up recognizing our part in the fractured relationship. This recognition leads us to confession and repentance to God. Forgiving others renews relationship with the person and with God. Verse 14, then, is accurate; we forgive others, then God forgives us.

 

“Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us” (Matt 6:12). 

 

We pray in recognition of who God is. We forgive in recognition of God’s forgiving us. Both are about relationships. God created us for vertical and horizontal relationships. Forgiving renews vertical and horizontal relationships as does regular talking with God and significant people in our lives.

 

Freedom

 

“My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love.”

— Galatians 5:13 (CEV)

 

This Bible translation seems closest to the meaning of the most often used word, “opportunity”. Other Bible translations say don’t use your freedom as an opportunity, occasion, or incentive to indulge in/satisfy your flesh.

 

After looking at the Greek word Paul used in this verse, it seems the verse should read like this. “Don’t use your freedom from slavery to sin, which is gained through believing in and being saved by Christ, as a reason or excuse to indulge your sinful human desires. Instead use your sacrificially bought freedom as the opportunity to serve each other.” 

 

The freedom about which Paul wrote is freedom from our past sins that held us powerless against future temptation and condemned us to eternal separation from God. This freedom, bought through Jesus’ sinless sacrifice on the cross, gives anyone who believes in Him the power of His Holy Spirit, who dwells in each believer, to overcome the temptation and not to sin. This freedom comes from the power of God, who lives in us through the Holy Spirit. 

 

We have the power, if we accept it from the Spirit, not to sin (indulge our human desires) and  only care for our wants. Instead, we can care for other people. When we indulge our human desires and sin, we turn our back on God, and that often means we’ve harmed at least one person overtly and/or covertly. Sinning hurts God, other people, and, often, oneself.

 

Instead of relying on our own power and then sinning, rely on the Spirit’s power, avoid sin and love other people. By doing this, you love God, too.

Feet of Faith

“We hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended. Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places far beyond you, where no one else is working.” (2 Corinthians 10:15b-16a [NLT])

In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul taught about false teachers who sought followers. One way these teachers gave for people to consider them worthy to heed was by declaring how many followers they had. Paul countered this by saying in verse eighteen, “When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them.”

In this chapter, Paul told the Corinthians his hope was for their faith to grow so he could go out farther in the mission field to tell other people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This statement leads us to consider a few things. Paul cared enough for the Corinthians that he wanted to make sure they had a firmly established faith before he left them. He did not want to leave too early and then these new Christians succumb to the deceptions of Satan through false teachers. Paul wanted to make sure the Corinthians understood their salvation by faith in Jesus Christ through God’s grace is enough. He cared that they stood strong in the faith even when other teachers tried to convince them of their own greatness and “prove” their legitimacy. Paul wanted to make sure the Corinthians could stand firm in their faith.

With verses fifteen and sixteen, Paul showed he desired for other people along with the Corinthians to know about Jesus so they, too, might believe in Him and receive salvation from sin and death. He did not sit back, pat himself on the back, and decide he had completed his task from God. Paul did not consider rest his goal but taking the Gospel to each unbelieving person. His goal was to be a bondservant to Christ, experience His mighty power, suffer with Him, share in His death, and experience the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11 [NLT]). Paul’s job as a servant and redeemed child of God was to tell everyone the Gospel, not just the Corinthians. He desired to go as far as Rome and then onward. Paul said further in Philippians 3:12, his goal was to “press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.” He only stopped preaching and teaching when he died. The only commendation Paul sought was from the Lord. God’s commendation of him was the important thing (2 Corinthians 10:18).

How does this relate to us? Why are these verses important for us today? We need to consider if we have grown in our faith or if we have stagnated. Have we listened to the Gospel, believed in Jesus Christ, heard God tell us His task for us, and obediently begun doing as He told us? Being obedient to God requires our continued growth in knowledge of and relationship with Him. It requires daily communing with and obeying Him. This growth was so important that Paul did not want to leave the Corinthians and go further abroad without ensuring they could withstand the fiery darts and arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). How is your faith? Is it growing? Stagnating? Non-existent?

The other thing important for us to understand in these verses is, like Paul, obeying God in one task does not mean we completed His commission of us. Paul heard Jesus tell him He sent him to the Gentiles. Gentiles, plural. Gentiles are all non-Jews. Every city, village, or town outside Israel that was Gentile. Paul’s task was to keep on proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentiles and anyone who would listen. Like Paul, when God tells us to tell other people the Gospel, we have not completed the task the moment we speak the last word of our Gospel testimony to one person or group of people. We do not get to erase that task from our mental whiteboard. Jesus sent His disciples to the world to share the Gospel, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything He commanded them (Matthew 28:16-20). Only upon the death of a disciple is his or her job on earth done. Are you eagerly training the newest converts and growing them to share the Gospel so you can go out further and share the Gospel with more people, too?

In this brief passage, we see Paul’s heart. He cared for the new believers enough not to leave them inadequately prepared to stand against false teachers. Paul taught them until they had a firm foundation in Christ. He desired to continue carrying out Jesus’ commission to him, too. Paul eagerly desired to tell more people about the salvation Jesus Christ gives to anyone who would believe in Him and who would confess and repent of his or her sins. He loved God with his whole being. Paul loved people because of the love Jesus put into his heart. He did not want anyone to die without knowing Jesus Christ as his or her Savior.

Paul got it right; he loved God and loved his neighbor, even if that neighbor lived a two-week boat journey away. He acted upon the love Jesus put in his heart. Paul obeyed the commission Jesus gave him. His obedience to Him showed his love for Him and the people Jesus loved. What does your life show? Does it show your love for God? Are you obeying the commission God has for you? Do you love other people enough to care about their eternal salvation? Have you considered what others would say of your faith when you die? Would they say, “He/she must have hated those people a lot because he/she did not tell them about Jesus, and they were his/her neighbors?”  

Now is the time to look earnestly at your heart, spirit, and mind to decide how deeply you love God.  Are you mature enough to stand on your feet of faith so your own teacher can tell other people about Jesus? Are you mature enough in your faith so you can begin fulfilling the great commission of Jesus with your life because of your love for Him? Do you love your neighbors enough to tell them the Gospel?

“When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them.” (2 Corinthians 10:18 [NLT])

Overflowing Gratefulness

Overview of Earlier Bible Studies

(Note: if you have read the other Bible studies in this series and remember what Paul taught the Colossians and Laodiceans, you can skip this section and go to the section titled, “The Walk.”

The people of Colossae and Laodicea lived in a mixed bag of cultures, philosophical thoughts, and religions. They lived in a region called Asia Minor, specifically the Lycus River valley, where a major highway traversed from east to west. The Babylonians, Romans, Jews, and Greeks influenced the lives of the people. To these people in the 1^st century AD, Paul wrote while imprisoned. About the Christians in Colossae and Laodicea, he received good news and understood things about which he needed to teach and correct them. (see Background of Paul's Letter to the Church at Colossae)

Several cultures, belief systems, and philosophical thoughts influenced the Christians of Colossae and Laodicea. The second Bible study in this series taught us about Paul’s greeting and introduction of himself and Timothy to the Christians. In this greeting, Paul identified himself and Timothy with Jesus and the believers in Colossae and Laodicea. (see Identification)

In the third Bible study of this Colossian series, Paul prayed, offering thanks to God for the growth of the Christians in the churches of Colossae and Laodicea as shown by their love for God and the saints. He continued to thank God because these Christians constantly bore fruit and matured. Paul identified Epaphras, the founding pastor of these churches, as a “beloved fellow bond-servant,” one who willingly submitted to Christ as Paul taught him.  (see Thanksgiving in Colossians)

Paul continued praying over the Colossian Christians to Christ in supplication for them. In these verses, Colossians 1:9-12, he told them he prayed for them daily that they would grow in Christ so they would be well-pleasing to God. Paul prayed for God to fill them with the knowledge of His will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so they would please Him by bearing fruit in good works. He asked for God to increase their knowledge of Him, strengthen the Colossian Christians with all power, and give them steadfastness and patience. Paul ended this intense prayer by asking that they joyously give thanks to God, who qualified them to inherit eternal life with the saints and the Son in His kingdom. (see Glorious Might)

In verses thirteen and fourteen, Paul explained who this Father is of whom he spoke in verse twelve. He explained the Father is the One who will give the Christians the gifts for which he prayed for them. The Father is the one who rescued the believers, who trust in Jesus for salvation. Paul explained the Father rescues and transfers those who trust in Jesus as the Son of God from Satan’s grip and transfers them to the Son’s kingdom. These two verses told the Colossians what the Father wants to do. With the end of verse fourteen, Paul segued to who the Son is. (see Snatched and Delivered)

The Bible study of Colossians 1:15-20 told what Paul taught about who Jesus is. He told the Colossians that Jesus is the exact embodiment of God. Jesus and the Father are of the same mind. Paul explained Jesus is preeminent over all created things. Jesus always existed and created all things with the Father and Spirit ex nihilo, out of nothing. Because of this, He is greater than all created things, including angels, whom the Gnostics proclaimed were greater than Him. Jesus created all things and, in His wisdom, knowledge, and strength, holds all things together. Paul wrote that Jesus is the head of the body, the Church. He explained Jesus is more than these; He is the firstborn of the dead. Jesus came back to life and still exists. He will be first among all things, alive and dead, visible and invisible. The Father, with pleasure, shared His fullness (His superabundance) with His Son. He enabled the reconciliation of people to Him through Christ Jesus. Paul explained how holy God reconciled sinful people to Himself. For the reconciliation of every person, Jesus gave His life as the sacrifice for the death penalty each one deserves because of their sins. Anyone who trusts Jesus is the Son of God and confesses his or her sins, He will save from their sins and death. By doing this, Jesus made peace with God possible. (see Superabundant Peace)

The Bible study of Colossians 1:21-23 shows Paul used a common teaching/writing technique, conditional clauses. He stated who the Colossian Christians were before they trusted in Jesus, then told them what He wants to do for them. That “then” clause is the apodosis clause. It explains what will happen if someone does something. The “if” clause, the protasis clause, tells what must occur to get the certain reward. In these three verses, Paul told the Colossian believers, if people will trust in Jesus as the Son of God and repent of their sins (protasis, the if), then Jesus will save them from their sins (apodosis, the “then”). The Father rescues people who want Him to save them and transfers them to His Son. His Son redeems and reconciles them to God. Nothing else need happen for people to receive salvation from their sins and gain eternal life with God. The Gnostics taught otherwise. (see Attaining Hope)

With the conclusion of Colossians 1, Paul told, in verses twenty-four through twenty-nine, of his calling by Jesus and his stewardship of God upon which he felt compelled to proclaim. His calling was to serve Christ and His church clearly by proclaiming the Gospel. Within the act of clearly proclaiming, Paul said God told him to teach and admonish. He was to preach the “word of God, the mystery which God had hidden from past ages and generations.” The mystery God hid until that time is that Jesus made salvation available for each person, Jew and Greek, slave and free, men and woman. Paul explained the blessing of this mystery is salvation and the indwelling of each believer by Jesus’ Spirit, the hope of glory. Jesus Christ made all things, redeems those who trust in Him, and indwells each believer. Finally, Paul said in verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine, Jesus called him to admonish with God’s gentle persuasion. This persuasion would tell of His love for each person and the salvation Jesus offers. It would convince and convict each person to turn away from their sins and accept the salvation Jesus provides. By doing this, God rescues and transfers people who act upon the faith He gives. He transfers them to the kingdom of His Son by their trust in Jesus as their Savior for salvation. The Gnostics taught against this point. They strove to prove it to anyone who would listen to them about their philosophical thought on advanced religion. The Gnostics said Jesus was only a man and His death did not give salvation. Paul taught otherwise. (see God's Power and Gentle Persuasion)

As we began our study of Colossians 2 with verses one through five, Paul’s pastoral care for the Colossians and Laodiceans, both of whom he had never met, showed in his writing. Just as in Colossians 1:29, where Paul said he strove for the church, in Colossians 2:1, Paul struggled for the church. He did this because of the love Jesus put in his heart when He called him in Acts to proclaim the Gospel to the Jews and Gentiles. Paul concerned himself with ensuring the Christians of Colossae and Laodicea would feel encouraged and unified in love, so they would attain to “all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, Jesus Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3 [NASB]) He taught this so the false teachers could not trick the Christians with persuasive arguments. Paul, as a Christian and a pastoral leader for Christian churches, rejoiced because of the two churches’ “good discipline and the stability of their faith in Christ.” (Colossians 2:5 [NASB]) He said they were like well-trained soldiers aligned in battle array. These believers heard the Gospel and its truth. They had grown in their faith and matured in it so their love for God and Christ showed in their attitudes, actions, and words. Paul encouraged them with his words of commendation because he cared for them and did not want the Gnostics to delude them from the surety of their salvation and hope of glory. (see Rejoicing During Trials)

The Walk

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” (Colossians 2:6-7 [NASB])

With these two verses, Paul returned to his opening prayer for the Colossians and Laodiceans. Paul used the word “therefore” to point us to what immediately preceded the sentence. The preceding sentences of Colossians 2:1-5 were of Paul’s pastoral concern, encouragement of the churches, and rejoicing over them. In essence, Paul said, “Therefore, because you have been encouraged and united in love, and are attaining to the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, which results in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, rejoice. Rejoice because of these and because you have received Christ.”

Paul used several verbs denoting progression in these two verses. When he said, “As you have received,” he spoke to their receiving formal instruction by an ongoing traditional teaching about “Jesus Christ the Lord.” These Christians did not receive just one teaching about Jesus. They learned of Him, trusted in Him, and then kept learning about Him through the teaching of Epaphras and the Holy Spirit living within them. The Christians of Colossae and Laodicea were like sponges. They kept absorbing and growing in their faith in Christ.

Paul’s confession of faith format, “Jesus Christ the Lord,” is an early confession of faith. The Gnostics could not make this confession. They believed Jesus was just a man. The Gnostics did not trust Jesus is the Son of God and that people were to emulate His life. They considered themselves better than the Jesus-followers because they advanced themselves with higher thoughts, not by following a man who they considered as dead.

These Christians did more than hear and believe. They made what they had received a part of their lives. Paul told the Christians of Colossae and Laodicea how to walk. He commended them for how they had already walked in Christ. Paul told them not to let the false teaching of the Gnostics mislead them. He encouraged them to keep walking in “Christ Jesus the Lord.” Because you are a Christian, “walk in Him.” He told them to keep continuing to live completely a life wholly given to Jesus. To hear and believe are not enough. A true Christian is one who follows Jesus, grows to be more like Him, and obeys Him in all things because of love for God. Matthew wrote in Matthew 16:24, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.’” John recorded Jesus’ teaching in John 15:14 when he wrote, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Other writers recorded these same types of teachings. John spoke of love for God in 1 John 5:3-5 when he said,

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? [NASB]

John spoke of loving God in John 14:15. Jesus said in this passage, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Further in this chapter, Jesus said, “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to Him.” (John 14:21 [NASB]) Each of these verses teach that being a Christian is not a static experience, but a daily growing in relationship with God, in likeness to Christ, and in obedience to and love of God. These things are about what Paul speaks in Colossians 2:6-7.

What does this “walking in Christ” require? Paul explained it for them and rejoiced over them because of their walk, just as in chapter one and in 2:5. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:7 walking in Christ includes four verbs-firmly rooted, being built up, established, and overflowing. Each of these verbs connotes ideas of building a building, with one having a double connotation of planting like a farmer.

“Having been rooted” points to what happened and what is coming. Another way to say this phrase is, “Because you have been rooted.” So, because the Colossian and Laodicean Christians “have been rooted” in their faith in “Christ Jesus as Lord,” they can grow in their spiritual journey. They have a firm foundation on which to do the other three verbs. Now that Christ rooted them in conjunction with the person’s active faith, they can go forward and grow more in Christ.

To live a life as a Christian is more than being saved at a point in time. It requires growth. Just as when a farmer plants a seed he expects it to mature into a plant from which he can reap food, Christ, when He saves each person expects him or her to grow into the full image of Him by following Him in obedience. That growth requires “being built up in Him.” This verb is a present continuous verb. It marks something happened in the past and continues into the future. This being built up connotes a plant growing with nutrition like fertilizer, water, and sun. It connotes the building of a building, too. Upon the strong and secure foundation, a builder will spend his time and money to keep building. If the builder just poured a slab of concrete, then did nothing else, people would wonder then laugh at him or her for wasting his or her money. Likewise, Christians must continue being built up in Christ. This building up is a constant increasing in Christian knowledge, which is “hidden in Christ” (Col. 2:2-3). The building up leads to a life conformed by Christ, made in the mold to which the builder laid. If the foundation is immovable and straight, what a person builds upon it will be sure and secure. The Gnostics had no security. They strove of their own limited will to think themselves into being spiritual. Humans are sinful and cannot of their own accord save themselves. Because of this, people need Jesus for their salvation and foundation. As a person roots him or herself in Christ and builds up his or her life and faith in Him, he or she grows stronger so he or she can withstand false teachers.

A true Christian who lives his or her faith shows the meaning of being established in one’s faith. Like being built up, being established is a present continuous verb. It speaks of something that began in the past and continues into the indefinite future. This part of building is making sure the beams, bricks, and stones do not cause the building to lean or sway towards other buildings or with the winds and rains. A disaster could occur from its falling because of its instability or to any natural phenomenon. As a Christ-follower, being established means to make sure and secure your belief by growing in the knowledge and wisdom of God. It gives you have a sure understanding, so teachings and thoughts of other people, like the Gnostic false teachers, do not lead you astray. Remember, in Colossians 1, Paul taught that Jesus has within Himself the knowledge and wisdom of God, so your growing in Christ grows your knowledge and wisdom and vice versa.

Paul then told the Colossian and Laodicean Christians to “be firmly rooted… just as you were instructed.” In the beginning of this letter, Paul told the Christians they could be sure of and secure in what Epaphras taught them because Paul taught him. He taught Epaphras what God taught him. These things of God Epaphras proclaimed to the Colossians and Laodiceans. Paul told the believers this so they would remember what Epaphras taught them and could withstand the teaching of the Gnostics. What the Christians of these two cities heard and learned from Epaphras and believed is the truth. Nothing any person says or thinks of his or her volition adds to it to make salvation more complete. Jesus’ sacrifice makes salvation complete, secure and sure. “Christ Jesus is Lord” was and should be their profession, just as Paul said in Colossians 2:6.

The final verb Paul used in this small passage of his letter is “overflowing.” He said, “Just as you received Jesus, so walk in Him… having been firmly rooted in Him… and overflowing with gratitude.” (Col. 2:6-7) A Christian who is walking in Jesus overflows with gratitude. This overflowing comes from a person’s heart. Its original source is God’s storehouses. This reminds us of the “fullness of God.” We learned in Colossians 1 the “fullness of God” means the superabundance of God given to Christ because He is the image of the invisible God. God’s storehouses overflow with every good thing because it comes from the character of God who is good and made everything good. Each person who trusts in Christ Jesus as Lord has this overflowing of gratitude because the Spirit of Christ lives in him or her. Christ’s Spirit dwells in each Christian and makes available His overflowing storehouses from His character and might. A Christian does not have to burdened because, amid the circumstances in which he or she finds him or herself, things like gratitude flow from God’s superabundant storehouses. Each believer can rejoice in all things. Because of God’s storehouses of gratitude and other godly characteristics, a Christian can “look for the silver lining” while going through hard times or “make lemonade from lemons.” Paul said Jesus made it possible for the Colossian and Laodicean Christians to overflow with gratitude as they walk with Christ. Though false teachers or the storms of life pummel believers, they can rest in the truth and overflow with the gratitude Christ gives them during trials. Expressing overwhelming gratitude reminds them of His strength, power, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and reminds them of their hope of glory. These characteristics of God help Christians get through difficult times. These believers could know what God told Isaiah in Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper.” [NASB]

As long as the Christians in Colossae and Laodicea believed beyond the moment of their salvation and grew by being firmly rooted and built up in Him and established in their faith, they would overflow with gratitude. It would enable them to stand strong against whatever came against them. The Gnostics taught against what they believed, but with a growing relationship in Christ, they could grow in Him and withstand the false teaching. Just as Paul taught these Christians, each person who trusts in Christ Jesus the Lord for his or her salvation can become surer of and stronger in his or her faith if he or she grows in these four ways–by being firmly rooted in Christ, built upon what Christ laid in their hearts, spirits, minds, and lives, established in their faith, and overflowing with gratitude because of their walk and growth in Him. None of these is a static action. Christ Jesus makes each believer complete and perfect when he or she arrives in heaven. Until then, each Christian’s journey is about growing to know God in a more intimate way each day.

Thoughts to Consider:

As you consider what Paul told the Christians in Colossae and Laodicea, have you considered where you are in your relationship with Christ? To be a Christian is more than saying, “I believe.” It requires a person’s daily attention to his or her relationship with God. God wants each person who trusts in Jesus as the Messiah to walk with Him. This requires more than saying, “I do,” like a growing relationship in a marriage requires more than saying, “I do.” It requires growing on the foundation upon which your relationship with God Christ laid in your heart when you said those two words. People may call this work, but most people, those who truly seek God, call it love. Each believer should want to grow in his or her relationship with God because of his or her love and gratitude for Him sending Jesus to live, die, and resurrect to pay the penalty of his or her sins. If someone leapt in front of a car to push you out of the way, you would be grateful for a long time. Jesus did this on a much bigger scale. He leapt in front of Satan’s plan for your life and saved you from eternal death. Because of that, each believer should want to love Him more each day. To love God more each day requires being firmly rooted in, built up, and established in Him, and overwhelming with gratitude. The latter comes because of your deeper understanding of what Christ Jesus did for him or her and of what comes from God’s storehouses because a person lives closer with the Holy Spirit within him or her each day. The questions below should help you learn and grow in your walk with God.

Questions: 

• Have you believed Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior God sent to earth to die for your sin penalty so you can have an eternal relationship with God?
• Do you recall that time often and want to know Jesus more?
• Do you consider the deed done and so moved on, and now find you feel no different from before you said you believed?
• If that is the case, have you considered you may not be saved from your sins and death? True faith in Christ causes change and fruit.
• If you trusted in Jesus as the Messiah and began walking with Him, but became lost on the way, what keeps you from turning back to Him, confessing your walking away from Him, asking forgiveness, and giving your will to Him again as you seek to walk with Him anew?
• If you have been in a growing relationship with God and walk with Him each day, is there something God asks you to do that you refuse to do?
• If you have been on the walk of faith in Jesus for many years, for what can you give praise and thank God?

For next week’s Bible study, read Colossians 2, particularly focus on verses 8-15.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8 [NASB])

Fear or Compulsion

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 [ESV])

What controls you? Fear? Greed? Envy? Stature? Christ? We live in a time of fear for illness and death because of a worldwide pandemic from a coronavirus. This fear causes people to be greedy and buy more supplies than needed from grocery and drug stores. It causes people to say and do hurtful things to other people. This fear is causing some people not to have the staples of life in their homes and they are hungry, do not have medicine, and don’t even have simple things like toilet tissue. Fear is causing people to be inhuman to others. They care about no one except themselves. Fear is controlling their thoughts, words, and actions.

Paul spoke about being controlled by something/Someone. He wrote about this in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 Why be controlled by something that causes you and other people grief and pain? The word “controlled” Paul used in these verses comes from the Greek word meaning to be compelled. Being compelled means being controlled by something or someone. What compels you? Striving after your own goals no matter the cost? Striving to beat death, fear, or poverty? Paul said he was controlled/compelled by Christ. Christ died for each person so none would live only with thoughts for him/herself (earthly, flawed emotions and intentions), but for Him, the eternal, sinless One who loves all people and desires they be saved from their sins.

In the first part of 2 Corinthians 5, Paul wrote about his desire to be with God in His kingdom. He compared this to being clothed by His Holy Spirit. God gives His children, Christians, His Spirit to live within and change them into being more like Christ. Since His children have His Spirit living in them, they long more and more to be with God and to do what He desires. God’s great desire is that all people come to a saving relationship with Him. Because of God’s love for him, Paul felt compelled by love for God to tell and show other people about His love. Paul said his aim was to please the Lord. His love for God compelled him to please Him by his obedience to Him to tell everyone in the world about Jesus. Since Paul’s chief aim was to please God, no other purpose took precedence. Things that could have taken precedence would have been fear for his life, security of home and food, stature among other Jews and Jewish leaders, and bodily health. Paul stated definitively what controlled him was the love of Christ (vs 14).

Understanding this from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, what controls/compels you? Do you want to be controlled by earthly, flawed emotions and intentions? Or would you rather be controlled and compelled by the sinless, eternal One, Jesus Christ? Jesus’ love for each person compelled Him to die the death each of us should receive as judgment for our sins. Jesus allowed His love for us to compel Him to die for us.

In this time of a worldwide health pandemic, what compels and controls you? Your fear of death and not having necessities? Instead, allow the love of Christ who died for you to compel and control you. Allow God’s love to control you so you help other people, are not panicked, and buy only what you need. Seek to serve others, especially those who cannot take care of themselves well during this time such as older adults, homeless people, people with immune deficiencies, people who are chronically ill, and neighbors on your street. Think of these people first, then you will be like Jesus who humbled Himself by taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7).

Are you afraid? Are you worried? Now is the time to pray and to talk to other Christians. Seek the peace of God that surpasses all understanding so your hearts and minds will be guarded by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Have the peace that Christ left with His disciples, not the peace the world tries to give, but His perfect peace so that your heart is not troubled or afraid (John 14:27). Put into practice what Christ has put into you and what He practiced, and God’s peace will be with you (Philippians 4:9).

If you are not a Christian and want to have this eternal peace that comes from God, talk to a minister or a Christian. Pray to God asking Him to give you His peace and to help you understand His saving love. Believe Jesus is the Son of God, confess your sins, and accept Him as your Savior from sin and death, then God’s perfect peace will be in you. Have the peace Isaiah spoke about in Isaiah 26:3, “You (God) will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!” (NLT)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 [ESV])

Lord, please forgive me for getting panicked about my life during this pandemic. Please give me Your peace. Use me for Your purposes during this time so other people receive help and know You love them. Keep me safe in Your faithful hands as I give myself to You and show my love to You by obeying Your compulsion to serve others. Help me keep my mind centered on You and not the trials surrounding me in the world today. Thank you, Lord, for Your love and faithfulness. Amen.

Life and Breath

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?” (John 16:31 [ESV])

Imagine you work for a diving company and your job is to teach people how to dive and to lead them on underwater adventures. One day, you forget to check the air in your air tank. You take people for a dive and within ten minutes, while you are deep in the ocean, you realize your air tank is empty. When you realize this, you panic then make excited motions for everyone to surface, but you don’t have enough oxygen to surface without getting decompression sickness; you get the “bends.” Sometimes people die when this happens.

Christians can get the “bends,” too. We forget to check with our source of Life and salvation each day and moment, then live in our own strength. We run into problems and wonder why that happens since we are Christians. The problems come because we walk in our own strength instead of seeking God who is our Source of life and strength.

As Christians, we know salvation from God came at a moment in time. Many of us remember the date on which we asked Jesus to be our Savior and Lord. Salvation is not only in the past but is also in our present and future. Only God can save us, and He gives us the power to continue to be saved from sin today and have the hope of eternity with Him. Still, many of us say to ourselves, “Okay, I’m saved, now I can go about my life. God’s got me.” God saved us from hell, but we must work out our salvation. We must put shoes on it and live it out. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:23-24,

If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. [ESV]

Jesus equated obedience to Him and the Father as love. He said if you love Me, you will obey Me. In John 8:31-32, Jesus told the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” [ESV]

These statements by Jesus are often starkly different to how we live our lives. We think we’ve been saved, so let’s get on with the business of living. When decisions need to be made, we consider ourselves able to make those choices either from our own intellect or the counsel of friends, professionals, or the internet. “Why bother God with everyday needs. I’ve got it,” we may say within ourselves. Or, another possibility is that we’ve heard from God, had a vision, and proceeded to work as He led us, then we just got into the task to which God told us to work and broke off communication with Him. We don’t talk to Him daily about the work, praying over it for guidance, safety, and provision. We get into the rote task of just doing the work. This, too, is not working out our salvation, as Paul spoke of it in Philippians 2:12-13. In this passage, Paul said,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. [ESV]

Keeping God’s word, that is obeying Him, shows our love for Him. When we get lost in the myriad tasks of living, we forget to seek Him and His will, and instead do the next best thing we know. When we do that, we show our limited love of God. If instead we keep God’s word, we put shoes on our faith in God and work out our salvation. The purpose of working out our salvation is to grow more in our relationship with God, become more Christlike, and show/tell others about Jesus. Paul said to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We realize our salvation only comes from God through Jesus. It doesn’t come from ourselves. We recognize God’s might, sovereignty, and mercy. We come before Him in awe and reverence of who He is. On top of this, we realize what we can’t ever do. We cannot save ourselves, but we can grow in our relationship with God and show our love to Him by obeying Him and living out His love and salvation so the people of the world can know about Him. This is working out our salvation.

Today, the questions for us Christians are: Do you love God? Do you obey Him? Do you seek Him daily to grow your relationship with Him and to live each moment of your day in His strength and power and with His wisdom and understanding doing His will? Alternatively, did you believe in God for salvation, but then only speak to Him in dire emergencies? Did you listen to Him tell you what to do, what ministry He wanted you to join Him in, then not turn to Him for daily guidance? That creates burn-out and frustration with the people to whom you are ministering. Possibly you are thinking, “Those people are ungrateful; they don’t try to help themselves by learning what I am teaching them. They just want me to keep giving and helping but do nothing for themselves.” Stop. Consider what you are thinking or saying. That is not God’s attitude. You’ve forgotten to go to the Source of your vision, resources, guidance, and love. Instead of having the mind of Christ, you follow the thoughts of your own mind. Consider what Paul said of the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:5-11. He said Jesus was humble. He emptied Himself by becoming a servant in the likeness of man. Jesus was obedient to God even to the point of dying on a cross. Is that the mind you have? Do you love the Father so much you would obey Him in anything? Do you hear His voice in prayer, Bible study, and preaching? Have you humbled yourself to do God’s will?

Loving God, obeying Him, and having the mind of Christ come from working out your salvation. Without seeking to love God daily, living will lead you to get the “bends” like scuba divers can get. You can’t have breath without Life, and you can’t have Life without breath. God gave and gives us life and breath. One without the other is not living; it’s gasping for breath. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known my Father also.” (John 14:6-7a [ESV])

All Christians should be working out their salvation. If you aren’t, you need to ask yourself if you truly know Jesus and the Father.

Loving God leads to working out your salvation.

Working out your salvation means loving God.

 You can’t have one without the other.

If you are not a Christian, today you can make that decision. Recognize Jesus is the Son of God who came to die the death penalty for your sins. Confess your sins and repent of them. Ask Jesus to forgive you. Give Him your life to be your Savior and Lord. If you made this decision today, contact me through messaging or through the contact form on my website. I want to pray for you and connect you with a Bible-based church, if possible.

Lord, I made a decision to follow You, but sometimes I end up thinking of answers for myself and looking to guidance from within myself. I consider I am smart enough to do what You ask, and I forget to seek You for guidance even on the miniscule decisions that need to be made. I’ve not been working out my salvation. I’ve not been loving You through obedience to You. Forgive me for forgetting You or for putting You on the sidelines of my life. I need You every moment of each day otherwise I am not living; I’m just gasping for air. Lord, help me work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Help me remember You and to seek Your will in all things. Use me to tell someone about You and to help them in Your name. Forgive me of my sins of independence and making myself more important that You. You are sovereign God, the One who knows all things, has all power, and does good in all things. I am sinful and do not. I am not You. Lord, here’s my life again; I give it back to You. Amen.

Love and Denial

“But everyone who denies Me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33 [NLT])

After Jesus called and appointed His disciples, He explained to them that the world, even their families, would be against them. He said this would occur because people mocked Him, their Teacher, and would persecute and kill Him. What a way to begin an appointment service; “You will go out and you will be hurt.” How many of us would choose to accept an appointment for a job when the officiant says these words? Jesus spent verses 11-39 telling the disciples who their antagonists would be. He probably surprised them when He said even their own families would be against them.

Stated amid these warnings during their appointment, Jesus arrived at His “or else” statement. Verse thirty-three says, “But everyone who denies Me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” [NLT] So often when we read the word “deny”, we think of it as an overt action. Denial in our minds means blatantly to state with our mouths we are not followers of someone. Peter blatantly and overtly denied three times that he was a follower of Jesus after Jesus’ arrest in Matthew 26:33-35.

Each of us understands this meaning for denying something. Yet, there is another way to deny Jesus. A person can choose not to preach, teach, or say what God told him or her to say or do. This denial is covert. Only God and the person are aware of this denial. Maybe God told you to speak to the woman who just experienced the death of a child. Possibly, He told you to substitute teach a Sunday School class. Perhaps God told you to tell the cashier at the store about Jesus, but you kept your mouth closed when you were in the store. This covert denial shows you do not recognize God as Lord of your life. It shows you do not love the Lord more than yourself.

The inaction of covert denial, when God told you to say or do something, is denying God and is rebellion against Him just as much as overt denial. Any rebellion against God is sin. So often we think if no one else knows, then that thing we did or didn’t do isn’t sin because God doesn’t know either, right? In reality, God is everywhere present at the same time. We cannot hide ourselves, thoughts, actions, inactions, or words from Him.

Between you and God right now, admit to yourself you have sinned against Him by covertly not saying or doing what He told you to say or do. Admit this to God and genuinely repent of this denial, this sin, against Him. Ask Him to forgive you and to strengthen you in your faith and in your love for Him. Thank Him for His love, patience, and forgiveness and ask Him to grow you so you love Him perfectly.

“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” (John 14:21 [NLT])

“If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.” (John 15:10 [NLT])

Either God is LORD of your life, or you are.

Denying God shows you love yourself more than you love God.

“Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.’” (Matthew 16:24 [ESV])

Who is Lord of your life?