(Not so much a series of teachings as much as a series of personal reflections on Bible passages that God has used to stir my heart regarding this important matter of faith amidst the challenges He has led me through. Go to part 2.)
When my heart is persistently shaken by challenging circumstances, it can feel like the core of who I am is vulnerable to wear and tear. This affects things that are essential -- the pillars of my heart that my life in God depend on. One of those pillars is the pillar of faith.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith, it's impossible to please God. Romans 14:23 says that whatever isn't done with faith is sin. But Isaiah 7:9 puts it yet another attention-grabbing way: "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all" (ESV). In other words, if our faith fails, we fail. If we're not firm in our faith in God, we won't be able to be firm in love, hope -- in anything that God is meant to provide.
This makes faith mighty important. "More precious than gold" according to 1 Peter 1:7. It's something I don't want to lose. It's something that I need to pursue in order to grow in (1 Timothy 6:11) so that when circumstances shake it, it will be firm and I will be firm.
I've known such shaking and there have been times when I've seen serious cracks develop in my faith. And the only way of repair that I know of is to fill my heart with the truth of God's Word, for I know that "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). And as I cling to "the hope of the Gospel that you heard", I can be "stable and steadfast" in my faith (Colossians 1:23) no matter what I face!
© 2009 by Ken Peters
Showing posts with label 54. 1 Timothy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 54. 1 Timothy. Show all posts
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The chase is on! (church bulletin cover)
I went swimming with my 11-year old son the other day. At first, we threw a ball back and forth. That was okay. We splashed each other a bit, but he didn't like that much. Then I began to chase him, and he was immediately excited!
A good chase can cause an adrenaline rush. In a movie, a good chase scene can be worth the ticket price. There's suspense in it. Where will it lead? To what extremes will it go? Well, I believe we're meant to apply that sense of excitement and urgency to our pursuit of God.
Look at Paul's choice of words in 1 Timothy 6:11 -- "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things! Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness." In other words, we're being chased and we're chasing something ourselves. Does that excite us or would we prefer a more sedate Christian life? The message of this verse is that we have no choice -- the chase is on! Either we flee or get caught. And if we flee, it's best that we run to Jesus and pursue the life He intends us to live.
Paul's very next words are "Fight the good fight of the faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). This reinforces the fact that we're in an aggressive situation whether we like it or not, and we might as well embrace the excitement of it all! My son Nicholas was excited by the chase I provided for him because he knew the person chasing him is his friend. As a man or woman of God, we can be excited by the chase of faith because we know the One we're pursuing is infinitely greater than the sin we're fleeing from.
This means we're in the most exciting chase-scene imaginable! We're fleeing the temptations of the enemy of our souls and pursuing a God who lives right inside of us so that He can help us to live godly lives and deliver us from temptation. The only suspense about such a chase is provided by the choices we make, because the outcome is clear: Jesus, the One we pursue, catches our pursuer, and we will one day see Jesus' glory (1 Timothy 6:13-16).
Here's a short sample of a foot chase unlike any you've probably ever scene. Let it be indicative of how determined we are to flee from sin as we pursue the One who gives us strength to run!
© 2009 by Ken Peters
A good chase can cause an adrenaline rush. In a movie, a good chase scene can be worth the ticket price. There's suspense in it. Where will it lead? To what extremes will it go? Well, I believe we're meant to apply that sense of excitement and urgency to our pursuit of God.
Look at Paul's choice of words in 1 Timothy 6:11 -- "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things! Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness." In other words, we're being chased and we're chasing something ourselves. Does that excite us or would we prefer a more sedate Christian life? The message of this verse is that we have no choice -- the chase is on! Either we flee or get caught. And if we flee, it's best that we run to Jesus and pursue the life He intends us to live.
Paul's very next words are "Fight the good fight of the faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). This reinforces the fact that we're in an aggressive situation whether we like it or not, and we might as well embrace the excitement of it all! My son Nicholas was excited by the chase I provided for him because he knew the person chasing him is his friend. As a man or woman of God, we can be excited by the chase of faith because we know the One we're pursuing is infinitely greater than the sin we're fleeing from.
This means we're in the most exciting chase-scene imaginable! We're fleeing the temptations of the enemy of our souls and pursuing a God who lives right inside of us so that He can help us to live godly lives and deliver us from temptation. The only suspense about such a chase is provided by the choices we make, because the outcome is clear: Jesus, the One we pursue, catches our pursuer, and we will one day see Jesus' glory (1 Timothy 6:13-16).
Here's a short sample of a foot chase unlike any you've probably ever scene. Let it be indicative of how determined we are to flee from sin as we pursue the One who gives us strength to run!
© 2009 by Ken Peters
Monday, June 1, 2009
Lists to Live by
When we make a list, we're making note of things that matter to us -- we're listing things we'd rather not forget. And with about three-quarters of a million words in the Bible, wouldn't it be handy if God just cut to the quick sometimes and used some clear concise lists to tell us precisely what matters to Him? Well, if you haven't noticed, God does do that. From the ten commandments in Exodus 20 to the eight fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, He uses many lists throughout the Bible to highlight what He truly values!
God uses lists to tell us what we should pursue and what we should avoid. He uses lists to tell us what He requires of us as well as what we need in order to be fruitful. If God offered you a list of character traits and told you, "If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they'll keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful", would you pay attention? And what if He told you of that list that, "If you practice these qualities, you'll never fall"? That'd be an important list to have! Well, there is such a list, and others like it. And personally, I think we ought to remember what God puts on such lists, because they provide an easy way to recall what matters to Him. Let's look at a few, beginning with the shortest list, but also the most important!
Jesus lists in Matthew 22:35-40 what the two greatest commands are in all the Bible... a) Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and b) Love your neighbour as yourself.
In 1 Timothy 6:11, we find a helpful list of what every man or woman of God should pursue...
God makes it very easy for us to see what matters to Him. Just check the lists. And be encouraged that the rich wealth of words before and after each list tell us how God provides us with all we need to live these lists every day!
© 2009 by Ken Peters
God uses lists to tell us what we should pursue and what we should avoid. He uses lists to tell us what He requires of us as well as what we need in order to be fruitful. If God offered you a list of character traits and told you, "If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they'll keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful", would you pay attention? And what if He told you of that list that, "If you practice these qualities, you'll never fall"? That'd be an important list to have! Well, there is such a list, and others like it. And personally, I think we ought to remember what God puts on such lists, because they provide an easy way to recall what matters to Him. Let's look at a few, beginning with the shortest list, but also the most important!
Jesus lists in Matthew 22:35-40 what the two greatest commands are in all the Bible... a) Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and b) Love your neighbour as yourself.
In 1 Timothy 6:11, we find a helpful list of what every man or woman of God should pursue...
- righteousness
- godliness
- faith
- love
- perseverance
- gentleness
- doing justice
- loving kindness
- walking humbly with God
- faith
- virtue
- knowledge
- self-control
- perseverance
- godliness
- kindness
- love
God makes it very easy for us to see what matters to Him. Just check the lists. And be encouraged that the rich wealth of words before and after each list tell us how God provides us with all we need to live these lists every day!
© 2009 by Ken Peters
Thursday, May 14, 2009
My enthusiasm for the Pillar of the Truth
I've grown tired of the church-bashing jargon that gets tossed around so flippantly by some Christians these days. It's as though the Church of Christ was just another piece of plastic in our disposable world that we can discard when it no longer feels relevant to our fickle souls. Yes, I know that people have been hurt in churches and so that seems to legitimize a disregard for whatever caused them pain. But I'm not so sure. It seems to me that the Church of Christ is too important for such drastic reactions. My reading of the New Testament leaves me convinced that the corporate and unified expression of Christianity is not an option -- but is a vital part of God's plan.
An old friend of mine who is quite the scholar has for some time been grappling with the place of the church in this world. In one of his reflections on this topic, he quotes William Willimon, a Methodist bishop, theologian, writer and preacher whom I'd never read anything by...
"I hold to the statement that we [he and Stanley Hauerwas] made in Resident Aliens. 'The only way for the world to know what it is to be redeemed is for the church to point to the Redeemer by being a redeemed people.' The only way for the world to know that it is the world -- namely fallen, corrupt, yet being saved and redeemed -- is through the presence of a 'being saved and being redeemed' community, the church. Salvation must have institutional embodiment, for it is hard to keep so strange a story going, over time, across the generations when the triumvirate of the government, the economy, and Hollywood have such powerful means of marginalizing such a story. It's hard to envision a new heaven and a new earth, all things restored in Jesus, if we do not at least have a glimpse of that future here and now. Left to our own devices, we tend to regard this world with its present princes, powers and social arrangements as normal. The church's existence is in itself a corporate, material, political claim about salvation that the world cannot smother, despite its best efforts." (Emphases mine)
As more and more people seek to distance themselves from what they call organized religion and institutional Christianity, I think of things that Paul said as he wrote to Timothy. Right there in the inspired pages of the New Testament, Paul gave us his view of the Church. He instructed Timothy to establish the office of overseers (1 Timothy 3:1) and explained that there must be qualifications for both overseers and deacons (3:2-13). Paul spoke of people having authority to rule in the Church (5:17) and of there being roles in the Church, such as the public readings of Scripture in obvious reference to the public gatherings of the Church itself (4:11-14). And he spoke of young and old all being together in unity in the Church (1 Timothy 5).
I don't intend this to be a study of everything Paul wrote about the Church. I simply want to reinforce the idea that the Church is actually meant to be an organized and structured corporate expression in which authority is exercised and unity is essential. Such ideas are not the evil invention of some controlling so-called modernists!
There is one statement Paul makes that seems to communicate this better than any other, and it appears right after all his organizational talk of offices and overseers : "I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth (1 Timothy 3:14-15).
Two things jump out at me in that statement. One is that Paul saw the corporate expression of Christianity as a "household" or as a family, something that has its own necessary expressions of authority and unity, and which is meant to be defined by God rather than by the preferences of humanity.
The second is that the Church is a "pillar and buttress of the truth." Ask your average Christian what they think the pillar of the truth is and they'll likely say the Word of God or Christ Himself (the living Word). But Paul says it's the Church. In other words, the Church is needed in a unified corporate expression -- with its offices and its public gatherings -- in order for a watching world to know what the truth is. So why don't we as Christians stop bashing the church, and instead try to be of assistance as it sincerely attempts to accomplish that task (in all its many valid expressions)!
© 2009 by Ken Peters
An old friend of mine who is quite the scholar has for some time been grappling with the place of the church in this world. In one of his reflections on this topic, he quotes William Willimon, a Methodist bishop, theologian, writer and preacher whom I'd never read anything by...
"I hold to the statement that we [he and Stanley Hauerwas] made in Resident Aliens. 'The only way for the world to know what it is to be redeemed is for the church to point to the Redeemer by being a redeemed people.' The only way for the world to know that it is the world -- namely fallen, corrupt, yet being saved and redeemed -- is through the presence of a 'being saved and being redeemed' community, the church. Salvation must have institutional embodiment, for it is hard to keep so strange a story going, over time, across the generations when the triumvirate of the government, the economy, and Hollywood have such powerful means of marginalizing such a story. It's hard to envision a new heaven and a new earth, all things restored in Jesus, if we do not at least have a glimpse of that future here and now. Left to our own devices, we tend to regard this world with its present princes, powers and social arrangements as normal. The church's existence is in itself a corporate, material, political claim about salvation that the world cannot smother, despite its best efforts." (Emphases mine)
As more and more people seek to distance themselves from what they call organized religion and institutional Christianity, I think of things that Paul said as he wrote to Timothy. Right there in the inspired pages of the New Testament, Paul gave us his view of the Church. He instructed Timothy to establish the office of overseers (1 Timothy 3:1) and explained that there must be qualifications for both overseers and deacons (3:2-13). Paul spoke of people having authority to rule in the Church (5:17) and of there being roles in the Church, such as the public readings of Scripture in obvious reference to the public gatherings of the Church itself (4:11-14). And he spoke of young and old all being together in unity in the Church (1 Timothy 5).
I don't intend this to be a study of everything Paul wrote about the Church. I simply want to reinforce the idea that the Church is actually meant to be an organized and structured corporate expression in which authority is exercised and unity is essential. Such ideas are not the evil invention of some controlling so-called modernists!
There is one statement Paul makes that seems to communicate this better than any other, and it appears right after all his organizational talk of offices and overseers : "I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth (1 Timothy 3:14-15).
Two things jump out at me in that statement. One is that Paul saw the corporate expression of Christianity as a "household" or as a family, something that has its own necessary expressions of authority and unity, and which is meant to be defined by God rather than by the preferences of humanity.
The second is that the Church is a "pillar and buttress of the truth." Ask your average Christian what they think the pillar of the truth is and they'll likely say the Word of God or Christ Himself (the living Word). But Paul says it's the Church. In other words, the Church is needed in a unified corporate expression -- with its offices and its public gatherings -- in order for a watching world to know what the truth is. So why don't we as Christians stop bashing the church, and instead try to be of assistance as it sincerely attempts to accomplish that task (in all its many valid expressions)!
© 2009 by Ken Peters
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