Tag: ChristianLiving

Once a month the church I attend has a Dinner On The Ground Indoors – what other churches I’ve been part of would call a Fellowship Dinner.

In most churches these dinners were a time to chat and share a good meal. That’s what fellowship is, right? Visiting?

A dictionary defines it as:

NOUN

1. friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests:
   “they valued fun and good fellowship as the cement of the community”
   synonyms: companionship · companionability · sociability
2. the status of a fellow of a college or society:
   “she held the Faulkner fellowship”

Definitions provided by Oxford Dictionaries

Which of these, if either, is closest to the fellowship the Bible encourages us to engage in? Let’s see what the Bible has to say about this topic. Continue reading “Fellowship: What it Really Means”

Jesus and his disciples are crossing the sea of Galilee when the waves and wind rise up against them in a storm. The disciples ask Jesus to save them, he calms the sea with words, and these men are amazed. They ask one another, “Who is this man, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matt 8:27)

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he selected 12 men who were his inner circle. They were His helpers, they were His students, they would become His apostles: traveling their world to spread His gospel. But their realization of who He is came slowly.

By the time we get to the events of Matthew 8, Jesus has been traveling the region with his disciples for some time. He has healed many people – probably many hundreds of people – of all manner of sicknesses. He has cast out demons. He has worked miracles. These men have been right there and seen it all. And yet, after all they have witnessed, these men, of all men, don’t know ” who is this man “!

But, we look at these men from the perspective of a modern day Christian, having access to a complete Bible. We must remember that these men held a different viewpoint. Continue reading “Who Is This Man?”

I often hear people ask, “Why is God punishing me?” because they have fallen into hardship. It saddens me to hear this.  God is not a heavy handed tyrant doling out discipline without reason.

Hebrews chapter 12 talks about the discipline of God: in it Paul compares our relationship with God to that of a human father and child. He asks: what father who loves his son does not discipline him? What is he asking?

While there is a modern trend of “Never say ‘no’ to your child” which believes that correcting a child’s bad behavior will damage their psyche – I say that’s hogwash. Ever since humans walked the Earth we have known that children need guidance to learn what is right, what is wrong, and to have respect for their parents and teachers. While I do not advocate beating a child, discipline, guidance, correction must be carried out.

If I, the son of a human father, recognize that my father was molding me as a child, not persecuting me, how can I shake a fist at God when I am being disciplined? Continue reading “The Discipline of God”

There is a marked tendency to push all mention of Christianity out of the public forum. Where praise or prayer is still allowed, most insist that the addressed deity be confined to “God”. The name of Jesus is pointedly excluded. Why?

God is generic. Anyone who believes in a god can mentally substitute their own deity into a prayer or giving of thanks, even some discussions – as long as definitive names such as Elohim or Jehovah are avoided. Those who deny the existence of ANY god will be offended in any case. Continue reading “God: Yes, Jesus: No”

Forgiveness is something people who claim the title of Christian wear like an Olympic medal. They say things like, “Because I believe in Jesus, I am forgiven of my sins.” and walk around feeling very confident regardless of the things they include in their lives. 1 John 1:5 (and following) says:

⁵ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Continue reading “Forgiveness”

In Romans chapters 6 ,7, and 8 Paul is teaching about the relationships between our flesh, our spiritual self, and our bondage to three laws. The first law is the law of the flesh. Our fleshly bodies are ingrained with a tendency for sin by following our base natures. The law of the spirit comes upon us when we accept Jesus and the Holy Spirit indwells us. This helps us fight against the law of the flesh. The law of God is made up of the rules God has set out to His people, beginning with the Ten Commandments.

Our physical bodies can be alive in the flesh, but dead to the Spirit because we are following the law of the flesh. Even gracious, loving, people are the walking dead if they have rejected Jesus. Their bodies have mortal life but because their spirits are dormant the law of the flesh reigns in their life, leading them toward sinful behaviors which results, eventually, in spiritual death (which does not refer to a cessation of awareness, but the eternal separation from God. All spirits are immortal: where they spend eternity is determined on the day of judgment). Continue reading “Spiritual Zombies”

In Romans 5 Paul talks about how sin came into the world through the disobedience of one man: Adam. God gave him one rule; do not eat the fruit of this tree, and Adam broke that one rule. Sin has been with us ever since: we are born into a sin-filled world.

Sin is dealt with through one man: Jesus. “⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.“

Since the time of Moses, God has dealt with sinfulness through sacrifice. The Israelites atoned for their sin by sacrificing unblemished animals. But this did not eliminate sin, only paid for sins committed. Continue reading “A Friend In Jesus”

Some churches have several dominant personalities in leadership positions – even if they are not officially leaders.  Sometimes diversity causes frictions between these people and others that erupts into sparks of distention.   I’ve seen it happen many times in the various churches I’ve been a part of.  Sometimes these frictions are over what is most important in a church or how it is to operate.  In most cases those butting heads are following their own hearts and truly believe in what they propose as being most important and what everyone should focus on.

What is often overlooked is that our diversity is often our greatest strength.  1 Corinthians 12 puts it this way: Continue reading “Unity in Diversity”

Can someone be justified (saved) through good works alone? Romans 3:20-26 says, “²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (NKJV).

Here Paul is speaking to a mixed crowd of Jews and gentiles. Jews claimed to be justified by the Law of Moses. The problem is that no man (except Jesus) has or can keep the Law perfectly, so he must constantly make sacrifice as atonement:”by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight”. The purpose of the Law was not to justify unto salvation, but to make it clear how far man is from perfection: “the Law is the knowledge of sin.” Continue reading “Righteousness Through Faith”