Category: Bible Studies

Have you noticed when you try to clear your mind for prayer, it quickly becomes cluttered? And when we gather for worship, anxious thoughts and even temptations spoil our good intentions. So, where do these thoughts come from?

A Jewish rabbi once explained that they come from the devil. Whenever we have good intentions, Satan is standing nearby to distract us. The Tempter is working his hardest during worship, so after worship, “the Chassidim sit together, raise their glasses in l’chayim, and pour out their hearts in blessing. ‘Yankele, you should find a proper match for your daughter,’ exclaims one man to his friend. ‘Beryl, your business should have as many customers as the eyes on a potato,’ exclaims another.

“[Satan], already regaling in his victory of having confounded the prayer of an entire congregation of Jews, and seeing them eating and drinking, concludes that they have finished praying and joyfully retires for the morning.

“Now, it is a clear law in the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) that prayer can be said in any language that one understands. So when Jews gather together to say l’chayim, and they begin to bless one another from the depths of their hearts, it is the real prayer. Their intentions are pure, as their [Tempter] has left them to their own devices; and their prayers go straight to the heart of the Master of the World.” [1]

I wonder if gloomy faces and sour hearts attract Satan? Perhaps joyful Christians with hearts full of the Holy Spirit will keep the devil at arm’s length!

  [1] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/260552/jewish/The-Disguised-Prayer.htm

We were young and on a mission! It was June 1968. The war in Vietnam was hot. There were protests in the streets. It was the summer of love, but we had no part in that. I was fourteen, and we were hiking the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier in Washington State. The trail is 91 miles long and completely encircles the 14,410-foot-high volcano. The trail passes through thick lowland forests and climbs over high glacier-covered passes. It was incredibly strenuous, but we were prepared. Every day we ran laps at the High School track. We planned each step and studied the maps. I still can’t believe my parents let me do it. It was a wonderous time.

For the first, we raced up the trail under our packs. We ran for fifteen minutes and then rested for five. Then we took off again: start and stop, start, and stop. On the third day, we came across a cute little couple. They were in their 70s and looked so sweet. He had his alpine hat with a feather, and she wore a check shirt and sweater. They were out for a day hike, and we quickly passed them. Then, about the third rest stop we took, we heard a strange sound: step, step, step. It was slow and steady. Then we spied the feather from his hat coming up the trail! “Quick! Grab your packs! Let’s get moving!” We raced a little farther before collapsing. Step. Step. Step. Step. “They are catching us! Let’s go!” Step. Step. Step. Step.

Let’s skip to the end of the story. The little old couple beat us to the top of the pass. They passed again on the way down. “We waited for you as long as we could,” she explained, “but we were getting cold.” We looked down at our boots, panting. He was kind. “Those packs look very heavy. If we were younger, we would like to hike the Wonderland Trail.” We looked up, wiped the sweat from our eyes, and smiled.

Since then, I’ve learned the race isn’t always to the swift. It’s perseverance that counts!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1 – 2).

In two recent devotionals, I mentioned the Apostle Paul loved to sing (Tuesday, March 29th), and we looked at Philippians (Wednesday, March 30th) as an example of one of his hymns. Paul’s third hymn (Colossians 1:15 – 20) is also his most complicated. Let’s look at it now:

The Preeminence of Christ 

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

It can be a little hard to see, but the hymn has three parts:

1. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. …
2. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. …
3. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. …

That would be hard to put into music, but the focus is obviously on the nature of Christ. So today, let’s just look at the first part of the first stanza: “He is the image of the invisible God.”

A little boy was drawing feverously in Bible School Class. The teacher walked over to see what he was so intent on. “Tell me about your picture, Tommy,” she said.

“I’m drawing a picture of God,” he replied without even looking up.

The teacher smiled knowingly. “But Tommy, no one knows what God looks like.”

Tommy put down his crayon and looked up. “Well, they will,” he explained, “when I’m finished with this drawing!”

Have you ever wondered why the Bible is so strict about “No idols!” The Second Commandment reads, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4). The Apostle Paul was upset to encounter the idols of Athens: “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols” (Acts 17:16)

We might have admired the Grecian artwork, but Paul was “provoked.” Instead, we might say, “It’s just a visual aid,” but it’s more than that. Idols are evil because they attempt to put God in a box. When we can define something, we have some control over it. We make ourselves greater than God. An idol can never truly represent the Creator!

But we need to know, don’t we? What is God like? Does He understand what I am going through? The Apostle Paul sings, Jesus “is the image of the invisible God.” You don’t need a stone-cold idol to know the Lord. Just think of Jesus! He is the exact representation of the Almighty! No need for idols here.

There it was! The Codex Sinaiticus is “one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. Its heavily corrected text is of outstanding importance for the history of the Bible, and the manuscript – the oldest substantial book to survive Antiquity – is of supreme importance for the history of the book.”[1] When the Russians decided to sell it in 1933, British schoolchildren began a campaign to raise the money. Through their gifts, efforts of the British Museum, and a contribution from the British treasury, £100,000 was raised, and the manuscript was purchased. Today you can see it at the British Library in London.

A few years ago, my childhood dream of doing just that was finally fulfilled. Some visitors to London want to see Big Ben, Parliament, the Thames River, the Tower. I could have cared less. I was there to see the most famous copy of the Bible in the world: Codex Sinaiticus.

Jan and I arrived at a very ordinary-looking library. We climbed the stairs and found the manuscript room. I had expected lines of tourists and scholars waiting patiently to view the codex. Instead, Sinaiticus was housed in a simple glass case alongside a few other old books. The guard was off in one corner, reading a newspaper. Jan and I were alone with the most precious book in the world! I reverently walked up, leaned on the glass, and slowly deciphered the ancient text. It was the most beautiful book I had ever seen. Neatly formed letters covered the parchment. I exclaimed, “It’s the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians!” The guard in the corner looked up. Jan rolled her eyes and walked over to view the Beatles’ exhibit to study a Paul McCartney manuscript, but my heart was pounding. Years of Greek classes were rewarded as I spent the next two hours admiring two pages from this famous book.

Not everyone would be as excited as I was that day. For most, it would be like visiting 14 cities in 9 days just to put a checkmark on your bucket list. “Been there. Done that.” That’s alright. When I visited the Louvre Museum in Paris, I remember running down the hallway chanting, “That’s famous. That’s famous.” Still, without an. education in art, I couldn’t appreciate what I was seeing.

Sometimes we treat the Bible like that. We underline a few passages and fail to appreciate the complete Word of God. Do you feel the Hebrew writer’s frustration as he says:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11 – 14)

What are you having for breakfast today? Milk or meat? Dig into the Word of God! Go deep!

If I told you I was a master of French literature, you would expect me to know French, but sadly that is not true for most preachers. A minister claims to be a master of God’s Word, the Bible, but the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew, and most ministers, after a brief exposure to Greek and possibly Hebrew, have given up the hard work of language study. Why?

First, elders and congregations don’t expect their ministers to know the Biblical languages. Unless it is done very well, a minister who says, “In the original language,” instantly shuts off his audience. My grandfather was like that. “Johnny, that word could mean ‘peanut butter’ for all I know. That preacher is just showing off,” and Papa was right. It takes years of study to understand the subtle nuances, and preachers just don’t have time for that. At least that’s what they say, but I think that’s an excuse.

A little knowledge of Greek and Hebrew will allow you to use the finest tools, commentaries, and resources. Yes, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Language and grammar are very subtle, especially if there is no one to check your conclusions before making your pronouncements, but it is a worthwhile beginning.

One of the great benefits of reading the original languages is that it slows you down. We are often so familiar with the English Bible that we race through the text and miss the gems. Likewise, by reading the original text, you can understand why the various translators made their choices.

Studying the very words of Paul – in his language – is a blessing. Ideas for sermons, classes, and illustrations abound. For example, James coins a new Greek word: dipsuchos (δίψυχος) in his epistle. It means a man with “two souls.” Poor Lot’s wife had this condition. She wanted to continue living in Sodom, but she also wanted to be saved. The conflict between her two desires turned her into a pillar of salt.

Finally, we live in an age of remarkable resources. Virtually anyone can learn to basics of Hebrew and Greek, so why not?

Of course, I remember one day at Abilene Christian University. I was a little depressed. I was a Greek major, and it was hard! Dr. Furman Kearley took me aside and said, “John, you know you don’t have to know Greek to go to heaven.” So I looked up and nodded my head, then he continued with a twinkle in his eye, “But of course, you will be bored when you can’t talk to anybody!”

In January 2014, three students purchased a lumpy couch from a Salvation Army Store in New Paltz, N.Y. The sofa was serviceable but made funny crinkling sounds as they sat on it. Finally, after a couple of months, they decided to investigate. The kids opened two of the side pillows, and concealed within, they found two or three bubble-wrapped envelopes. Their eyes went wide, and they began shouting so loud the neighbors thought the kids had won the lottery. They found over $40,000 in stacks of hundred-dollar bills inside those envelopes! They started dreaming of cars, boats, and what that money would buy.

However, the excitement was short-lived when they found one envelope with a woman’s name on it.

“The entitlement very quickly went away with finding that notice with her name on it. Because we didn’t earn that money,” Guasti said.

With the help of Werkhoven’s mother, the group was able to find the woman the money belonged to. They called her and returned the cash.

“I’m like ‘I found something that I think is yours,’ and she’s like ‘what?!’ and I’m like ‘I found a couch,’ and then she’s like ‘oh my God, I left a lot of money in that couch,’” said Werkhoven.

The friends said the elderly woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, told them she had stashed the money in the couch for years and that family members who didn’t know had mistakenly donated the couch.

“This was her life savings, and she actually said something really beautiful like, ‘this is my husband looking down on me, and this was supposed to happen,’” Guasti said. [1]

How many people would do the right thing and return the old woman’s money? It is one thing to be good when everyone is watching, but the test of our faithfulness is how we behave in secret. The Apostle Paul “applies the term ‘eye-slavery’ to service that is not sincerely rendered but functions only for sake of appearance” [2] in Ephesians 6:6 (ophthalmo-doulia, ὀφθαλμοδουλία).

Don’t be an eye-slave, be a Christian all the time!
Blessings,

Click here to see the complete Daily Bible Reading Plan for 2022

[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/roommates-find-thousands-in-cash-hidden-in-couch-return-money-to-rightful-owner/  downloaded 3/40/22

[2] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 744). University of Chicago Press.

As a teen, I loved campfire devotionals. Not only did I like to sing, but I especially loved the songs where we could sing back and forth to each other. “Oh, girls do you love Jesus?” the boys would sing, and they would reply, “Oh, yes we love Jesus,” and on it would go.

It wasn’t the kind of thing we sang in Sunday morning worship – at least in the 20th century – but it would have been right at home in the first century. Technically, this kind of song is called antiphonal, voice against voice, and we have an example of it in Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:6-11). Most English Bibles don’t show it, so let me help. In the scenario I imagine, the leader sings a verse, and the congregation responds with a parallel verse:

Leader: Who, being in very nature God,

Congregation: did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

Leader: but made himself nothing,

Congregation: taking the very nature of a servant,

Leader: being made in human likeness,

Congregation: And being found in appearance as a man,

Leader: he humbled himself

Congregation: and became obedient 

At this point, Paul can’t help himself and interjects: “even to death on a cross!”

Leader: Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place

Congregation: and gave him the name that is above every name,

Leader: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 

Paul chimes in again: “in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”

Congregation: and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

And so Paul marvels in conclusion: “to the glory of God the Father.”

The Roman governor of Bithynia described a Christian worship service to Emperor Trajan in 111 A.D., “They affirmed, however, the whole of their guilt, or their error, was that they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath,  not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud,  theft or adultery,  never to falsify their word,  nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up;  after which it was their custom to separate,  and then reassemble to partake of food–but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”

Thus, when we sang around the campfire, we were only proving “what’s old is new again.” Sing Christian sing!

I grew up attending “Third Sunday Singings” in Seattle. It was a great place to meet girls – until they heard me sing. I would remind them the Bible says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord,” but I couldn’t compete with Lou’s beautiful tenor voice, so I hid away in the back with the other teenage boys whose voices were cracking.

The Apostle Paul was a singer. Do you remember how they sang after he and Silas were beaten with rods, locked in the deepest, darkest part of the prison, and fastened in stocks?

“These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:20 – 25).

How strange! If they were weeping or shouting or even cursing their plight, that I could understand, but “singing”? No wonder “the prisoners were listening to them”! Crazy Jews, but have you ever wondered what they sang? Somehow “Blue Skies and Rainbows” doesn’t seem a likely selection. A “singing hymns” means “sing in praise to, sing in praise of.”

What did they have to praise God for? The honor of being beaten is one possibility. Later, Paul told the Colossians, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). In other words, Christ suffered, and since we are in Christ, we will suffer too. However, I think we are given a clue concerning what the apostles were praising God for a little later on in the same chapter of Acts. God sent an earthquake that was so violent, it opened all the prison doors, broke open the stocks, and set everyone free (Acts 16:26). Rather than being dishonored, the jailer drew his sword and was about to kill himself when Paul intervened:

“When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” (Acts 16:27 – 28)

Now pay attention to the jailer’s response:

“And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’” (Acts 16:29 – 30).

Why would he ask, “What must I do to be saved?” Why not, “Why are you still here?” I believe he heard the words of their hymns. These were not ordinary men. They were servants of the Most High God, and their songs were about the Gospel: God’s plan for saving the world.

Songs, hymns, and spiritual songs teach (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19) – even if you’re just making a joyful noise.

The goldfish died … again. My daughter, Charlotte, won a free goldfish at the elementary school carnival. She was so excited. The “free goldfish” wasn’t really free though. We had to purchase a fishbowl, gravel for the bottom of the fishbowl, plants, a net scoop, a weird treasure chest, and a sunken ship to keep the fish entertained. Sadly, the fish expired in a couple of days. Then we made the first of several trips to the pet store for replacement “free fish.”

At first, Charlotte seemed to understand and named each of the newcomers despite a litany of tragedies. (I never told her about the one that got away through the garbage disposal while I was changing its water.) Then the day came when I brought home one last fish. Then, I held up the clear plastic bag full of water and a shiny, new goldfish. “What do you want to name it, Charlotte?”

She looked at the poor fish and asked, “Is he a Christian?”

That seemed like a strange question, so I asked, “Why do you want to know?”

“Because it’s going to die.”

We settled on calling him “Fish.” Despite our best efforts, this was a fish that refused to die. We forgot about him when we went on vacation for a week. We came home, and his bowl was cloudy and green with sludge, but Fish was fine. Nothing could stop him. I overfed him. I underfed him. Times were tough, but the harder things were, the stronger he became. Fish was the last in our chain of aquatic pets. When he finally expired after a long life in the fishbowl, I think we had a state funeral for him.

I’ve thought about Fish many times over the years. I realized Charlotte’s innocent question, “Is he a Christian?” struck at the heart of the matter. When times get tough, Christians are at their very best – even if they are living in a fishbowl!

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2 – 4)

The finish line was in sight, but Kenyan long-distance runner Abel Mutai didn’t see it. Mutai was in the lead – at least ten meters in front of the second-place runner, Spaniard Iván Fernández Anaya – when Mutai suddenly stopped. He believed he had crossed the line of the cross-country race. Then something remarkable happened. Instead of taking advantage of Mutai’s mistake, the second-place Spaniard shouted for Mutai to finish the race. Mutai didn’t understand, so when Anaya reached him, he gestured and pushed Mutai across the finish line, intentionally taking second place.

Anaya’s coach, Martin Fiz, said, “It was a very good gesture of honesty. A gesture of the kind that isn’t made anymore. Or rather, of the kind that has never been made. A gesture that I myself wouldn’t have made. I certainly would have taken advantage of the mistake to win. The gesture has made him a better person but not a better athlete. He has wasted an occasion. Winning always makes you more of an athlete. You have to go out to win.”

However, some things are more important than winning. Anaya said, “He was the rightful winner. He created a gap that I couldn’t have closed. I didn’t deserve to win it. I did what I had to do. He was the rightful winner. He created a gap that I couldn’t have closed if he hadn’t made a mistake. As soon as I saw he was stopping, I knew I wasn’t going to pass him.”

But why? Why not take advantage of the situation? “But I also think that I have earned more of a name having done what I did than if I had won. And that is very important, because today, with the way things are in all circles, in soccer, in society, in politics, where it seems anything goes, a gesture of honesty goes down well.”[1]

King Saul brought an army to hunt down and kill David. 1 Samuel 26:7 – 11 reads:

“So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. Then Abishai said to David, ‘God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.’ But David said to Abishai, ‘Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?’ And David said, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The LORD forbid that I should put out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.”

A single word describes Iván Fernández Anaya and David’s actions. It’s a word rarely heard and a concept even more seldom practiced: Honor.

  [1] Quotes from english.elpais.com/elpais/2012/12/19/inenglish/1355928581_856388.html