If you are familiar with the prophets, you know they often told stories and then made spiritual application.  We can read from Jewish histories that the rabbis did the same thing.  It was a standard teaching method.  In fact, some of the stories had the same elements, just as many jokes begin, “A rabbi, a priest, and a lawyer…”  I have read in at least one source that the rich man and the poor beggar were staple characters in teaching stories all across the mid-east, even as far west as Egypt, one reason we should be careful about calling Luke 16 a “true story.”  Jesus was known as a rabbi because he used some of the same methods.

            I have known people who insisted that preachers and teachers should not “tell stories.”  The Bible has plenty, they say, so use them.  While in the past I agreed more than I disagreed, I have come to a change of mind.  Yes, Jesus used some of the events from the Old Testament in his teaching, but far more often he used the events of every day life in stories we call parables.  So I tell stories too.

            Some people ask me how in the world I come up with the applications to all my stories.  The answer to that is another reason I tell them.  Some of them come easily but often I have to think for awhile to find a spiritual application.  Guess what I am not doing while my mind is busy with spiritual things?  Guess what does not happen while I search the scriptures trying to find pertinent passages?  Far better to spend your time searching for applications to the events in your life than to brood over them, becoming depressed and bitter.  Far better to see a way to improve yourself than to blame others as if the whole world were out to get you and you are the only one these things happen to. 

            Life is the training ground for an eternal existence.  If I cannot become spiritual enough to handle things here, how will I ever become suitable for a spiritual existence with a Spirit Deity?  That is our goal, but the way some of us lead our lives, never learning from them, I wonder if we know it, or even care. 

            Try today to make some spiritual applications from the things that happen to you.  Think about your past and the many times you could have learned a lesson if your eyes and ears had been open to them.  It is really not that difficult.  If I can do it, anyone can.
 
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing you shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which you hear, and heard them not, Matt 13:10-17.
 
Dene Ward

Last Tuesday, several of my sisters in the Lord met for an intense Bible study.  We were at it for well over an hour.  We opened our Bibles and read and discussed topics that were deep and heavy.  We came away with many new insights, some of them probably different than if it had been a mixed class or a class led by a man.  Women do have a different perspective.  The Tuesday before that we did the same thing, and the Tuesday before that, and the one before that, as far back as 25 years.  We call it the Ladies’ Bible Class, not because it is some organization separate from the church which has a name, but just to identify to others who might be interested what it is, a group of women, Christians with the same roles in life and the same problems those roles entail, who meet and study together. 

            But let’s just consider the past two months’ worth of classes—about 12 hours.  What if, instead of meeting 8 times for an hour and a half each, we met two days for 6 hours of study and discussion each day?  Would that be wrong?  If we are studying the same thing, participating in the same activities, why isn’t it just another means to edify?  And if, because we have a chance to study without children sitting in our laps (due to Christian husbands who are concerned for their wives’ spiritual education), we decide to have it someplace besides the meetinghouse, but we each pay our own way and nothing comes out of the church treasury, isn’t that too just another ladies Bible class?  That is exactly what a women’s retreat is—time to get away from the distractions of life for an extended period and do some in-depth Bible study and encourage one another.

            These groups are not making themselves into an organization of any kind at all.  They are simply doing what the word says—retreating.  Jesus “retreated” when he went to be alone and pray.  Isaac “retreated” when he went out into the field in the evening to meditate (Gen 24:63).  Did that make what they were doing an organization?  Even if they had taken a friend to discuss spiritual things with them, no organization existed, just a few people who were spiritually minded enough to set aside the time to study together or pray together.

            I have also read the accusation that any time women retreat for Bible study it shows a dissatisfaction with the edification the church can provide.  That the church is supposed to be where we find all our spiritual blessings, including prayer, teaching, and encouragement.  That women who do these things may have good intentions, but they are doing it in an unscriptural, unauthorized way, separate from the church where they should be finding all their needs met.

            The Bible tells us that some of the church in Jerusalem met in the home of Mary the mother of Mark to pray for Peter when he was in prison (Acts 12).  Was that wrong?  We can easily infer that it was not the whole church—no one’s house is big enough for that.  That means a group of Christians that was not the church met for something besides the regular worship, not because they didn’t pray enough at their assembly, but because they felt the need to pray even more.  Does that mean they were not satisfied with God’s arrangement?  Are we not allowed to come together for even more prayer than we have on Sundays?

            A few members of the church meeting somewhere besides the appointed meeting place for more study does not constitute setting up an organization.  If women’s retreats, or week-ends as they are sometimes called, are wrong, so are Ladies’ Bible Classes.  So are Men’s Training Classes.  So are gospel sings in people’s homes or out in the park or in an auditorium somewhere.  So are personal Bible studies.  But of course, none of those things are wrong.  God has ordained that the older women and men teach the younger women and men, that children be taught, the unbelievers be taught by all of us, not just the preacher.  In the early church they often met “house to house.”  Weren’t their needs being met in the assembly?  Of course they were, so this is obviously something other than an attempt to go beyond the purpose of the church.

            And then we have that group of men who met to show others exactly what God wanted them to do about Judaizers and their demand that Gentile Christians be circumcised (Acts 15).  They did that with a long meeting where they gave approved examples, read the scriptures, discussed and prayed.  It was not the church.  In fact, it was members of more than one church.  Some people call it a Council.  What people call it does not make it what it is not.  These men “retreated” from daily life for the sake of edification.

            “Women’s retreat” is not a name any more than “church of Christ” is a name.  Both are descriptions.  Maybe some of us need a little more edification about that. 

            Some of us have become so wedded to our traditions that we have forgotten what is and is not tradition, “teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.”  Fulfilling generic commands to teach and edify with “new” methods does not make them automatically wrong or you had better take that power point away from your preacher. 

           And just what makes this retreat thing “new” anyway?  Aside from all the Bible examples already given, Lydia met with a group of women down by the river.  I think we are in good company.
 
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 16:24-25.
 
Dene Ward

I learned a long time ago that any position of authority comes with more responsibility than the right to wear the title is worth.  As head of the string section of our district competition, having to deal with teachers who would stalk the judges if their students did not get the ratings they thought they deserved (anything less than a superior regardless how they performed), I had to learn how to confront those same teachers while cajoling judges to return even after the word had spread about the unprofessional behavior in our district.  I had to deal with parents who wanted their child to be the exception to every rule.  I had to decide when an exception was truly warranted and when it wasn’t, then live with the flak my decision caused. 

            When I was appointed head of the vocal department for the state competition, things just got worse.  Everyone knew how to do my job better than I did, even if they had never had a voice lesson in their lives.  They might think that diphthongs were women’s underwear, but they could judge a voice better than a man with a doctorate in vocal performance and 20 years experience on the stage.

            The more authority you have, the more responsibility you have, and the more troubles are laid at your door.  Anyone who goes around looking for it had better love the cause since s/he will get far more grief than s/he ever bargained for.  And that is only right because headship is not about privilege; it is about doing what is best for those in your charge, even when it isn’t what you really want to do.

            Miriam forgot that.  Miriam found herself leader of those Israelite women who fled Egypt along with their men.  After the victory at the Red Sea, she led them in song, praising God for their victory.  God also made her one of His prophetesses.  Micah makes it plain that God considered her a leader:  For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam, (6:4).

            But Miriam was not happy with her calling.  In Numbers 12:2 she and Aaron came before God and dared to say, Has Jehovah indeed spoken only with Moses?  Has he not also spoken with us?  Notice in verse 1 that Miriam’s name is listed first, which usually means something in the scriptures.  In addition I found at least one commentary that says the literal Hebrew in that verse is, “And she spake, Miriam and Aaron, against Moses,” making it clear that Miriam was the ringleader of this little rebellion.

            Miriam was not satisfied with the place of honor God gave her—it wasn’t enough.  She could tell that God held Moses in higher esteem, even than her brother Aaron, and she was not happy about it.  Yet she had proved that she was not capable of handling the responsibilities of the job.

            In Exodus 32, when Moses left the people in her and Aaron’s charge, she allowed them to make the golden calf.  How did she allow it?  By saying nothing.  As a leader she should have spoken out against their sin.  God expects that of any leader, and she failed miserably.  No, Aaron did not do any better, but then was he the one who complained in Numbers 12?  No, he just went right along with it like he did in Exodus 32.  Nothing about Aaron changed from one time to the next.  Miriam’s complete failure to even try to stem the tide of idolatry at the foot of Mt Sinai showed her unfit to be a leader of God’s people.  For her to then come along and demand that position in Numbers 12 showed that she wasn’t even perceptive enough to see her own failures, much less lead a group that failed over and over in the years that followed.  It also shows that she sought the honor rather than the responsibility of leadership.

            So what does God expect of us? 

            How does a man react to his selection as an elder?  Does he follow the path of least resistance when it is time to make a decision?  Does he avoid making a decision at all, hoping to dodge unpleasant consequences?  Or does he make the tough decisions that are best for the good of those he shepherds, even knowing it will cause him problems with those same people?

            How does a man handle the headship of his family?  Is it all about getting to do things his way, and only his way?  Is it about telling everyone else what they should be doing, while sitting around being waited on?  Or does he do what is best for each member of his family, even if it makes more work and worry for him?  Does he understand that God holds him accountable for the success or failure of his family?

            How about an older woman in the church, in a family, in a community?  Does she stand for the truth in whatever capacity she finds herself?  Is she strong enough to do right even when it isn’t popular, or when it causes her personal pain?  Can she remove herself and her feelings far enough from a situation to see the problems and help solve them, even if it means others will disagree?  Can she stand for the truth even when it breaks her heart?

            Too many people desire the perks and not the works.  Jesus came looking for servants at every level, not just the bottom rung of the ladder, and those servants are judged by the deeds they do, not the glory they receive from men.  Be careful what you wish for.
 
Likewise you younger, be subject to the elder.  Yea all of you gird yourselves with humility that you may serve one another.  For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble 1 Pet 5:5.
 
Dene Ward

One of our favorite parts of camping has always been the food!  Every night we cook over a wood fire—burgers, chops, steaks--everything tastes like it came from a five star gourmet restaurant when you have oak and hickory burning under them.

Keith starts the fire about a half hour before we need it, stacking one inch square split pieces of wood in an open crisscross pattern.  The flame is often three feet high and roaring.  Do you think that is when we cook?  No, not unless you want scorched raw meat.  The fire must burn down to the point that the flames are gone and all that is left are red coals.  Now it’s time to cook.  That inch or two of quiet embers is far hotter than a three foot high roar.
He opens the folding grill over them to burn it clean, and places the meat of the night six to ten inches above the heat, sometimes over to the side if, as is the case with chicken, we need to make sure it gets done all the way through before the outside chars. 

Children look at the two fires and it seems totally counter-intuitive to them.  Surely the bright high flames make the hotter fire and the softly glowing embers the coolest.  Then they hold their hands out and discover their mistake.
Babes in the Lord can make the same mistake about the faith of others.  Surely the loud showy faith is the real one.  Surely the person who shouts amen and holds up his hands is more passionate about his love of God than the member who sits and quietly listens or bows his head.  I have lost count of the number of young people I have heard say they admired someone’s faith when it was the former type and not the latter.  The loud faith may well be just as sincere as the quiet, but if that’s all you look for, you will miss some of the best advice, the best encouragement, and the best examples of resilient faith in a life of trial that ever sat in front of you—or behind you, or even right next to you on the pew.

You are smart to look for help and encouragement in another’s faith.  Just be smart about the signs you judge it by.  Loud might just as easily be hot air as roaring fire.
 
Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols. But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Amos 5:23-24
 
Dene Ward

I have been thinking about that old saying the past week.  I think it means that if I don’t want people to think I’m stupid, I should stop acting that way.  I thought about it when that snake came back the fourth time.

            I looked out one afternoon across the birdfeeder built right up against the house to the azalea bushes just beyond it.  One limb looked a little odd. I must have stared at it for ten minutes before Keith noticed, and looked too.  “There’s a garter snake in the bushes,” he said.  I had thought so, but could not see it clearly enough to be sure.  Finally after three years, a snake had figured out that someone had put an all-you-can-eat bird buffet out for him, and he was sitting there just waiting for his meal to light.

            We did not want to hurt the snake.  A near relative of his had lived under the house for a few years and kept our rodent population down to something we could handle.  We hoped he would do the same, but that did not mean he could go after my birds.

            So Keith put on some gloves and knocked him out of the bush.  Magdi was on him before we could stop her, but Keith yelled and took the snake away from her, flinging it over the north fence.  We were not certain it would have survived her vicious shake—she treats them like a bull whip and usually breaks their backs with only a couple of cracks.  Not to worry.  Two days later I looked out and there was the snake again.

            This time Keith went out with an old rake handle and knocked him off the limb.  Magdi knew what was up this time, but despite her increased vigilance, the snake slithered away under the steps and we could not get it to come out.

            Until two days after that.  I was getting ready to leave that morning and looked out to check the feeder and there he was again.  Not being as fearless as Keith, I stood way back and whacked that bush so hard I broke the branches, but once again the snake got away from Magdi.

            The fourth time he did not wait two days.  He was back in one, and I was home alone again.  I grabbed the pole and set off for the bird feeder.  I stood there for several minutes thinking he had left because I could not find him through the limbs.  Suddenly I thought to step back and look up, and there he was about a foot higher in the bush than he had ever been before.  But that meant that when I knocked him out he had farther to fall and must have been a little more addled because Magdi got him before he could crawl away. This time she shook until that snake was a lifeless rubber hose.  I could almost hear his spine cracking as she slung it about.

            I am sorry about that.  I will be sorrier this winter if I have a mouse or two in the house.  But really—how long does it take some snakes to learn? 

            Are we any smarter?  How long does it take for us to learn?  I have seen Christians put themselves in spiritual danger over and over and over all my life.  “I can handle it,” they say, despite the Biblical warnings to flee, to abstain, to be watchful; despite the things God lists in black and white as the biggest dangers to our soul—wealth, power, sexual sins, anger, pride, and the tongue.  We all think we are different; that we won’t be tripped up and fall. 

            I have seen it happen too many times to ever think it could be different for me.  If we choose to defy the odds, sooner or later we will be knocked “out of our tree,” and Satan will jump on us and shake us until our spiritual back is broken and we can no longer stand against him.

            Stupid is as stupid does.
 
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall, 1 Cor 10:11,12..
 
Dene Ward

This is the first part in a middle of the month series on Anger, by guest writer Lucas Ward.

The beginning of the Sermon on the Mount is about the internalization of religion. Jesus tells us that our religion should be who we are, not just rites that we do. He also talks about sins of the mind: how refraining from sin because of fear of the consequences all the while fantasizing about doing the sin doesn’t win us any points. It’s just as bad as the sin itself. We usually jump to Matt. 5:27-28 which says that looking upon a woman to lust after her is committing adultery in our hearts. We gravely, and appropriately, warn young men about the sin of sexual fantasy. We preach against pornography and urge self-control. We ask our ladies to dress with their poor, weak-willed brothers in mind. And all of this is right. But in jumping to this passage, we jump right over the warning that Jesus gives first.

The first thing Jesus speaks of along these lines is the dangers of anger. Whereas mental lusting, or sexual fantasy, is equated to adultery – which is bad enough – anger with one’s brother is called murder! If there is anything more universally condemned in the Bible than adultery it is murder. This, and the primacy of place given to this topic by our Lord, indicates that we should be even more aware of this danger than that of lusting. And, yet, we seldom talk about this. When we study the Sermon on the Mount we read this passage and quickly move on. This isn’t right. My intent is to write three entries about this issue, studying anger from a couple of different viewpoints. First, let’s examine what Jesus says about the issue.

Matt. 5:21-24 “Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 but I say unto you, that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire. 23 If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, 24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

Many translations have “angry with his brother without cause” and there is some evidence for that reading. There are a lot of ancient manuscripts that include that phrase. Roughly half, in fact. Of course, that means that roughly half leave out “without cause”. Literary professors, whose career is built on reconstructing ancient texts as nearly as possible based not only on the quality of the manuscripts used but also on the known tendencies of copyists, seem to lean to the conclusion that “without cause” was added in. It is the type of thing that a copyist would add to help explain an otherwise hard reading/hard saying of Jesus. On the face of it, we know that anger alone is not sin (Eph. 4:26), but then we also know that merely desiring a woman is not sin either. Men are designed by God to desire women, actually, and that desire has a God-given outlet. So it seems that in both passages Jesus is driving His point home by speaking very emphatically. By exaggerating for the point of emphasis. The dangers of anger are so great, as are those of sexual fantasy, that the warning is equally powerful.

Looking at the actual passage, notice that anger with one’s brother is equated with murder. It isn’t said quite as baldly as Jesus does with adultery in vs 28, but the consequence for murder is named as the judgment, and the consequence for anger is named as. . . the judgment. In giving the same consequence to both, Jesus is making them equal. Just as sinful lusting after a woman is more involved than merely acknowledging an attraction, anger here is more than just feeling the emotion. Have you ever thought “Of course, I’d never murder anyone, but boy what I’d like to do to so-and-so if I could get away with it” and proceed to fantasize about epic beatdowns? “Give me a baseball bat and five minutes alone with him in a closed room, please.” These are the thoughts that are under discussion.

Of course, we need not always murder someone. We can assassinate their character. Jesus deals with this as well. “Raca” is a contemptuous insult. Apparently it doesn’t translate well, but all cultures/languages have their own unique ways of showing contempt. This was the Hebrew way. Jesus also adds in “fool”. Notice the consequences of these: the council and the hell of fire. Someone who won’t kill but doesn’t mind destroying another’s reputation will face the same condemnation as the murderer. The sin is the same, whether we carry it out in our minds, in our words, or in actuality. Anger, and the actions proceeding from it, is dangerous.

Finally, note the urgency that Jesus places on dealing with this problem: “ If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee,  leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” If there ever was a time that one might think it appropriate to put off dealing with a brother’s anger, it would be while participating in the worship of God. “Surely I should finish offering the sacrifice first, as God is most important, and then deal with my brother later, right?” But, no, Jesus says drop the offering and go fix the problem with the brother first. Anger is so dangerous that the greater urgency in placed upon reconciliation, even above worship. This should open our eyes to the fact that this is a topic that demands both attention and caution.

Having seen some of what Jesus says on this issue, we will next turn our attention to what can be learned about this from the Wisdom Literature.
 
Lucas Ward

In this part of Florida we have a little bit of winter.  In fact, we have several spells each year with two or three days of gray, wet, cold that seeps into your bones and makes you wonder why anyone would ever nickname this place “The Sunshine State.”

            Then a morning dawns as clear a blue as you could ever imagine and the sun comes out in a blaze you would swear was even brighter than in summer.  The dog’s fur is warm from lying out in the field instead of burrowing under the porch, and you wish you could lie out there with her.  Now you know why it’s called “The Sunshine State,” and you also know no one up north has these respites, certainly not this degree of warmth in the middle of December, January, or February.  They also don’t have bright yellow jessamine cascading from the tops of trees, and camellias treating you to a mid-winter pink blossom that can withstand even a quick morning’s frost.

            Life is like that for Christians.  God never promised a life without trials any more than He promised a year without winter.  We do our neighbors a disservice when we tell them all their problems will go away if they just hand them over to the Lord.  Casting your burdens on him doesn’t mean they won’t affect you any longer—it means you have all the help you need to handle them.  Why would the help be promised if those problems were going to disappear?

            Paul said he served “the Lord with all tears, and humility, and trials” (Acts 20:19).  James tells us to “count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds” (1:2).  Peter goes so far as to tell us it is necessary for us to be “grieved by various trials” (1 Pet 1:6) and not to think it “strange” when we are (4:12).

            But God does give us reminders of what is to come, things we might call a taste of Heaven here on earth.  He sends it in a strong, godly marriage with two people working together, laughing together, crying together, and growing together as they help each other toward that final Home.  He gives it in that first lusty cry from your child as he enters the world.  He reminds us of that first place we lost in the spring when the azaleas explode in all their color, when the dogwoods shine through the woods like a beacon, and when the birds sing in a cacophony of trills, tweets, chirps, and twitters as they fly back and forth building their nests.  He shows us what He has in store for us as we gather with our sanctified brothers and sisters and raise our hearts in song and encourage one another with love, with advice, and with edification to sustain us during those times not quite so Heavenly tasting.

            We cannot have Heaven now.  We wouldn’t want to give up this world if we did.  So we have troubles, we have tragedies, we grow old and ache and become aggravatingly forgetful and finally learn to long for our true abode instead of being satisfied with second best.  But God does remind us occasionally of how it will be, a little nudge in the right direction so we will eventually make it Home.
 
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, Col 3:1-2.
 
Dene Ward

The more I study the more I find passages that mirror each other from the Old to the New Testaments.  I sat in a class on the Sermon on the Mount many years ago, and was startled to hear the teacher say that every time Jesus said, “You have heard from old…but I say unto you…” that he was not changing the moral law, he was simply putting it back to rights, the way God had intended it all along.  As he quoted verse after verse in the Law that plainly showed him to be right, I started noticing other parallel passages.

            I have just found another set.

            But seek first His kingdom and all these things [food, clothing, shelter, etc] shall be added unto you, Matt 6:33.

            You have sown much, but bring in little; you eat, but have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but none is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag filled with holes.  You looked for much and lo it came to little; and when you brought it home, I did blow upon it.  Why? says the Lord of hosts.  Because my house lies in waste while you run every man to his own house, Haggai 1:6,9.

            The first chapter of Haggai is a rebuke from God to those who returned from captivity and, though they had professed a desire to rebuild the temple of God, had neglected it.  Instead they spent their time on their own needs and desires.  The needs were legitimate, but they had lost their sense of priority, and ultimately their trust in God to provide for them.  And so, since they took from God their time and service, He took from them His blessings. 

            “My house comes first,” God was saying.  “If you trust me to take care of you, you will have plenty of time to build it.”

            Four hundred years later Jesus tells us the same thing.  God’s kingdom, His “house” (1 Tim 3:15), is supposed to be the priority in our lives.  The mission of that house is our mission.  He will clothe us, Jesus says.  He will feed us, He will put a roof over our heads as long as we put His house first, (Matt 6:25-34).

            But like the Israelites, we often neglect the kingdom while we pursue our “necessities.”  Perhaps the problem is that we are not satisfied with a “roof;” we want the upscale model in the “right” neighborhood.  We are not satisfied with sustenance; we want to eat out five nights a week.  We are not satisfied with “raiment” as fine as the lilies; we want designer duds.  And so we spend more and more of our time working to pay for those things and the house of God, and its mission, are ignored.  Surely God will understand, we say, and reach for a handy verse just as Satan often did:  “It is written,” we piously comment, “if any will not work, neither let him eat,” 2 Thes 3:10!

            If we neglect God’s house, He will stop sending blessings as surely as He stopped sending them to those materialistic Israelites of old.  “First” means first, not second, not if there is enough time, not if I get the kind I want.  It means we adjust our wants to suit Him, not the other way around.

            What is truly “first” in your life today?
 
Trust in Jehovah and do good; dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Commit your way unto Jehovah; trust also in him and he will bring it to pass. Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.  I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread, Psalm 37:3,5,16,23.   
 
Dene Ward

My son, Lucas has been transferred and he says the attitude of his workers in this new store is remarkably different from those in his old one.  They actually understand the concept of earning a paycheck.  In the old store the workers seemed to think that merely showing up not more than a couple minutes late was sufficient to earn their living.  They could stand in the halls and talk all they wanted as long as they were there doing it between the start and end of their shifts.  Actually “working” was above and beyond and should earn them a hefty raise every six months.
            I am afraid some people who call themselves Christians have the same misunderstanding.  They think their “shift” is Sunday morning from 9 to noon, and all they have to do is sit in a comfortable seat in an air conditioned building and that should be enough to get them to Heaven, in fact, that should “earn” them Heaven.  I mean, what more could God possibly expect than for them to give up a good-sized chunk of their weekends?
            They are so mistaken.  God expects hard work.  Jesus set the example of hard work.  He rose early in the morning (Mark 1:35); he often worked through meals (John 4:31-34); he was always looking to the next village, the next person to save (Mark 1:38,39).  Finally he was able to say, I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given me to do, John 17:4. Do we really think God will expect any less of us?
            Paul tells us we should work heartily [for our masters on earth] as unto the Lord, Col 3:23, which presupposes that we are actually working hard for the Lord, and need to be told to work that hard for our “masters” as well.  Our shift for the Lord begins the day we commit ourselves to Him.  It doesn’t end until we end. 
            Paul reminds us to Give diligence to present yourself approved unto God, 2 Tim 2:15.  Diligence means you keep working even if the work is long, difficult, tedious or unpleasant.  You cannot take a break; you cannot call in sick; you cannot stop for any reason short of death, and still you have not earned your paycheck.  And be glad of that, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, Rom 6:23.  You really don’t want the paycheck you have earned.
           
And exercise thyself unto godliness:  for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation. For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe. 1 Tim 4:7-10.
 
Dene Ward

For when by reason of time you ought to be teachers, you have need again that one teach you the rudiments…Heb 5:12
Be not many of you teachers, my brethren…James 3:1.
           
            We often shake our heads at people who do their best to make the Bible contradict itself.  If they would only check the context, if they would only approach it with the same fair attitude they want others to have toward them, they could see the truth.  Yet we are no better when it comes to passages we don’t want to deal with.

            I am certain that every time a lesson is taught on speaking to our friends and neighbors about our faith someone has said, “But the Bible says, Be not many of you teachers.  Teaching is not my talent.”

            I think it is fair to say that God does not expect everyone to stand in front of a group and teach.  He gave some to be…teachers…Eph 4:11.  But that does not mean there is not some aspect of teaching He expects of us all; that is the only way to reconcile those passages above, and reconcile them we must.  Otherwise, why bother to believe any of it?

            First, God expects us to help teach ourselves.  Whether or not we learn from the teaching that is available is entirely up to us.  We should be studying outside of the formal setting laid before us by the elders and preachers, spending time on our own meditating on what we have heard, looking things up, making notes in class and out, and sifting through them.  You can’t do that when you miss those Bible studies to begin with.  Whether or not the teacher is a good one makes no difference.  There is more to being a student than sitting there waiting to have the facts pumped in.  A student with the right attitude can learn something regardless the teacher.  Parents, you would do well to remember that the next time your high school age child complains about his Bible class teacher too. 

            God also expects us to reach the point that we can give good advice.  The older training the younger (Titus 2:3-5) is a principle that transcends any time period or culture.  The only excuse we have is dying young!  How many of you are up for that?

            He says we should be able to restore the wayward, Gal 6:1.  Who should do that?  You who are spiritual.  Do you want to claim to be otherwise before your Maker?

            Finally, Peter says we should be ready always to give answer, 1 Pet 3:15.  He doesn’t say we should know the answer to every question anyone might ask, but to give a reason concerning the hope that is in you.  Certainly we should know why we believe what we believe.  If you don’t know why, then how can you be sure your faith is your own and not something simply handed down by tradition?

            And that leads us right back around to where we started.  Are you attending Bible studies?  Are you studying on your own?  Are you asking for help from those who might give good advice and have better knowledge concerning the scriptures?  Are you taking advantage of the training offered in how to study, which tools to use, and which methods are most helpful?  God said, you ought to be teachers.  Are you still in need that someone should teach you the basics?

            This is a serious matter—a Divine “ought”—more simply put, an order straight from God.  Don’t let the fact that you have been a Christian for twenty years or more keep you from asking for help.  If you wait any longer, it will only be worse.  You will be even older and still need again that someone teach you.
 
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction, Prov 1:7.
 
Dene Ward