Sometimes the people who become involved in prison ministries are too idealistic.  They wind up being taken advantage of by the very people they are trying to save, usually because those people see that idealism and know exactly how to exploit it.  Either those idealists become disenchanted and leave the field entirely, or they learn a little pragmatism—they become adept at recognizing the signs and usually avoid being manipulated.  Keith has been working with convicted felons for a long time, so he knows exactly how to deal with them.  First as a probation officer, then a classifications officer, and now as a volunteer Bible class teacher, he has learned to read his audience fairly well.

            “But has all this work ever resulted in anything good?” someone asked once.

            Well, besides the lives that he has influenced for the better, the young men who have learned a little self-discipline and gotten good jobs and become good citizens—and there were a few—besides that, we are worshipping with one of them right now.  You should see the surprised looks when I mention that.

            And here is the thing that might surprise you more.  The larger problem when this happens is wondering how the brethren will receive such a one.  In one place we lived, the church found out we might possibly have a newly released, and newly baptized, ex-convict among us and they were not happy at all.  We heard comments ranging from, “I won’t ever allow myself to be alone with him,” to, “I don’t want him around my children.”

            Reminds me a little of Acts 9:26:  And when he was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.  Yes, a murderer had come into their midst and they didn’t want to have anything to do with him.  In fact, this man had seen to the deaths of their very own friends and relatives.  Their fear and loathing sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

            But not to Barnabas.  He took that man around and assured everyone that he had changed.  Did he know him better than they?  Not that I can tell from any reading I’ve ever found.  He did not know Saul of Tarsus from Levi of Persepolis.  What he did know was his Savior and the power of his gospel.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes… Rom 1:16.

            And the more our culture becomes like the culture of that time, the more likely that we will not be dealing with upstanding middle class nuclear families when we evangelize, but with people who come to us with immoral backgrounds, with addictions, and with criminal records.  Or know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you… 1Cor 6:9-11.

            And it will be up to us to show them that we truly believe the rest of that citation:  but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. 

            We talk a good fight when we talk about “God saving me, the sinner,” and how we don’t deserve our salvation and need the grace of God, “just like everyone else.”  But too often there is an exception clause in our thinking.  The Lord has made it perfectly clear through his brother James, murder equals adultery equals prejudice (James 2:8-11).  The same law says they are all sin.  None of us will be a step ahead of our brothers with convictions on their records when we stand before God.  We have all been washed, sanctified and justified, and we will all be judged “as we judge others.”
 
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Jas 2:13
 
Dene Ward

You know the story so I won’t go into much detail here.  Pharaoh had ordered the Hebrew baby boys killed and one mother had enough faith to put her infant in a lovingly woven and waterproofed basket in the Nile River.  Pharaoh’s daughter came to the river to bathe and found him, and his alert and very smart big sister offered to get him a Hebrew nurse—one who just happened to be his mother.
 
           And so Moses was raised by two mothers.  Jochebed kept him close to her those first years, probably as many as five to eight, before she weaned him.  But nursing was not all she did.  She taught him who he was, who his people were, and who his God was.  She did an amazing job.  In those few years she made him strong enough to stand against the temptations of wealth the like of which we have probably never seen.  And that wealth was not just contrasted with poverty, but with some of the most oppressive slavery imaginable. 

            After that Moses lived in the palace with his “foster” mother for thirty years or more.  She undoubtedly lavished him with luxury and provided him with one of the best secular educations of the time.  Just look at the pyramids if you think those people were ignorant.  He became so much an Egyptian that he even looked like one (Ex 2:19).

            So here is our point today:  Which mother am I?  Do I check on their schoolwork, but never make sure their Bible lessons are done?  Do I even know if they have their lesson book and Bible with them when we leave the house Sunday morning?  Do I teach them how to make a budget and live within their means, but never teach them how to make time for prayer and Bible study?  Do I make sure they get to school but actually give them a choice about whether they go to church or not?  Do I teach them the social etiquette of what to wear at which occasion but never teach them about modesty?  Do I teach them the Bill of Rights but never talk about giving up those rights for the sake of the gospel and peoples’ souls?  Do I teach them to save for their financial security but never teach how to keep their souls secure?

            Your child knows what you think is most important.  He will take his cue from you.  Are you a Pharaoh’s daughter or a Jochebed?
 
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. Heb 11:24-26
 
Dene Ward

He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first, Gen 28:19.

            Jacob had just wakened from his dream of a ladder.  God had earlier confirmed the blessing on him that his father Isaac had given him by mistake, proving that while Isaac might have been blind, God certainly was not—the right son received the blessing.  And so Jacob called that place “Beth-el,” the house of God.

            Fast forward several centuries and Hosea goes to Bethel, where Jeroboam I had set up one of his golden calves by which the people could worship Jehovah, “the god who brought you out of Egypt.”  At this point most of them weren’t even pretending to worship Jehovah any longer.  This was full-fledged idolatry.  Hosea refused any longer to call it “Bethel.”

            …Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, “As the LORD lives.” Hos 4:15.

            Three times Hosea addresses the place that way.  It was no longer “the house of God.”  It was instead “the house of vanity,” or deception, or iniquity, or evil, or several other translated words, all of which made Hosea’s point quite plain.  Bethel was supposed to be a description of who was worshipped, adored, respected, and revered in that place, and it no longer qualified.  Instead of “Beth-el,” it had become “Beth-aven.”

            So let’s think about this today.  We use a similar description for ourselves:  “church of Christ.”  That means we belong to Christ, we obey him, we worship him, his is the opinion that counts, not ours.  Can you still say that about the group you are a member of?  Or has it become a social group with its own rules and its own “politics?”  Has it become a place where men get together and vote on things that have nothing to do with the mission Jesus left his disciples to complete?  Can you find authority--His authority—for everything you do?  Jesus himself said in Matthew 20 that authority can only come from two places—God or man, and his acceptance of that proves that he expected you to have it.

            Too many times we ask the wrong question:  what is a church of Christ?  The question we ought to be asking is this:  when is a church of Christ?  Is it time to change the sign on your door?
 
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Eph 1:22-23
 
Dene Ward

Was there ever a church with as many problems as Corinth?  We can easily make excuses for them.  Corinth was one of the most sinful cities in the world at the time.  In fact, “Corinthian” was an adjective describing a licentious lifestyle.  Certainly it was difficult to be a Christian in such an environment.  I have said before that if a person could remain pure in that city at that time, anyone can live a pure life today.
            Yet the apostle Paul obviously expected more out of them, and he told them their faults plainly. 
            They were factious (1:10-14); they were carnal and immature (3:1-3); they were arrogant (3:18,19; 8:10); they were selfish (6:7; 14:26-33).  They had little regard for one another and put their own interests ahead of the mission God gave them as His people (6:5-8; 8:9-13).  They glorified sin in their presence instead of removing its leavening influence so their worship could be pure before God (chapter 5).  They even corrupted the memorial meal that should have unified them, reminding them that they all came from the same humbling circumstance of sin, dependent solely on the grace of God for their salvation, (11:17-34).
            Yet despite all this, how does Paul end that first letter of rebuke?  With hope.  Yes, they had been “fornicators…idolaters…adulterers…effeminate…abusers of themselves with men…thieves…covetous…drunkards…revilers…extortioners,” but they had also been “washed…sanctified…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (6:9-11).  Paul scolds them over and over, but he ends with the hope that they could change their lives, overcome their problems, and be “raised incorruptible” on that final day (15:52).
            Paul told even these bad boys and girls of the New Testament that they could live righteously and inherit eternal life.  Doesn’t it make you stop and think a minute before you consign someone to Hell by refusing them the opportunity to even hear the gospel because of their sinful, problem-filled lives?  Doesn’t it make you cringe a little at how carelessly we label congregations of God’s people “sound” and “unsound?”  And most important of all, doesn’t it give you hope when you fall yet again and have to pick yourself up and repent?
            Most of us would have simply bypassed Corinth if we had been making Paul’s itinerary for him.  To paraphrase Nathanael, “Can any good thing come out of Corinth?”  Yet Paul knew that where there is the greatest need, there will be the greatest response.  It may be tough going.  It may be that these folks will be “high maintenance Christians,” people who need a little more help, a little more support, and a whole lot more of our time, but who is to say that one soul is worth more than another?  We all stand before God as helpless sinners.
            And God holds out for us the same hope he gave those early Christians who had to fight their upbringing in a libertine culture even worse than ours. 
            O death where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Wherefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not vain in the Lord, 1 Cor 15:55-58.
 
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

            I’ve always found a certain measure of comfort in 1 Tim 2:14:  for Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled has fallen into transgression.  Comfort, you ask?  Sure.  At least Eve had to be tricked into sinning.  Adam knew it was a sin and did it anyway.

            But I think the bigger point is this:  no matter what our culture tries to tell us, men and women are different.  We have different strengths and different weaknesses.  As you age, dealing with more people in all sorts of situations, it becomes more and more obvious.  In fact, I have come to believe this:  there is nothing worse than a bad woman, but there is nothing better than a good woman.  Women seem to have the capacity for both infinite cruelty and infinite compassion.

            It should also be comforting that most of the oracles in the prophets are aimed squarely at men—they were the ones in control, the leaders who bore the responsibility for how a nation behaved.  So I found it interesting when one commentary pointed out that we do have four oracles specifically to women, and I thought it might be good to explore those oracles and make application to ourselves.  After all, people really haven’t changed.  We are still men and women with the same strengths and the same weaknesses. 

            For the next four Mondays look for “Oracles to Women 2 through 5” here on the blog.  Let me warn you:  this will not be comfortable.  In order to make an application we can relate to, I will be specific and sometimes brutally honest.  I guarantee you will recognize these women.  You see them around you every day—sometimes in the mirror.  Yet I hope we can all learn to be better by these inspired words from God’s prophets.
 
Every wise woman builds her house; But the foolish plucks it down with her own hands, Prov 14:1.
 
Dene Ward

One of my classes is studying the prophets now, an overview class that hits the highlights, beginning with the Biblical definition of a prophet, the history and the genres.  I will probably wind up sharing some things that I hope will help you.

            The world is full of people claiming to be prophets.  Just as in Bible times, God expects us to check these people out before falling for everything they say.  Deuteronomy 18 has long been the place to hang one’s hat when determining a true prophet of God.

            Open your Bible and look through these verses in that chapter. 
1) A true prophet of God will claim to speak in God’s name, v 20.  Certainly that isn’t all that matters but you can weed out a lot from the get-go with that one simple rule.

            2) A true prophet of God will not use “abominable practices” like augury, astrology, and necromancy.  He will not claim to speak to the dead or read animal entrails or tea leaves or anything else a sane mind knows is illegible, 10-14.

            3) The predictions of a true prophet of God will always come to pass, not 90% of the time, not 95% of the time, but every time, v 22.

            On the other hand, God does not make it His business to run around making sure everything a false prophet predicts doesn’t happen.  Let me take you to another passage.

            “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, Deut 13:1-5.

            Sometimes these people get it right—not all the time by any means, but enough to fool some people.  They get it right because they are observant, because they know how to get you to tell them what they need to know—we give away far more than we realize.  So then, how do we tell?  4) If a prophet tells you to do anything contrary to God’s law, he is not a prophet of God, no matter how many times he seems to “get it right” with his predictions.  That puts a burden upon us to know that Law, but God expects that of us too.  Even in the New Testament we are told to “prove the spirits.”  It is my responsibility not to be fooled.

            5) And hand in hand with that we can look at Gal 1:8,9.  If anyone teaches a gospel that contradicts the revealed word of God, we are not to listen even, as in that passage, to an angel from Heaven.

            6) Now take one more step back to Deuteronomy 18.  It isn’t just what the man teaches, it’s how he lives.  If his life does not match the righteous life God expects and teaches in His word, he is not a true prophet of God, v 9-14.

            Just imagine if people had followed these rules when false prophets came along.  Just imagine the difference in Bible history.  Just imagine the difference in more modern history.  Would David Koresh have caused the tragedy at Waco?  Would Jim Jones have persuaded people to not only “drink the Kool-Aid,” but give it to their children? 

            We live under a government that tries to protect people from their own stupidity.  That’s why you see those strange warnings on things. 

            Do not put any person in this washer.

            Do not use lighted match or open flame to check fuel level.

            Use care when operating a car (on a dog’s bottle of pills).

            Danger: do not hold the wrong end of a chain saw.

            Warning:  this product moves (on a scooter).

            (On an iron-on patch)  Do not iron while wearing shirt.

            If you cannot read warnings, do not use this product.

            God gave you His warnings in His book.  He figures you are smart enough to read it and figure it out.  And if you do, that should take care of most every modern “prophet” you happen to run into.
 
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love, 1 John 4:1-8                          
Dene Ward

We tend to think that legalism and emotionalism are the only dangers we need to be wary of in our worship to God.  We must be careful that the ritual aspect of our group worship be neither heartless in thought nor perverted by passion.  But in 1 Samuel 4-6, God’s people found yet another way to distort their spiritual worship.

            As was so often the case, the Philistines once again troubled them.  They went to battle and promptly lost 4000 soldiers.  What should they do?  Talk to God about it?  No, they said.  Instead, Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh that it may save us, 4:3.  Not that God may save us, but that IT may save us, treating it like some sort of magic charm.

            When the ark was brought into the camp, the people roared with such a shout that it scared the Philistines.  A god has come into the camp, 4:7, they said.  Note that there was little difference in the way these pagans thought about the ark and the way the Israelites did.        During the next battle 30,000 Israelites lost their lives and the Ark of the Covenant was captured.

            The story of how the ark was returned to Israel is an interesting one that would take too much time for this little essay.  Suffice it to say that when it found its way home, the Israelites who greeted it said, Who is able to stand before the Lord, this Holy God? 6:20. At least a few people had learned a lesson.

            Surrounded by paganism on all sides, they had become tainted by its beliefs, many of which were bound up in sorcery and witchcraft.  They equated Jehovah with the idols, and the rituals of His worship with the rituals of the heathens.

            Do you think that cannot happen to us today?  I have lost track of the number of times I have heard a fallen Christian end his litany of faults with the disclaimer, “But I’ve been baptized!”  Somehow that is supposed to keep him safe from the wrath of God, no matter how much he has deliberately provoked that wrath and willingly continues to do so with no intention to change.  Baptism, instead of a union of the believer with the sacrifice of his Lord and the resurrection to a new life, has become to such people a ritual performed to break a curse.  “Pour the ashes of a rat’s tail on a bird’s wing, and hop on one foot three times with your eyes closed,” would have had as much meaning.

            Then there is the matter of the Lord’s Supper.  Rather than a memorial feast we celebrate with the Lord and our spiritual family, it is treated as a magic potion.  “At least I got there in time for the Lord’s Supper,” is uttered with a “Whew!” and a sigh of relief.  Visitors come in late and demand to be served even if the assembly worship is finished.  Some members show up only for those “magical” few minutes as if nothing else were worth their trouble.

            The same sorts of things happen with prayer, as if it were some magic formula that can only be repeated in certain ways, rather than a pouring out of the heart to a loving Father.  And we think we don’t have the same problems as those Old Testament Israelites?

            Treating God as if He were on the same level as a pagan deity and could be appeased the same way earned those people some of the most scathing indictments in the Old Testament.  The danger is that one will think Jehovah can be swapped out in a fair trade.  God took care of that notion in the book of Hosea.  Israel actually thought that those pagan gods were her source of blessings, 2:5, and so God said, For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore will I take back my grain in the time thereof, and my new wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness, 2:8.9.  Suddenly, she figured out where it really came from.

            Attitudes that treat God and His worship in such a pagan manner are no better.  Rather than reverencing God they demean Him.  Rather than showing awe for an all-powerful Creator, they minimize that feeling into nothing more than pacifying a petty, capricious tyrant.

            Serving our God is a duty certainly, but not one we can fulfill in a slapdash, haphazard fashion just so we get it done in time to avoid the consequences.  It is a service He wants us to willingly offer in a careful, obedient, heartfelt manner—an obligation certainly, but also a privilege.

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain. I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right. "Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; From my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. "Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory," Isa 45:18-25.

 

Dene Ward

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.” When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries,.” 2Chr 12:5-8.

            It’s easy, when you find yourself in a trying situation, to make excuses for your behavior; to say, “Woe is me,” and expect everyone to sympathize with you and pat you on the back, not just occasionally or even often, but almost as if it were a daily penance on their part because you have to deal with the difficult and they don’t—at least in your mind.

            “Why is this happening to me?” can become a mantra if you aren’t careful.  Maybe God, in the passage above, answers that question.

            Judah repented when they learned the consequences of their disobedience and God repented their destruction.  But He did not stop their servitude to the king of Egypt.  “This way they will learn how to serve me,” he told the prophet.

            Did you ever think that maybe that “unjust” master (boss) was there to teach you service?  Or that difficult spouse? 

            Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly, 1Pet 2:18-19.

            Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct, 1Pet 3:1-2.

            Did you ever think that maybe that obnoxious neighbor or ornery brother in the Lord might be there to teach you patience and forbearance?

            Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing, 1Pet 3:9.

In fact, doesn’t God expect us to use every situation, whether blessing or trial, to improve as His servant?  The sufferings we endure are meant to be opportunities for growth, not merit badges on a boastful sash.

            Suffering does not make us exempt to the call to service.  People in all situations of life have been serving God as hard as they can for as long as they can, whether rich or poor, sick or healthy, hungry or full, old or young, even in slavery, for thousands of years.  The place God puts us is not only the test of our faith, but the textbook from which we learn our service.  What lesson would God have you learn today? 

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you, 1Pet 5:10.

Dene Ward

A lot of folks think that there is no place for “order” in their religious lives, nor for orders, either.  Order, though, is an important concept in the scriptures beginning as early as Genesis.

            One would ordinarily think that when he reads, “Noah was 500 years old when he begat Shem, Ham and Japheth,” that the order in which the sons are listed is birth order: Shem was the eldest, the first of Noah’s “begetting.”  In fact, whenever Shem is found in any crossword puzzle I do, the clue is invariably, “Noah’s eldest.”  Not so fast—I can prove he was not. 

            Gen 5:32--And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Noah had his first son at the age of 500.

            Gen 7:6--And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.  That means his eldest son would have been 100 at the time of the flood.

            Gen 11:10--Shem was one hundred years old and begat Arpachshad two years after the flood.  That means that Shem was only 98 at the time of the flood and could not have been the eldest.

            Then we have the case of Terah’s three sons, “Abram, Nahor, and Haran.”  Was Abram the eldest? 

            Gen 11:26--Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

            Acts 7:4--Then [Abram] came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran, and from there, when his father was dead, God removed him to this land, wherein you now dwell.

            Gen 11:32--And the days of Terah were 205, and Terah died in Haran.  That means his oldest son would have been (205 minus 70 equals) 135 years old when he died.

            Gen 12:4--So Abram went as Jehovah had spoken unto him…And Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran.  So since he left Haran after his father’s death, he was only 75 when the eldest son would have been 135.  Abram was certainly not the eldest son.  In fact, he could well have been the youngest.

            In the New Testament order is important as well.  We have “Barnabas and Saul” in Acts 12:25 and 13:2 and 7, until suddenly in 13:13 we have “Paul and his company,” and “Paul and Barnabas” from 13:43 on.  I think all those are enough to show us that in the Bible, people are listed according to their importance, and their amount of involvement in the activity in question.  Shem and Abraham, the ancestors of the Christ were certainly more important than their brothers, and Paul gradually took over as the leader of the missionary journeys.

            So why might that be important?  For one thing look at Acts 18:26, where we have a man named Apollos who was taught better by “Priscilla and Aquila.”  If the principle about order means anything, it means Priscilla did much more than just sit there and nod in agreement, and that of necessity means that it is possible for a woman to teach a man, at least in private, without violating the principle not to teach “over” a man, 1 Tim 2:12.

            “Order” meant a lot of things in the New Testament church.  They were commanded to do things “decently and in order,” 1 Cor 14:40.  Yet in the same context we find that they were shouting out hearty amens, 14:16.  That tells me we should be careful about imposing our own culture’s sense of order upon an order which God plainly approved.  If one reads the chapter carefully, we are once again talking about doing things in sequence—don’t let two talk at once, take turns; don’t let someone speak in tongues unless there is someone who can interpret afterward.

            Paul left Titus in Crete to “put things in order.”  Among other things that meant to appoint elders, Titus 1:5.  Think about this:  He had told Timothy that a new Christian was not suitable material for an elder, and he did not appoint anyone immediately upon that man’s baptism.  Yet, here is another sense in which “order” is important:  these men obviously set their lives in good order because in a relatively short amount of time, they had matured enough to take the leadership position.  Maybe the reason there are churches without qualified men today is that those men do not have their lives in a godly sort of order.  Everything—career, recreation, physical fitness, education--everything seems more important than time spent on spiritual growth, and that is the wrong order.

            Funny how many tidbits you can pick up by simply studying one word or concept in the scriptures, isn’t it?  Perhaps the most important tidbit today is this:  God expects us to put our lives in His order, to run our families in His order, to put the church, the body of His son, in His order; always His order, not ours.  Anyone who is “out of order” will be found in contempt of that righteous Judge.

For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.  Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving, Col 2:5-7.

Dene Ward