Tag Archives: Bible Study

What Work Should the Boss Catch Us Doing

The last time I led our discussion we talked about the last few chapters of Matthew 24, and Jesus discussion of the coming of the Son of Man.  Our conclusion was that, since the time of His return was known only to the Father, we should stay busy about the Father’s work, like the slave in the parable was busy tending to his master’s business while the master was away.  But just exactly what is the Father’s business?  What should we be busy doing and how should we go about it?

First a brief word on the passages we have been reading.  It is known by bible scholars as the Olivet Discourse, the Olivet Prophecy or the Little Apocalypse.   It is found in all of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, 24 Mark 13, and Luke 21) and in Matthew it is the last of 5 Discourses of Jesus.  In all three recountings of the discourse begins with someone commenting on the excellence of Herod’s temple in some form.  Jesus tells them clearly of the coming destruction of the temple (which occurred in 70 AD at the hand of the Roman General (and later Emperor) Titus, who sacked the city and burned the temple to put down a revolt by the Jews.  All this was recorded in minute detail by the Roman/Jewish historian Josephus.)

But Jesus’ comments about the temple were only prologue, meant to move peoples’ minds from the reality of the there and then to the reality that was to come.  From the reality of the Kingdom ruled by Herod, and ultimately Caesar, to the reality of the Kingdom of God.  And so in addition to the end of the Temple He spoke of the coming of the Son of Man and the end of the world as it has been known.

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Let the Boss Catch You Working

Last week Bruce led us in an excellent discussion of the first chapter of Revelation.  I admitted that I don’t like Revelation, but not because it bothers me like James does.  James bothers me because it points out the flaws in my life.  It says to me,”So, you have faith in God.  Prove it by how you live.”  It is definitely a portion of scripture, for me, that cuts sharper than a two edged sword.

Revelation, on the other hand, bugs me not because of what it says, but because of what everyone says about it.  It is one of those portions of scripture that everyone has an opinion on and are willing to fight over.  Are you pre-trib or post-trib. Premillennial or postmillennial?  Just what do all the symbols in the book mean?  And it drives me nuts because most people are reading the book to find out the answer to one question: when is Jesus to return and what will be the events leading up to His return.

So is this kind of attempt bad?  Well not per se, its just a waste time.  Let me be clear, all scripture is valuable, including the parts that make me feel uncomfortable or bugs me or that I find just plain boring, and this applies to Revelation.  The problem does not lie in Revelation, it is in us.  Jesus knew this and he had the answer to the problem.  Frankly the answer is more of the same sort of stuff I find unsettling in James.

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Measuring Correctly

Most things in life are about measurements. We make them all the time, almost without know we are measuring.  How much gas is left in the car?  Do I have enough in the 401k to retire?  How long until the lesson is over?  4th down and 1.  How much does it cost?  What time is it?  Our life, whether we like it or not, revolves around measurements we make every day.

Sometimes the measurements are complex and sometimes they are simple.  Some times we are the ones who are being measured.   Just before I took my solo flight my flight instructor said to me,”There are two kinds of people in the world, those who can land and airplane by themselves and those who can’t.  We’re about to find out which kind you are.”  I was about to be measured, and with a potentially harsh measuring stick.

Sometimes we are measuring others.  If we interview someone for a job or are considering hiring a contractor we are measuring to see whether this persons skills match our requirements and the price we are willing to pay.

Regardless of what we are measuring, the critical factor is using the right measuring device.  It won’t do to use a ruler if you want to know something’s weight.  Had my flight instructor given me a written test of flying he would not have been able to answer the critical question — could I land the plane by myself.

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Shameless Audacity

αναιδειαν  is the Greek word we are focusing on today, its usually transliterated as anaideia and pronounced an-ah’ee-die-ah.  Thayer and the the NIV translate it as shamelessness or impudence, or even shameless impudence or audacity.

Americans today know about shamelessness, audacity and impudence.  We see it in our politicians who lie to our faces; who say one thing and do another.  In athletes who’s on field heroics are exceeded only by their lack of discipline off the field.  In our entertainers who live lives of immorality that beggars the imagination and then have the temerity to lecture us on how we should live.  Oh yes, we of all people should be able to recognize shamelessness when we see it.

So when Jesus tells us it should be our practice to act with shameless audacity, how do we respond?  I think we are caught aback and, mostly, don’t know what to do.

We are looking at Luke 11:1-13.  These are wildly famous verses, many of them well know in the culture at large and not just among Christians and they contain the heart of Jesus’ teaching on prayer.  In context the verses start with Jesus praying and his disciples asking him to teach them to pray.

Implicit in that request, at least to me, is the request for Jesus to teach the disciples to pray as he does and with the results he gets.  In response he gives us what is usually called the Lord’s prayer.  I like Luke’s version.  Its short, its emphatic, it is not quiet and imploring, it is intimate and familiar.

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Facepalm–Disciple Edition

One of the most enduring web memes (if such things can be said to endure) is the facepalm.  I know its not really a word but for those of you who don’t know what it is Captain Picard demonstrates below.

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Since it is sometimes possible to do something so foolish that a simple facepalm is an insufficient response, Captain Picard and Commander Riker demonstrate the rare double-facepalm.

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Hymn to Humility

In our ongoing series examining some of the greatest verses of the New Testament, last week we examined Ephesians 2 and talked about salvation by grace, through faith. We finished up noting that while our works do not save us, Ephesians 2:10 notes “…we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” That is to say that God did not merely save us from sin, death and hell, but saved us to good works.

It is that notion that leads us into one of my favorite passages Philippians 2, we’ll look at the verses 2:1-18 in (naturally) three parts. And if your getting the feeling that we’ve discussed this before, we did it on 9-10-10. Should this little treatise be insufficiently boring you can also read my earlier notes on Philippians 2 here.

Actually, while you could divide it into three parts its really better in two, or better yet more like a donut (a shape that should be familiar to all Southern Baptists as donuts and coffee prior to Sunday School are as near to a sacrament as we come). By that I mean there is a whole surrounded by the argument Paul makes in 2 parts. (See what I did there?)

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Moses and Faith

Allow me to take you on a trip backward in time for a moment to 1888.  In that year in England, Queen Victoria is on the throne and Robert Cecil, Marquess of Sailsbury (a Conservative) is her Prime Minister.  Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, the Lawn Tennis Association is formed, the Football League begins play, and Jack the Ripper terrorizes London.  And on sunday morning June 24, 1888, Charles H. Spurgeon preached a sermon at the Metropolitan Temple in the Elephant and Castle district of London to about 2,000 people titled “Moses-His Faith and Decision”  (you can read it in full here).

And why do I bring this all up?  Because I have been thinking how much like teenagers we all are.  Teenagers are full of angst and everything is dramatic for them because they are experiencing so many things for the first time.  The first time a friend betrays them, the first time they compete and lose (or win), the first time they may have the responsibility of  a job, the first time they fall in love.  These things make them think that no one else has ever conquered, or loved, or lost or hurt as they do.  But as adults we look at them and say,”This is not such a big thing.”  Because we’ve been there, done that and know what they are going through is commonplace.

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Moses the Fearful

We’ve been talking about Moses in a negative context, using him as a contra example, because it is in his flaws we can, if we will, recognize our own.  It is when we see his insufficiency we will recognize our own and, ultimately see the super-sufficiency, the over abundance of God.  So here’s the major premise:  Moses was a coward essentially all of his life.  Here’s the minor premise:  so are we.  Now Moses was not fearful in every situation, nobody is, but at the very end, on the cusp of complete victory, Moses was a no show.

Can you think of anything particularly fearful that Moses did?  I can think of a couple of big things like running away after he killed the Egyptian Overseer, or trying to talk God out of sending him to lead the Exodus.  There were also instances where he seemed fearless like protecting the daughters of Jethro at the well or standing while Pharaoh’s chariots rumbled up at the Red Sea but none of those are the incident I want to talk about.

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Moses the Sinner

We have noted before that one of the remarkable things about scripture is that it paints a full picture of the lives of the people of God.  These were not storybook lives, the heroes of scripture are presented to us in all their human frailty and so it is with Moses.  Last week we saw that, among the remarkable things that can be said of Moses, God said he spoke to Moses as face to face.  Exodous 33:11 says “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, the way a person speaks to a friend.”  God confirms this later in Number 12:8 where he says,”With him [Moses] I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord.”

And yet a few chapters later in Numbers 20:12, before the Rock of Meribah, the Lord says to Moses (Aaron too), “Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.”

How could that happen, what had Moses done?  What was his sin and, much more important, what are we to learn from this incident?

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What Will it Be Like

What will it be like, this life after death thing?  What will we look like, where will we be, of what will our existence consist?  If living forever is the desired end result produced by our faith, its really reasonable to ask what that life will be like.  Surely we wouldn’t want to do this if we were going to be miserable later on, forever.

Apparently the Corinthians were not only questioning the notion of a resurrection and eternal life, they were asking about what it would be like, specifically what would their body be like.  They could see that people die, are buried and that buried bodies rot away, so if the body is gone, and we are to live forever, how the heck does that work.

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