14 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Learning
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-08-05
11-20-24 Learning is something that we do throughout our lives and it enhances our lives in various ways. We learn through studying, as well as experience. Schooling in our younger years teaches us the basics and provides us the tools for further learning. As life progresses, many of us engage in further study, including after joining the workplace. Over time, some people become experts in their fields. Even then, they continue to put time and effort into keeping up with advancements in their field through further study.
People who want to become proficient in anything discipline themselves to read, study, learn, and practice. They spend time and money, purchase books and attend classes, conferences, or seminars. They may get coaching or tutoring. They take tests and earn certificates and degrees showing their proficiency in their field or profession or any given area of interest.
It’s beneficial to learn new things, to progress in your knowledge and experience. It can make you more qualified and effective in your field, can make you more capable of helping others, can bring advancement in the workplace, and can make you feel better about yourself. Discovering new things and learning new skills can also be a source of great personal enrichment and fulfillment. Thank God for all the opportunities to learn that are available to people today.
Learning in a Spiritual Context
In the context of our spiritual lives as Christians, learning also plays an important role. Just as we’re willing to devote time to learning in order to advance our careers, or to improve our skills in a variety of aspects within our lives—such as parenting, cooking, nutrition, gardening, sport, investing, learning a language, etc.—so should we be willing to devote time to growing in our faith. The Spiritual Discipline of learning focuses on training ourselves to study and learn more about God and our faith on an ongoing basis.
When Jesus was asked, “Which is the great commandment in the Law?” His reply was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”[1] The discipline of learning is all about loving God with our minds.
Generally speaking, Christians are most comfortable with loving the Lord with our hearts and souls. We consecrate Him as Lord of our lives, worship Him above all other things, and commit our heart and soul to Him. We enter into His presence with devotion and praise; we are moved when we sing, worship, and pray. We hear or read testimonies of His wonderful work, we experience His hand in our lives, He answers our prayers. Most of us feel at home in our heartfelt devotion to God and with our experiences with Him. Such feelings are aligned with what Jesus said about loving God with our hearts and souls.
Loving God with our minds is also part of the great commandment, and is often more difficult, as it involves disciplined learning. Many consider Christian doctrine or theology “dry as cracker dust,” and feel that it’s stuffing one’s head with information which isn’t necessary or even helpful. However, theology is the study of God, and studying doctrine addresses what we believe as Christians and why we believe it. Knowing these things is important if we are to understand our faith and come to a deeper knowledge of God.
A compelling reason to learn all we can about God was expressed by Donald Whitney in the following terms:
What God wants most from you is your love. And one of the ways He wants you to show love and obedience to Him is by godly learning. God is glorified when we use the mind He made to learn of Him, His ways, His Word, and His world.[2]
William Lane Craig explained it like this:
As Christians we are to love God not simply with our soul, not simply with our strength, but we are to love Him with our minds. And the study of His truth is one of the best ways in which you can express your love of the Lord—by wanting to know what He is like and what His truth is. So the study of Christian doctrine is a way of showing your love for God by disciplining your mind to love and to know His truth. Study of doctrine is an expression of loving God with all of our minds.[3]
Reasons and Results of Learning About God and Faith
You don’t have to become a Bible scholar to embrace learning as a Spiritual Discipline. But you do need to spend timelearning about God and Scripture and faith. Developing the discipline of learning takes loving God enough to want to learn all we can about Him. It requires learning about Jesus, the meaning of the life He led, the message He preached, and the death He died. It means coming to an understanding of God’s plan of salvation and how it unfolded throughout the Old Testament and culminated in the life and death of Jesus. It’s about understanding who God is—His attributes, nature, and character. It’s learning about what He wants from us, His creatures.
When you love someone, you want to learn all you can about what they’re like, their likes and dislikes, their history—you want to know everything you can about them. When it comes to our relationship with God, the path to discovering Him and knowing Him intimately is learning what He has revealed about Himself in Scripture. To properly do this requires study.
One of the goals of practicing any of the Spiritual Disciplines is to become more Christlike. Being Christlike inherently means a transformation, conforming more to the ways of Christ and less to the ways of the world. Scripture speaks of not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewal of your mind.[4] One major way of renewing our mind is by learning the ways and mind of God through diligent study of His Word.
The Word of God must go through our head if it’s going to change our heart and life.[5]
As Christians we are called to love God with all of our minds. We are expected to continually grow in Christian maturity through becoming skilled in the knowledge of God and His Word.
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. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.[6]
The Spiritual Discipline of learning also affects our sharing the Gospel with others, as the more knowledgeable we are about what the Bible teaches, the better position we are in to answer individuals’ questions, and when challenged, to knowledgeably defend our faith. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.[7] People these days are less willing than in the past to receive salvation without first asking and receiving answers to their questions—questions which often challenge the biblical view (or in some cases are a result of a misunderstanding of what the Bible says).
Being able to capably make a defense or to answer the questions people ask about the faith makes you a more effective witness. There are a number of books available which teach how to answer difficult questions people ask. Some examples are When God Goes to Starbucks (Paul Copan); Tactics (Greg Koukl); Hard Questions, Real Answers (William Lane Craig); Love Your God with All Your Mind (J. P. Moreland); To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview (edited by Francis Beckwith, William Lane Craig, & J. P. Moreland).
Disciplining ourselves to learn helps us when we are teaching others about the faith. An overseer, as God’s steward, must …hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.[8] For the sake of deepening our relationship with the Lord, of growing to be more Christlike, of becoming mature Christians, and being more effective in our mission work and teaching others, disciplining ourselves to learn through studying God’s Word is a worthwhile endeavor.
Difference Between Devotional Reading and Study
Of course, we learn spiritual things from our devotional input, but the discipline of learning extends beyond this. Learning as a discipline means committing to study what Scripture means, what was being conveyed to those for whom it was originally written, what truths it reveals, and the doctrines which emanate from those truths. The focus of devotional reading is reflecting on “What does Scripture mean to me? What is its application in my life today?” That is important, and a significant way in which God speaks to individuals’ hearts about their needs, their specific sins, etc. It’s often experiential in that the devotional, the sermon, the story that is told, can inspire, uplift, cause a positive feeling, and bring us closer to the Lord, and all of that is very valuable and is certainly a part of learning about God and His ways. However, the discipline of learning focuses on in-depth study of God’s Word and taking in knowledge and understanding through it.
The discipline of learning focuses on studying the meaning of Scripture and what it conveys, as it is through Scripture that God has revealed Himself, His instructions, His plan, the means of salvation, and His expectations of us. Studying Scripture, and books that teach the meaning of Scripture, or teach about the meaning of specific books of the Bible, or the doctrines which Scripture teaches, are all part of the discipline of learning.
I like to read the Bible, and I generally feel like I understand what it’s conveying. However, when I’ve coupled my reading with using a study Bible, or when I read books or listen to lectures which more thoroughly explain what different Bible passages mean or the context in which they were given or why we, as Christians, believe what we believe based on what Scripture has revealed, I find it brings a deeper understanding of the Bible—of what it teaches and how it relates to my faith and my life.
I’ll readily admit that the study of theology and doctrine isn’t always easy. It takes work and sometimes requires wading through complicated material. It’s making the effort to gain a more comprehensive perspective on what God has revealed to humanity by means of His written Word. It’s very different from reading the Bible devotionally or reading a daily devotional or listening to an inspirational speaker. Studying Scripture with the purpose of learning about God helps to increase our understanding of God and our faith. It’s a means of loving Him. By learning and studying in this way, combined with devotional input, we love God in all the ways He has asked—with our heart, soul, and mind.
As you engage in this type of study, you learn the “mechanics” of your faith. You more deeply understand the “whys and wherefores.” When you have learned more about Scripture, its context, and its overall meaning—including the history of God’s interaction with humanity in general and ancient Israel specifically, and the picture of God’s plan of salvation through Jesus—then who He is and why He does what He does comes more into focus. You learn more about Him, know more of what He wants from us, and understand why. In short, you can come to personally know God in an even deeper way. As you learn of Him at this foundational level, based on a deeper understanding of what He’s told us about Himself, this knowledge brings a better understanding of the reasons He wants us to be and live a certain way, as well as how we can better align our lives with Him.
Being an Intentional Learner
The benefits of learning and study are many, but the path to spiritual learning isn’t easy; it takes work, study, time, and discipline. From personal experience, however, I can say that it’s worth the effort. Learning more of the “inside mechanics” of my beliefs has opened up the meaning of Scripture to me and has deepened my faith. While some of the reading and studying I’ve done has been pretty dry and academic, sticking with my study program has also opened up a deeper understanding of God and His truth. I have tried to condense the theological basics gained through my studies in The Heart of It All series, with the aim of making it a good foundation for basic study and learning of Scripture.
The discipline of learning means becoming an intentional learner instead of an accidental one. Donald Whitney expresses the point this way:
Age and experience alone don’t increase your spiritual maturity. Becoming like Jesus doesn’t happen incidentally or automatically with the passing of birthdays …Those who are not trying to learn will only get spiritual and biblical knowledge by accident or convenience. Occasionally they will hear a biblical fact or principle from someone else and profit from it. Once in a while they will get a brief burst of interest in the subject. But this is not the way to Godliness. The discipline of learning helps us to be intentional learners, not accidental learners. …It takes discipline to become an intentional learner.[9]
It can be difficult to find the time to study and learn, but it’s worthwhile. Such learning is often done through reading but is not limited only to that; there are audio and video courses available online which do a good job of teaching the reasoning behind Christian faith. If you find it easier to learn by listening rather than reading, I would recommend the Defenders course by William Lane Craig. It’s enlightening, educational, and feeding, and gives an excellent explanation of all the major Christian doctrines. It’s not necessarily an easy course, and it takes time to work through it. He covers eleven major beliefs in 178 classes that are between 15 and 30 minutes long. Transcripts of the classes are available online as well.[10] It does take discipline to work your way through such a course—but any comprehensive course one takes will require the same. Most theology books that cover the same ground are at least 1,000 pages long. One that is shorter is Theology: The Basics, by Alister E. McGrath.
You may not have a lot of available time, but even committing to just reading a few pages a day, or listening to one lecture each morning, will eventually get you through the material, which will help you understand your faith more deeply and will strengthen your understanding of and connection with God. Understanding Him and His Word better will help you to be a better person, a better Christian, and a better witness to others. It will open up a further avenue for you to love God, as you seek to love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind.
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Matthew 22:36–38.
[2] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 226.
[3] William Lane Craig, Foundations of Christian Doctrine—Part 1.
[4] Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2 ESV).
[5] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 228.
[6] Hebrews 5:12–14; 6:1.
[7] 1 Peter 3:15.
[8] Titus 1:7,9.
[9] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 228–229.
[10] View Defenders series here.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
13 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Confession
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-07-15
11-19-24 A familiar Scottish proverb tells us that “Confession is good for the soul,” and so it is. When we are looking to deepen our connection with the Lord, to live a God-centered life, confessing our sins plays an important role.
The Spiritual Discipline of confession involves sin that is committed after salvation. When we accept Jesus as our Savior we are forgiven for our sins, and therefore are seen as judicially righteous before God, with assurance of salvation.[1] In His great love for humanity, God made a way for us to be reconciled with Him, and that way was through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, who gave His life so that we could be born again as members of God’s family. Salvation changed our relationship with Him—He is now our Father.[2] We are eternally part of His family.
Being born again, however, doesn’t mean that we no longer sin, or that when we do, our sins have no consequences. Sin has negative effects in our lives and the lives of others, and most prominently in the damage it does to our personal relationship with God. Sin causes a breach in our relationship with our Father, and confession repairs the breach. It takes effort on our part to make things right, similar to how it takes effort to restore a relationship with another person whom we have hurt or offended.
The discipline of confession is the means of counteracting the effect our sins have on our relationship with God. If we don’t regularly repair the damage through confessing our sins, we run the risk of becoming hardened in heart and spirit and relationally growing more distant from Him. As John MacArthur wrote:
I’ve seen Christians—judicially forgiven and eternally secure—who are hardened, impenitent, and insensitive to sin. Consequently, they are also without joy because they don’t have a loving, intimate fellowship with God. They have blocked out joy and fellowship with the barricade of their unconfessed sin.[3]
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus directed us to ask the Father to forgive us our sins.[4] He wasn’t instructing us to pray repeatedly for justification, as we received that upon salvation.[5] Instead, He was showing us the means of restoring our personal fellowship with God when that fellowship has been broken or damaged due to our sins. When King David had grievously sinned, his fellowship with God was broken and his sin had distanced him. His prayer was:
Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.[6] He asked God for restoration: Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.[7]
Confessing our sins and asking God to forgive us is the path to that restoration. When we come before Him and admit that we have sinned, when we ask forgiveness and have heartfelt repentance, the breach is repaired and the damaged relationship is restored. We are cleansed from our unrighteousness and can once again be in fellowship with righteousness, God Himself.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.[8]
Confession shouldn’t be looked upon as something negative or distasteful, because the positive result of confessing our transgressions is forgiveness. God desires to forgive us, and confession is the avenue through which we receive His mercy and compassion. His forgiveness brings freshness to our spirit as our relationship, love, and friendship with Him is renewed.
What Confession Means
The Greek word for sin is hamartia (pronounced ha mar TEE ah), which means to miss the mark, to wander from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong. As Christians, we don’t want to wander from the path of uprightness or miss the mark. Our goal is to journey through life walking close to Jesus, to avoid straying from His side. When we sin, we wander from Him, but confessing draws us back. Confession is an expression of our love and desire to have a close relationship with Jesus and stay connected to Him.
The word used in the New Testament in reference to confessing our sins is homologeo (pronouncedha ma la GAY oh),which comes from the combination of the words homos, meaning “the same,” and lego, meaning “to speak.” It means to speak the same thing, to agree. When we confess our sins, we are saying the same thing about sin as God does. We are agreeing with His condemnation of sin and acknowledging that in sinning we have acted against God personally, against His Word and His nature. We are admitting that sin is wrong and that we have acted in a way that is offensive to Him. It’s acknowledging that we call these actions the same thing God calls them: envy, jealousy, lust, hatred, deceit, greed, anger, gluttony, adultery, etc.[9]
It is recognizing that these actions are repugnant to God and that by doing them, we are hurting our relationship with Him. It is agreeing that because of the sins of humanity, including our specific sins, Jesus suffered torture and death on the cross. Confession is the acknowledgment that these things are wrong, that we have personally done them, we have offended God, we are sorry, and we need His forgiveness. It is also an expression of our understanding that when we confess our sins, God, in His love and mercy, forgives us.
Charles Spurgeon pointed out that as God’s children, we don’t come before Him to confess as a culprit or criminal comes before a judge. Instead, as His children, we come to our loving Father who desires to forgive.
There is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit, and confessing sin as a child. The Father’s bosom is the place for penitent confessions. We have been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.[10]
When we confess our sins, we are recognizing and admitting our guilt. We are stating that no matter who we have wronged, we have sinned against God, whom we are accountable to, we deeply regret doing so, and we seek His forgiveness.
Confession consists of acknowledging our specific sins and claiming them as our own. The following story expresses this point well:
A counselor was trying to help a man who had come forward during an evangelistic meeting. “I’m a Christian,” the man said, “but there’s sin in my life, and I need help.” The counselor showed him 1 John 1:9 and suggested that the man confess his sins to God. “O Father,” the man began, “if we have done anything wrong—” “Just a minute!” the counselor interrupted. “Don’t drag me into your sin! My brother, it’s not ‘if’ or ‘we’—you’d better get down to business with God!”[11]
Because our goal is to regain our close relationship with God, it is helpful to confess specific wrongdoing along with our general sins and weaknesses.
Of course, part of confession is repentance, meaning the changing of the mind, a change of view and of purpose. It’s understanding that sin isn’t just a weakness or an area of your life that you need to work on; it is you acting contrary to God and His nature, resulting in His displeasure and causing a distance in your relationship with Him, as well as negatively affecting you as a person. Repentance means turning from sin and toward God, similar to the prodigal son who returned from a far country to his father’s house. It’s being sorry for sinning and committing to change.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.[12]
Every one of us sins frequently. We don’t want to, we usually don’t mean to, but we do. And while some sins are more serious than others, all sin is spiritually damaging. Confession as a discipline is part of the process of counteracting the damage.
How Often to Confess?
There is no set rule for how often to confess your sins to the Lord, though it seems wise to do so on a regular basis. Before coming before the Lord to confess your sins, it’s good to take some time in self-examination, thinking and praying about the ways you have sinned and any specific sins you can remember. The goal isn’t to root out every detail or every possible sin, rather it’s taking time in prayer to invite the Lord to move in your heart to show you areas in which you need His forgiveness.[13]
If you invite the Holy Spirit to help you search your heart, you will likely become aware of specific sins you would want to confess. Not just sins of commission, but also of omission—times when you should have done something but didn’t. You may become more aware of sins of the heart (such as greed, pride, anger, etc.), which are less obvious than the more outward sins of the flesh. The purpose of confession is greater closeness to God, and taking some time to pray, meditate, and open ourselves to God in self-examination is part of the discipline.
Whom to Confess to
Scripture tells us to confess our sins to God. I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.[14] Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.[15] We confess to the Lord because ultimately He is the one we have sinned against. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t apologize to those you’ve wronged—you should, and also make restitution if it’s called for.
Besides confessing our sins to God, Scripture also speaks of confessing our sins to others.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.[16] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.[17]
Some Christians—Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and some Anglicans—act upon the instructions to confess sins to another within the sacrament of confession (also called the sacrament of penance or the sacrament of reconciliation), as they confess their sins to a priest. Generally, Protestant belief is that confession is made only to God in the privacy of personal prayer. In some Protestant services, the pastor will call for a period of silence in order to allow time for members to privately confess their sins to the Lord.
While confessing one’s sins is generally a private matter between the individual and God, as we’ve seen by the verses above, there are occasions when we are instructed to confess our sins to one another. Martin Luther said that “secret confession” to another Christian, although not required by Scripture, was “useful and even necessary.” John Calvin also commended private confession for any believer who is “troubled and afflicted with a sense of sins, so that without outside help he is unable to free himself from them.”[18]
There are times when individuals confess their sins to the Lord, but don’t feel it is enough; they don’t have peace that their confession has restored their fellowship with God. In times like these, it can be beneficial to confess the sin to a trusted brother or sister in the Lord. In such instances God has given us our brothers and sisters to stand in Christ’s stead and make God’s presence and forgiveness real to us.[19]Making a verbal confession of sin to a trusted fellow Christian, along with the effective prayers prayed by that Christian, is sometimes needed to bring the realization of forgiveness, resulting in peace of heart, mind, and spirit.
Of course, such a confession wouldn’t be made to just any Christian, as not all of our brothers and sisters have the necessary empathy or understanding to receive a confession, neither can every Christian be counted on to keep the information in absolute confidence. Richard Foster gives some further qualifications for a person who will be receiving a confession:
Others are disqualified because they would be horrified at the revealing of certain sins. Still others, not understanding the nature and value of confession, would shrug it off with a “That’s not so bad.” Fortunately, many people do understand and would be delighted to minister in this way. These people are found by asking God to reveal them to us. They are also found by observing people to see who evidences a lively faith in God’s power to forgive and exhibits the joy of the Lord in his or her heart. The key qualifications are spiritual maturity, wisdom, compassion, good common sense, the ability to keep a confidence, and a wholesome sense of humor. Many pastors—though by no means all—can serve in this way. Often ordinary folk who hold no office or title whatever are among the best at receiving a confession.[20]
Receiving a Confession
Receiving a confession from another Christian is a sacred matter. Your brother or sister is coming to you in obedience to Scripture, trusting that you will listen with love and compassion. In order to properly receive a confession, you need to begin from a place of deep humility. All sin is abhorrent to God, and since we all sin, no one is in a position to be judgmental or to look down upon the one making confession.
The individual making their confession may be in pain and sorrowful about their sins, or they may be confessing in obedience to Scripture, or because they want to please the Lord. They deserve the utmost respect and love from you. If you can’t give them that, if you don’t feel you can keep the information confidential, if you are concerned that you may betray their trust, then you shouldn’t agree to receive it.
Foster gives the following wise counsel for those who are receiving a confession:[21]
- When one is opening their griefs to you, discipline yourself to be quiet. Don’t try to relieve the tension by making an offhanded comment, as it’s distracting and even destructive to the sacredness of the moment.
- Don’t try to pry out more details than necessary. If you feel they are holding something back due to fear or embarrassment, it’s best to wait silently and prayerfully.
- Pray for them inwardly and imperceptibly, send prayers of love and forgiveness toward them. Pray that they will share the “key” that will reveal any area needing the healing touch of Christ.
- Once they have confessed, pray for them out loud, and in the prayer, state that the forgiveness that is in Jesus is now real and effective for them. You can say this in a tone of genuine authority because If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.[22]
- Ask God to heal their heart and mind from any wounds the sin has caused.
One of our goals as Christians is to have a deep and abiding relationship with God, through Jesus. Because sin separates us from God, we want to avoid sinning; yet as human beings, it is impossible for us to be completely free of sin. Because of this, confessing our sins and seeking the Lord’s forgiveness is key to our having the relationship with Him that we desire. Confession is God’s way for us to eliminate the effects of sin in our relationship with Him. God desires to forgive us, and He wants us to be willing to seek His forgiveness.
When we come to the Lord to confess our sins, we may come in sadness, sorrow, and contrition, but we leave with great joy.—Joy that we are forgiven, that our relationship is restored, and that we can be in His presence unhindered by the burden of our sins. Confession leads to celebration. Our sins are forgiven, our lives are changed. Simply put, “confession is good for the soul.”
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
[1] For more on the concept of Justification, see: The Heart of It All: Salvation, Results—Justification, Adoption, and Regeneration.
[2] When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (Galatians 4:4–7).
[3] John MacArthur Jr., Alone with God (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1995), 104–106.
[4] Luke 11:4.
[5] Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
[6] Psalm 51:11.
[7] Psalm 51:12.
[8] 1 John 1:9.
[9] David Walls and Max Anders, Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 166.
[10] C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition), (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006).
[11] W. W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 481–485.
[12] Isaiah 55:7.
[13] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 151.
[14] Psalm 32:5.
[15] Proverbs 28:13.
[16] James 5:16 NAS.
[17] John 20:23.
[18] W. A. Elwell and B. J. Beitzel in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988).
[19] Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 147.
[20] Ibid., 153.
[21] Ibid., 155–56.
[22] John 20:23.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
12 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Fellowship
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-06-17
11-18-24 When we think about fellowship, most of us Christians think of getting together with other Christians for a time of prayer, worship, singing, reading the Bible and/or listening to a sermon, talking, eating, and generally interacting in a way that is spiritually edifying and uplifting. While these activities are an important part of Christian fellowship, there is a broader biblical concept of fellowship that provides a deeper understanding of its meaning. I will present this broader concept first, before addressing fellowship as a Spiritual Discipline, as understanding the broader concept gives insight into the meaning of the discipline of fellowship.
God and Humanity in Fellowship
We begin before the beginning. Before anything was created, God existed as a trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through His Word, God has revealed to us that He consists of one divine being, one essence, with three self-distinctions or persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but there is only one God. This is one of the foundational beliefs of our faith. (You can find a fuller explanation of this doctrine here.) The three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Spirit—exist in a loving interpersonal relationship together. You could say that they have lived in fellowship together forever.
When God created Adam, and then Eve, He made them in His own image. They were created as relational beings, and besides their relationship with each other, they enjoyed friendship and communion with God as well. When they disobeyed God, they were ashamed and hid from Him, and the fellowship they had with Him was broken. But despite Adam and Eve’s disobedience and the consequent fall of mankind, God has continually reached out to mankind and spoken of His plan of redemption. He made a way to restore humanity’s fellowship with Him. We see Him advancing His plan throughout the Old Testament through special people who were links in His plan of salvation, such as Enoch and Noah, who “walked with God;”[1] Abraham, who is called “the friend of God;”[2] Moses, whom God spoke with “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” on Mount Sinai;[3] David, who was called “a man after God’s own heart;”[4] and the people of Israel, whom He made His people.[5]
Upon Jesus’ death and resurrection, God changed the nature of the fellowship available to humanity by making His permanent abode in the hearts of those who believe. Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.[6] Fellowship with God is now centered in the spiritual union we have with Jesus.[7] You will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.[8]
Individual Connection with God
The most important aspect of Christian fellowship is our individual connection or communion with God through His Son, Jesus. The primary factor in the Spiritual Discipline of fellowship is our fellowship with God. The apostle John wrote that Jesus’ life, which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.[9]
The fellowship with God that is available to us as believers will eventually move into a new stage when God dwells with His people.
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.”[10]
A believer’s individual relationship and fellowship with God is what makes Christian fellowship among believers possible; it’s what undergirds the concept of fellowship among Christians. First, God restores fellowship with us through Jesus’ suffering and dying for us; and as we live our lives in alignment with His Word, fellowship with other believers is made possible. John wrote:
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.[11]
Participation in Our Faith with Fellow Believers
Besides our fellowship with God, another aspect of fellowship consists of participating in our faith in a variety of ways. The apostle Paul presents the relationship believers have with one another using several Greek words, all of which express the idea of a common participation. The main words he used were from the koinōnia (pronounced koy no NEE ah) word group.These express having something in common with someone and are translated throughout the New Testament as association, communion, fellowship, communication, partaking, close relationship, generosity, sign of fellowship, gift, contribution, and participation. The emphasis of these words throughout the New Testament was on participation “in something” rather than the emphasis on “with someone” as it’s more commonly used today. Let me explain.
Today, fellowship is most commonly used in the sense of doing something “with someone,” such as gathering with other believers. However, within the biblical text, the words from the koinōnia word group are generally used as “having a share in” or “giving a share.” We see “having a share in” expressed as being a partner, a partaker, or a sharer—in God’s work, blessings, and even troubles—in the following verses:
Titus, my partner and fellow worker;[12] I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom;[13] you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, and sometimes being partners with those so treated;[14] we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort;[15] you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree;[16] I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it;[17] you are all partakers with me of grace;[18] by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.[19]
In these verses, we see the concept of fellowship portrayed as being in partnership with others in various aspects of our Christian work and lives.
In other verses we see koinōnia being used in the sense of “giving a share,” in reference to being generous through giving, helping other Christians.
They will glorify God because of …the generosity of your contribution (koinōnia) for them;[20] For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem;[21] beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation (koinōnia) in the support of the saints;[22] no church shared (koinōnia) with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone;[23] One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.[24]
Overall Concepts of Fellowship
As we can see, the broader sense of fellowship (koinōnia) has to do with participation in the wide range of the Gospel: the blessings, the trials and tribulations, the comfort, and the grace. It’s partaking together of the divine nature through the truth God has given. It also has to do with living the Gospel through generosity, giving to others.
While fellowship includes gathering together with other Christians, it goes beyond attendance at a service or activity. It includes your participation in the Gospel, working in some way with others who are getting out God’s message—praying for them, joining them in their mission in any way you can. It encompasses your giving through your tithes and offerings, as well as support for those engaging in the mission. It’s partnering with God and others in the commission of getting out the message and reaching others with salvation.
The apostle Paul also used koinōnia to describe the unity and bonding that should exist among Christians. When writing about the debate in Jerusalem over whether the Gentiles (non-Jews) had to become Jewish through circumcision in order to become Christians,[25] Paul said that James, the brother of Jesus, and the apostles Peter and John gave him and Barnabas the “right hand of fellowship (koinōnia).”[26] This signified that while the apostles in Jerusalem would continue their ministry to the Jews, and Paul’s ministry would differ in that he ministered to Gentiles, they remained united as brothers in the faith. This expresses the importance of Christians of all persuasions keeping in unity and fellowship even when engaged in different ministries, or holding to different theological understanding.
When taken in the overall context of the meaning of the original Greek, fellowship encompasses a much broader scope than normally understood. It can be seen as participation in the entire system of faith. It includes our interaction with God and with other Christians, and on levels deeper than only gathering together. But gathering together is also an important part of fellowship.
Gathering together for Christian fellowship, in alignment with the understanding of koinōnia, has to do with the sharing of spiritual life. It goes deeper than socializing with other Christians. Of course, socializing with other Christians is a helpful and needful part of our lives, and helps bring the balanced life we need, and such socializing can be part of spiritual fellowship. But it’s not the only part. Spiritual fellowship includes gathering with other Christians to share hearts, to speak to one another about living our lives for God, discuss problems and solutions related to living our discipleship, pray for one another, and seek godly counsel from brothers or sisters. It also includes reading Scripture, praise, prayer, and worship together.
Such fellowship can happen when a larger group of Christians gather, or when only two or three meet. Some aspects of fellowship can happen even in a socializing situation, such as over a meal, when you’re out shopping with another believer, etc., if you use some of that time to connect together with the Lord, perhaps through prayer, or spiritual discussions about Him, your faith, spiritual growth, what you are learning, sharing prayer requests, etc. Of course it also happens when you gather specifically for worship, prayer, communion, etc., whether with a small group or a large one.
Donald Whitney wrote:
Whatever the social setting in which fellowship happens, it should involve sharing the life of Christ both in word and deed. As we live like Christ when together, we encourage each other in Christian living. As we talk like Christ about spiritual matters, we also stimulate each other toward Godliness.[27]
The Spiritual Discipline of fellowship includes making time for meeting together with other Christians in order to participate together in our faith life, our walk with the Lord, our worship and prayer life, and strengthening one another in Christ. As with all of the disciplines, the practice of it requires action, time, commitment, and intentionality. As the writer of Hebrews says:
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, and let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do …[28]
How We Practice the Discipline of Fellowship
As a Spiritual Discipline, fellowship begins with our personal fellowship with God, for it is as a result of this that we are able to have true fellowship with our brethren. It interacts with other Spiritual Disciplines such as prayer, giving, and evangelism. It is consciously working toward a rich relationship with God and with other Christians. It’s endeavoring to live God’s Word in relationship to others of the faith, to follow the commandment Jesus gave His disciples to love one another as I have loved you.[29]
Fellowship as a discipline consists of following the scriptural guidelines for our interactions among fellow believers, such as:
Let brotherly love continue.[30]
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.[31]
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.[32]
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.[33]
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.[34]
Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints…[35]
Practicing the Spiritual Discipline of the full concept of fellowship begins with keeping in close connection with God. Next follows participating in various aspects of our faith—sharing our blessings with others, and being partners with and gathering together with fellow believers. If we implement these things, we will be modeling our fellowship after the word pictures used to describe the close connection and togetherness that members of the early church possessed.[36] They were called the household of God,[37] the household of faith.[38] As those adopted into God’s family,[39] they were governed by love, tenderness, compassion, and humility.[40]
Our fellowship with God and others is an important part of living our faith, of bearing fruit in our individual lives and in the lives of others. As members of the body of Christ, we should endeavor to walk in the light, as He is in the light, so that we will have fuller and deeper fellowship with one another.
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:22 NAU).
Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9).
[2] Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? (2 Chronicles 20:7 NAU)
[3] Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (Exodus 33:11).
[4] The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people (1 Samuel 13:14).
[5] Bruce Demarest in W. A. Elwell and B. J. Beitzel, eds., in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988).
[6] John 14:23.
[7] Ibid.
[8] John 14:20–21.
[9] 1 John 1:2–3.
[10] Revelation 21:2–3.
[11] 1 John 1:7.
[12] 2 Corinthians 8:23.
[13] Revelation 1:9.
[14] Hebrews 10:32–33.
[15] 2 Corinthians 1:7.
[16] Romans 11:17.
[17] 1 Corinthians 9:23 NAU.
[18] Philippians 1:7.
[19] 2 Peter 1:4 NKJV.
[20] 2 Corinthians 9:13.
[21] Romans 15:26.
[22] 2 Corinthians 8:3–4 NAU.
[23] Philippians 4:15 NAU.
[24] Galatians 6:6.
[25] Recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we might goto the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised (Galatians 2:9 NAS).
[26] C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler, eds., “Felloes,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003).
[27] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 241.
[28] Hebrews 10:24–25 NIV.
[29] John 15:12.
[30] Hebrews 13:1.
[31] Philippians 2:3–4.
[32] Galatians 6:2.
[33] Galatians 6:1.
[34] 1 Corinthians 12:26.
[35] Ephesians 6:18.
[36] Bruce Demarest in W. A. Elwell and B. J. Beitzel, eds., in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988).
[37] You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19).
[38] As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).
[39] Galatians 4:4–6: When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
[40] Philippians 2:1–4: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
11 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Evangelism
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-06-03
11/16/24 During the days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven, He gave instructions to His disciples. Luke tells us that He appeared to them during a 40-day period and spoke to them about the kingdom of God. He also ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait until they received the promise of the Father, which was the infilling of the Holy Spirit.[1] Jesus said that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.[2] During those days, He also told them to go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation[3] and to make disciples of all nations and teach them all that He had commanded.[4] His last instruction to those who believed in Him was to share the Gospel, the good news, everywhere to everyone; to teach them everything He had taught them. He told them: As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.[5] In instructing those who believed in Him in that day, He is also speaking to us today.
The direction from Jesus is to proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation and to make disciples. The aspect of evangelism that this article focuses on is the discipline of proclaiming the Gospel to those who haven’t come to faith in Jesus for salvation. Making disciples of those who believe in Jesus is also part of evangelism, and is a multifaceted topic which will require more in-depth study than can be covered in the Spiritual Disciplines series. That aspect of evangelism will be covered in a future series, God willing.
All Christians are expected to share the Gospel, to present others with the opportunity to receive Jesus as their Savior and help them learn how to develop a personal relationship with God. We are commissioned by Jesus Himself to be communicators of God’s great plan of salvation to others. People do not usually come to faith unless we, as Christians, share the Gospel with them. How can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?[6] People generally hear about God’s plan for salvation because someone communicates the Gospel to them, and the “someone” meant to be doing this is all of us who already know Jesus. If we are going to be true to the commission the Lord has given, we must make a regular conscious effort to do so. This is where evangelism as a Spiritual Discipline comes into play.
We know that God wants us to share the message of the Gospel with others, but so often we’re too busy. Our days are so full of responsibilities that taking time to witness can seem almost impossible at times. If we want to fulfill Jesus’ command to share the Gospel, it takes disciplining ourselves to make time to do so. We need to choose to make this a priority in our lives. We need to make the effort to find or create opportunities to share the Gospel. This means seeking out opportunities to interact with non-Christians in an atmosphere which is conducive to conversation, such as inviting them for dinner or meeting them for coffee. You might look for ways to get together with a co-worker or fellow student after hours. In many cases, the furthest you will get will be to “till the ground” rather than actually “planting the seed.” This initial period is sometimes called “pre-evangelism.” This quote from Norman Geisler explains it well.
If evangelism is planting seeds of the Gospel, then pre-evangelism is tilling the soil of people’s minds and hearts to help them be more willing to listen to the truth (1 Corinthians 3:6). Because of the kind of world we live in today, we may not be able to plant the seeds of the Gospel until we work the soil of people’s minds and hearts. Failure to prepare the soul may lead to closed doors for planting seeds today and a reluctance to consider the Gospel message in the future … In the world we live in today, we may have to plant many spiritual seeds for a period of time before someone will seriously consider the person of Christ. We may have to till the ground before we have the opportunity to plant a seed. We are not called to bring all persons to Christ but simply to bring Christ to all persons.[7]
Much of our initial contact with people will fall under pre-evangelism, when we get to know them and have conversations on a variety of subjects, some of which may be very deep and may lead to you answering their questions in a manner which reflects what Scripture teaches, without necessarily bringing Scripture into the conversation. As friendship grows and trust builds, people are more inclined to be open to hearing what you have to say in regard to Jesus and salvation. And to build friendship and trust requires you making time to be with them in environments which are conducive to deep conversation, and that generally takes planning and effort.
Sometimes spontaneous opportunities to witness arise, and we should be open to those, but it’s often the case that to have a chance to share the Gospel with someone you need to be intentional about it. Plan to meet at a place or time when you can have a deeper conversation, creating a situation in which they feel comfortable and are apt to be open to speak about deeper topics. This could open the door for you to talk about spiritual matters and to bring the conversation around to salvation.
Of course, there’s no single setting or way of sharing the message, as the world is made up of billions of individuals of different nationalities, worldviews, interests, likes, dislikes, and personalities; and while the Gospel is meant for each of them, the manner in which it can be effectively delivered to them and to which they will best respond will vary. Therefore, the Holy Spirit will often use your particular talents and gifts to reach certain people who respond to you as a person. So while we are all commissioned to share the Gospel and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so,[8] we aren’t all expected to use the same methods. Generally speaking, the Lord will lead you to share the message in a manner that is compatible with your personality, temperament, spiritual gifts, opportunities, etc.[9] The diversity of those sharing the Gospel is necessary due to the diversity of those who need to hear the Gospel.
We are each in different circumstances, so whom we reach and how we reach them will be different depending on the situation and how God leads you. But we know that God, who loves humanity, and doesn’t wish that any should perish, but rather that all should reach repentance,[10] will use you to reach others in whatever circumstance you are in.—If you will let Him.
The Spiritual Discipline of evangelism is the commitment to letting God use you to be His messenger to others. When you practice this discipline, you commit to making the effort to witness, and to taking the steps that will make it possible. It’s a sacrifice to intentionally devote time to witnessing to do our part to obey Jesus’ call to preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations, but the eternal results of witnessing are more than worth it.
Last Christmas, Maria and I took up the challenge of sharing 50 Activated magazines with others. It was fun and rewarding, but it required disciplining ourselves to take them with us when we went out and to give them to those we came in contact with. As I was writing this, I asked myself, Why am I not giving out 50 magazines every month? I made that commitment once, but shouldn’t I discipline myself to do it every month? Of course I should! The only reason I haven’t distributed them every month is because I haven’t yet disciplined myself to do so. More specifically, I haven’t developed the habit of ordering the magazines regularly, taking them with me each time I go out, and consistently watching for opportunities to give them to the people I meet, or to take the new edition of the magazine to those who received the mag from the previous month. The “discipline” of giving out the Activated mag would consist of a series of simple steps that I do regularly.
Inviting others for dinner, meeting a colleague for coffee, building a relationship with non-Christian friends, visiting your neighbors, giving someone a tract or another piece of literature—these things only happen if you plan for them, if you discipline yourself to intentionally seek opportunities for sharing the Gospel. What you plan for will depend on your specific situation and gifts, and everyone won’t use the same methods. Author Donald Whitney wrote:
In one of his letters the Apostle Peter divides all spiritual gifts into two broad categories of serving gifts and speaking gifts (1 Peter 4:10–11).[11] Some find that they evangelize more through serving, others more through speaking. Evangelistic serving might involve hosting a meal and living the Gospel in front of your guests. As they see the distinctives in your home and family lives, immediate or eventual opportunities to voice the Gospel may arise. Perhaps you might cook a meal or grill some burgers to provide an open door for your spouse to share his or her faith. I’m told that every family averages a “crisis” once every six months. During that time of illness, job loss, financial crunch, birth, death, etc., being a Christlike servant to that family frequently demonstrates the reality of your faith in a way that piques their interest. Through serving you may have a chance to give evangelistic literature or to fulfill the Great Commission in more imaginative ways.[12]
Since we are called to share the Gospel, no matter what our circumstances, God’s Spirit can lead us to a means of doing so that will work within our circumstances. Perhaps in your situation it’s virtually impossible to set aside time to meet with others due to caring for your children or your elderly parents. You may not be able to have long conversations with others, but you can still plant seeds. You can give someone a piece of literature.You can ask them if there is something you can pray for. You can show them kindness and tell them Jesus loves them. You may not be in a position to do much in-depth witnessing, but you can prepare the ground of people’s hearts through showing God’s love and concern for them.
Many of us are in a position where we could make some time to witness, yet we haven’t disciplined ourselves to do so. It’s not on our to-do list, and we aren’t consciously thinking of it. And what we don’t plan for, we seldom do. The discipline of evangelism begins with a commitment, followed by seeking the Lord for how to realistically make it an intentional part of your life. If you are praying for the Lord to help you witness and to show you what method will work in your circumstances, He can give you ideas and opportunities.
I’m a firm believer in the value of “you” when it comes to sharing the Gospel. While it is the message of the Gospel—God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice—which will ultimately bring someone to salvation, their willingness to listen to that message often has to do with you. As Dwight L. Moody said, Every Bible should be bound in shoe-leather. You are the Gospel in shoe leather; you are the living contact point of the Holy Spirit, the human agent of divine power.[13] The love, the kindness and gentleness, the care and concern which people feel from you, help them to be willing to listen to what you have to say. As we let the light and warmth of God’s Spirit emanate from us, people feel God’s love. Through us, Jesus spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved…[14]In order for others to come in contact with that fragrance, they need to come in contact with you. Once they do, when they see and feel your love, when they feel they can speak with you, ask their questions, and share their hearts, you will be able to till the ground by answering their questions with the hope that you can plant the seed of God’s love and truth into their hearts.
Often people are drawn to you because, unbeknownst to them, you are filled with God’s Spirit, light, and love. Since they notice that something is different about you, it can give you the opportunity at some point to speak to them about the Lord. However, unless at some point we put into words what it is that makes us different, they may never know and could miss the opportunity to hear about the gift of salvation and the transformed life that is there for them to accept. I read a story, though unfortunately I don’t remember where, about a Christian who did his best to act in a kind and loving Christian manner but didn’t tell others he was a Christian. One day a co-worker came up to him and said, “I finally figured out what makes you so different from the rest of us: you’re a vegetarian!”
A similar but even sadder story is told by Donald Whitney:
I heard the story of a man who became a Christian during an evangelistic emphasis in a city in the Pacific Northwest. When he told his boss about it, his employer responded with, “That’s great! I am a Christian and have been praying for you for years!” But the new believer was crestfallen. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” he asked. “You were the very reason I have not been interested in the Gospel all these years.” “How can that be?” the boss wondered. “I have done my very best to live the Christian life around you.” “That’s the point,” explained the employee. “You lived such a model life without telling me that it was Christ who made the difference. I convinced myself that if you could live such a good and happy life without Christ, then I could too.”[15]
So while living the Gospel and being an example of Christlikeness is what may initially attract people to you and make them open and receptive to the Gospel, they also need to hear the message in words. Being a living example of God’s love is very important, but we must, at some point, verbalize the message of salvation in order to bring them into the family of God.
Sharing the Gospel with others is the call of Christ to every Christian. All around us are people who have yet to hear the great news that God loves them, that He sent His Son so that all who believe in Him will be reborn, saved, and will enter into relationship with Him. They need someone to connect with them, to explain how to receive God’s free gift of love, to teach them how to be spiritually transformed, and to guide them in their spiritual growth. Those around us have the need and we have the answers. What keeps us from telling them?
We all have busy lives, but the overarching context of our Christianity is to share the Gospel with those who don’t yet possess this great gift. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. We are called, sent, and commissioned to preach the Gospel. It is up to each one of us to find a way to use the gifts and talents God has given us to share Him with others. Seek Him, ask Him to show you how, where, when, and with whom you can share your faith. Remind yourself that no matter what your circumstances, you are a disciple sent into the world—your world, your city, your neighborhood, your workplace, your family—with the commission to share Jesus with those He brings across your path. Witnessing doesn’t just happen on its own. We must discipline ourselves to make it happen.
Witnessing is a lasting investment in eternity—both yours and that of others. As Christians, we are called to make space in our lives, our hearts, and our time to share is Word and truth with others, and that takes discipline, determination, and commitment.
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
[1] Acts 1:4.
[2] Acts 1:8.
[3] Mark 16:14–15.
[4] Matthew 28:19–20.
[5] John 20:21.
[6] Romans 10:14 NLT.
[7] Norman and David Geisler, Conversational Evangelism (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2009), 22–23.
[8] You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses… (Acts 1:8).
[9] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 104.
[10] 2 Peter 3:9.
[11] As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:10–11).
[12] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 110.
[13] K. Hemphill, “Preaching and Evangelism,” M. Duduit, ed.,
[14] 2 Corinthians 2:14–15.
[15] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 111.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
10 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Worship (Part 2b)
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-05-20
God Is Worthy!
God’s Knowledge
11/15/24 Scripture tells us that God is perfect in knowledge and knows everything, and therefore He is omniscient or all-knowing.
Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?[21] God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.[22]
God knows all things actual, meaning He knows all things that exist and all things that happen. There is nothing hidden from Him in creation.
And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.[23] For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.[24] Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.[25]
God also knows the future, everything that will happen. I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose.”[26] He knows our actions and thoughts, He knows what we’ll say before we say it, and He knows how long we will live even before we are born. O Lord, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.[27] Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.[28]
Truthful and Faithful
All of God’s knowledge and words are true and are the standard of truth. He is the true God, the real God, and anything else that people may consider to be God is false.
The Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”[29] And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.[30] And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.[31]
Everything God knows and thinks is true, and is the correct understanding of reality. He is never mistaken in His perception or understanding of the world, and He is perfect in knowledge.[32] God always speaks the truth; He cannot lie.[33] Because God doesn’t lie, He can be trusted and is always faithful, He always does what He has promised, and we can depend on Him to never be unfaithful to His promises.
The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He.[34] God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?[35]
Our God is true and faithful, and we can always trust Him. He deserves our worship.
His Power
God is omnipotent, meaning all-powerful. He is able to do all of His holy will. He has the power to do what He decides to do.
Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me?[36] It is You who have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You.[37] Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.[38]
The Lord is called the Almighty: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”[39] The Greek word used for Almighty is pantokrator (pronounced pan-tok-rat’-or), which means He who holds sway over all things; the ruler of all. The power of the Almighty is infinite. He is not limited in what He can do, and He is able to do even more than what He has already done. For example, we are told that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.[40]That was within His power, though He didn’t do it. Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.[41]
Nothing is impossible for God. Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”[42]God can even choose to become incarnate, to be born of a virgin, and redeem humanity; which, in fact, He did.
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. For nothing will be impossible with God.”[43]
God’s unlimited power made it possible for us to receive salvation, something we should constantly worship Him for.
The Sustainer
God not only created the world, but He sustains it, as all of creation is dependent on Him for its existence and its functioning.
In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.[44] He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything … for “In Him we live and move and have our being.”[45]
Scripture tells us that all things were created through Christ and that He holds all of creation together; He upholds the universe.
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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.[46] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.[47]
The universe and all that is in it continues on as we know it because God is our sustainer, and for this He is worthy of our worship.
Redeemer and Savior
God is our Savior and Redeemer. Through His plan of salvation, we who are unworthy have received His grace and mercy.
I am the LORD your Savior, and your Redeemer.[48] When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.[49] Being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.[50] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.[51] God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.[52]
Because of God’s love, mercy, compassion, and grace, we have entered into everlasting relationship with Him. We are redeemed, saved, adopted as His children. In our deep gratitude and love for this great privilege we should continually ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.[53]
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2000).
[2] Psalm 145:3.
[3] Psalm 147:5.
[4] Isaiah 55:9.
[5] Job 11:7–9.
[6] Romans 11:33–34,36 NAS.
[7] Job 26:14.
[8] Jeremiah 9:23–24.
[9] John 17:3.
[10] 1 John 5:20.
[11] If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23).
[12] 1 Timothy 6:15–16.
[13] 1 John 4:12.
[14] John 6:45–46.
[15] John 1:18.
[16] John 14:9.
[17] Colossians 1:15–19.
[18] 1 Corinthians 13:12.
[19] 1 John 3:2.
[20] Revelation 22:3–4.
[21] Job 37:16.
[22] 1 John 3:20.
[23] Hebrews 4:13.
[24] Job 28:24.
[25] Matthew 10:29.
[26] Isaiah 46:9–10.
[27] Psalm 139:1–4.
[28] Psalm 139:16.
[29] Jeremiah 10:10–11.
[30] John 17:3.
[31] 1 John 5:20.
[32] Job 37:16.
[33] In the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago … (Titus 1:2 NAU).
[34] Deuteronomy 32:4.
[35] Numbers 23:19.
[36] Jeremiah 32:27.
[37] Jeremiah 32:17.
[38] Ephesians 3:20.
[39] Revelation 1:8.
[40] Matthew 3:9 NAS.
[41] Psalm 115:3 NAU.
[42] Matthew 19:26.
[43] Luke 1:34–35, 37.
[44] Job 12:10.
[45] Acts 17:25, 28.
[46] Colossians 1:16–17.
[47] Hebrews 1:3.
[48] Isaiah 49:26.
[49] Galatians 4:4–5.
[50] Hebrews 5:9.
[51] Colossians 1:13–14.
[52] Romans 5:8–11.
[53] Psalm 29:2.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
10 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Worship (Part 2a)
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-05-20
God Is Worthy!
11/14/24 In this second article about the Spiritual Discipline of worship, I’ve included some biblical concepts which may be helpful to you in your times of worship.
The following passages address various aspects of God, which may help you to meditate on why He deserves our worship and love. They are not in any specific order, and each section is meant to stand on its own rather than flowing from section to section. There are also many other aspects of God and His nature which cause us to praise Him, which you can discover through your own reading and study of His Word.
I have summarized much of what is written here from Wayne Grudem’s book Systematic Theology,[1] in which he covers, among other things, the nature and character of God. (For expanded explanations of some of these topics, see The Heart of it All: The Nature and Character of God series.) My prayer is that as you read these compiled passages, they will provide helpful examples of scriptural concepts to focus on during your times of worship.
God’s Greatness
God is infinite, while we are finite beings, and therefore He is infinitely greater than we are. We are unable to fully understand the greatness of God, as it can never be fully known. His understanding is beyond measure, and His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours. His riches, wisdom, knowledge, and judgments are unsearchable and unfathomable; as such, they are all beyond our ability to fully understand.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.[2] Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure.[3] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.[4] Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.[5] Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.[6]
When Job was speaking of God’s great acts in creating the world, he said that these acts were only a whisper of His power, the mere edges or fringes of His ways. “Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?”[7]
As finite beings, we will never be able to fully understand all of God’s ways or His greatness, neither will we ever know all that God knows. This helps us to realize that God alone is God; He will always be infinitely greater than we are, and as part of His creation we owe Him worship and adoration.
Knowing God
We will never know all that God is, or all He knows and does. However, He has made Himself known to us in such a way that we know God Himself and have entered into relationship with Him.
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”[8] And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.[9] And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.[10]
God is both infinite and personal, therefore we’re not limited to only knowing facts about God—we know Him personally and are in personal relationship with Him. While He has no limitations whatsoever, and is far greater than everything that exists, He is also a personal being who interacts with us personally and whom we can relate to as a person. We speak to Him and He speaks to us. We commune with Him, He interacts with us, answers our prayers, and dwells within us.[11] We have this relationship with God because of the gift of salvation given to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection, one of the most important reasons we should worship God.
Seeing God
Scripture makes it clear that God is Spirit and cannot be seen by humans. No one has ever seen Him, meaning His true essence and all that He is. While He has shown Himself at various times in a visible form, known as a theophany, no one has ever seen Him as He is.
He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion.[12] No one has ever seen God.[13]
But while no human has seen God, Jesus—God the Son—has both seen the Father and has made Him known.
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me—not that anyone has seen the Father except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.[14] No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.[15] Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.[16]
In “seeing” Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, we see the Father. We “see” Jesus within the pages of Scripture. We hear the words He spoke, His teaching; we see His interaction with others, the love, mercy, compassion, wisdom, power, and oneness with the Father that He had. Jesus was God walking on earth, and in Him we see the visible image of the invisible God. He existed with the Father before anything was created, and through His incarnation we understand what God is like.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 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. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.[17]
God revealed Himself in His Son, who came to earth to walk among us, and in so doing made it possible for us to enter into an eternal relationship with God. Because of the free gift of salvation, we will have the privilege and the great joy of seeing Him face to face. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.[18] Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.[19]No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.[20]
God has made Himself known in His Son, and in Him we see the Father. The time will come when we will see God. All of this is possible because Jesus sacrificed His life for us, which makes Him and His Father worthy of our worship. (To be continued)
09 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Worship (Part 1b)
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-05-13
Private and United Worship
11/13/24 As believers, we are called to worship both privately and publicly or corporately.[31] The expectation is that we will worship together with other Christians at times. When we gather with others to praise the Lord, to pray together, there are elements which are not present when we worship and pray alone. We are given a glimpse of believers worshipping together in heaven in the book of Revelation:
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”[32]
Corporate worship, however, isn’t enough; we are expected to worship Him individually as well.[33] In the Gospels we read that Jesus attended synagogue as well as various religious festivals in the temple at Jerusalem,[34] which were the appropriate times and places of worship in His day. But He also arose early in the morning and went off by Himself to commune with His Father. Jesus spoke of private worship when He said:
Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[35]
We are in relationship with God, and any successful relationship requires an investment of effort to keep it strong. Our relationship with the Lord is no different. Being relationally close to God requires that we commune with Him in worship and prayer; that we respond to Him with love, honor, and reverence; that we praise and thank Him; that we delight ourselves in Him.[36]
Making Worship Part of Our Lives
The Spiritual Discipline of worship, like the other disciplines, requires effort on our part—specifically the effort to regularly devote time to worshipping the Lord. It takes determination and commitment to consistently enter into the Lord’s presence in spirit and truth. Worship is more than a set routine of prayer, praise, and singing; it’s spiritually entering into God’s presence, it’s connecting our spirit with His. Donald Whitney wrote:
The waters of worship should never stop flowing from our heart, for God is always God and always worthy of worship.[37]
Worship should be part of our conversation with God throughout our day. When we look at God’s creation, a mother with a baby, the stars in the night sky, when we think about the Lord, we can give honor, praise, and thanksgiving to the Lord for His wonderful works, for what He’s done and who He is. When we meditate on His Word, when we think of the blessings He has bestowed upon us, the mercy He’s shown us, the grace He’s given us, when we pray and seek Him, these are all times we can worship Him.
The more we verbalize who God is and what He’s done, the more present He becomes in every aspect of our daily lives. When we are regularly acknowledging His love, compassion, mercy, kindness, and justice, we embrace these virtues ourselves and are more likely to strive to emulate these in our interactions with others. When we praise Him for His power, His presence, His omniscience, it reminds us that He is always here, that He knows everything about us, that He created us, and that He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Remembering this can strengthen our resolve to do our best to live in accordance with His Word, to treat others with love, and to do to others as we want them to do to us.
Disciplining ourselves to worship in spirit and truth is an endeavor worth pursuing, as it should be at the very core of our relationship with God our Creator.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker![38] Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.[39]
Part 2 of this article will cover some biblical concepts of who God is and what He’s done, with collections of verses on various aspects, which might be a helpful aid in your worship..[11]
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] John 4:23.
[2] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 87.
[3] God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” … So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26–27).
[4] For further information on the Nature and Character of God, see The Heart of It All: The Nature and Character of God series.
[5] Revelation 4:11.
[6] Romans 5:10–11.
[7] Isaiah 43:6–7.
[8] 1 Corinthians 10:31.
[9] T. D. Alexander and B. S. Rosner, eds., in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000).
[10] When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12).
[11] Hebrews 10:19 NIV.
[12] 1 Peter 2:9.
[13] John 14:6.
[14] Hebrews 12:28.
[15] The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love (Psalm 147:11).
[16] As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him (Psalm 103:13).
[17] He will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great (Psalm 115:13).
[18] The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He makes known to them His covenant (Psalm 25:14).
[19] The steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children (Psalm 103:17).
[20] Psalm 148:1–5,13.
[21] Ephesians 5:20.
[22] Psalm 7:17.
[23] Psalm 9:1–2.
[24] Psalm 86:12.
[25] Isaiah 6:1–5.
[26] Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:6–7).
[27] Isaiah 6:8.
[28] Romans 12:1.
[29] Psalm 92:1–3.
[30] Psalm 147:1.
[31] I will thank You in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise You (Psalm 35:18).
Let them extol Him in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the assembly of the elders (Psalm 107:32).
[32] Revelation 5:11–12.
[33] My mouth will praise You with joyful lips, when I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night (Psalm 63:5–6).
Seven times a day I praise You for Your righteous rules (Psalm 119:164).
[34] Synagogue: He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read (Luke 4:16).
They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching (Mark 1:21).
Passover: He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover (Matthew 26:18–19).
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And He told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade” (John 2:13–16).
Other Feasts: Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works You are doing … But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He also went up, not publicly but in private … About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:2,3,10,14,37).
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon (John 10:22–23).
[35] Matthew 6:6.
[36] Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).
[37] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 96.
[38] Psalm 95:6.
[39] Psalm 29:2.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
09 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Worship (Part 1a)
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-05-13
11/12/24 When speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said:
The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.[1]
God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and truth. We who love God and want to please Him should endeavor to worship Him—in spirit and in truth—because He desires this. And we should be willing to discipline ourselves by committing to regularly spending time worshipping Him.
What Is Worship?
What is worship all about? What is its purpose? What does it mean to worship? How do we worship properly—in spirit and in truth?
The word worship comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word weorthscype, that meant worth, value, honor, which later became worthship and then worship. Worshipping God is ascribing proper worth to God; it’s acknowledging, expressing, and honoring His worth. As Donald Whitney puts it, The Holy and Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, the Sovereign Judge to whom we must give an account, He is worthy of all the worth and honor we can give Him and then infinitely more.[2] Worship includes recognizing our dependence on God, the Creator and sustainer of life.
The basis of God’s worth and thus our worship is found in His nature and character, His attributes, in who He is. He is the Creator of all things visible and invisible. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, unchangeable, infinite, eternal, present everywhere. He is wisdom, truth, faithfulness, goodness, love, mercy, grace, patience, holiness, righteousness, justice, and more. While we, as beings made in the image and likeness of God,[3] possess a small measure of some of these attributes, God is these attributes. As the one who created all that exists out of nothing, He is infinitely greater than we are and is therefore worthy to be worshipped.[4]
Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.[5]
Besides being the Creator, He is also our Redeemer. He made a way for us, as sinners, to be reconciled to Him. He acted through Jesus’ sacrifice to bring salvation to all who believe in and accept Him as Redeemer. He redeems us from sin and death, and thus is worthy of our praise.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.[6]
We worship God because He is worthy of worship, as He is so much greater than anything or anyone that exists. As we come to know Him more, to understand His love and power, all He has done and constantly does for us, we understand more clearly that our response to Him should be worship. His Word tells us that He created us for His glory.
Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.[7]
Therefore we are to do all things for the glory of God. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.[8] Our ultimate purpose in life is to fulfill the reason we were created: to glorify God.
The Old Testament Hebrew word generally translated “to worship” is shachah (pronounced shah-khah), which means to bow down, to prostrate oneself before a superior in homage. The Greek word used in the New Testament, proskuneo (pronounced pras-koo-neh’-o), means to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence; kneeling or prostration to do homage or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication. It represents our inward attitude of homage and respect toward God.[9] It expresses our surrender and submission to Him, recognition of His majesty and holiness, acknowledgment of Him as the ruler of our life.
Worship is our rightful response to the one who has revealed Himself as the triune God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who has shown us His will and purpose through His Word. It’s our response to being brought into relationship with Him through Jesus; it’s our response to the gift of salvation we have received through His love and sacrifice.
How We Worship
In Old Testament times, worship of God was primarily centered around sacrificial offerings—the sacrificing of animals as the means for people to receive forgiveness of sin, as well as to show thanks and praise to God. From the time of Moses onward, these sacrifices were made at the tabernacle and later the temple in Jerusalem, the place where God dwelt among His people. Most people were only allowed to enter the courtyard of the temple, while the priests could go into the outer court, called the Holy Place. However, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the innermost room of the temple where God’s presence dwelt, and he was only allowed to go in once a year.
The New Testament tells us that the sacrificial system was no longer necessary once Jesus laid down His life as a as single sacrifice for all time[10] and therefore there is no longer a need for any further sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God. Through His sacrificial death, we can now enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.[11] We are now allowed to come into God’s presence directly in prayer, praise, and worship. As believers we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.[12]
As Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman, worship is no longer tied to a specific place as it was at the time, but is now based on the relationship between the worshipper and God—a relationship which became possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is no longer necessary to go to the dwelling place of God, the temple, to worship. The time came when the connecting point between God and humanity became Jesus, through the salvation that His death and resurrection brought to us.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.[13]
In saying that God seeks worshippers who worship Him in spirit and truth, Jesus was expressing that true worship is more than just words which come out of our mouths. It is our spirit connecting to His Spirit as we commune with Him, and worshipping God for who He is, as He has revealed Himself in His Word.
When we worship the Lord, we do so with respect, reverence, and awe.
Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.[14]
There are many Bible verses that speak of fearing the Lord. The Hebrew words used for fear have the meanings to revere, to stand in awe of, to have reverence or veneration. When we understand “fearing the Lord” in these terms, we can grasp the blessings promised to those who reverence and stand in awe of the Lord. He takes pleasure in them,[15] shows compassion to them,[16] blesses them,[17] is friends with them,[18] and His love is always with them.[19]
Aspects of Worship
Praise is a major aspect of worship. When we praise God, we are worshipping Him for who He is. Praise is foundational to worship as we verbally acknowledge God’s worth.
Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars! Praise Him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For He commanded and they were created. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.[20]
Thanksgiving is an integral part of worship as well. We give thanks to God for everything He has done and continues to do, and especially for our salvation.
Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.[21] I will give to the LORD the thanks due to His righteousness.[22] I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.[23] I give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart.[24]
When we come before the Lord, worshipping Him for who He is and what He’s done, we often become more acutely aware of our “humanness,” especially our limitations, weaknesses, shortcomings, and sins. This puts us in an attitude of humility and contrition, which is also an aspect of worship.
When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne, the train of His robe filling the temple, the angels around Him saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory,” and the temple filled with smoke, his reaction was one of humility and contrition. He said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”[25] The holiness and perfection of God brought Isaiah a profound sense of uncleanliness, of sin. He was humbled and contrite. We should come before the Lord in worship with a similar sense of our unworthiness, along with great thanks for our salvation, which allows us to come into His presence as one of His children.
Reading more of Isaiah’s experience, we find that after seeing the Lord and receiving atonement for his sin,[26] he heard a call of service. “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” He responded with: “Here am I! Send me.”[27] Being in the presence of the Lord brought with it the desire to serve God. The apostle Paul referred to our service to the Lord as being a form of worship when he wrote: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[28] Motivation to do God’s will, to answer His call, to serve Him, is both part of our worship and a result of our worship.
One means of both praise and thanksgiving is in song—singing unto the Lord or listening to songs which offer Him praise and making the sentiments expressed in the songs our own. You may have certain songs which help you convey your gratitude and praise to God, which you sing as a means of worship.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.[29] For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.[30]
As we enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise; as we give thanks to Him and bless His name and all He is; as we express our deep love for Him; as we reverence and honor Him and extol His excellence; and as we come before Him in humility and contrition, we worship God as He seeks to be worshipped, in spirit and in truth. (to be continued)
The Seventy Weeks
11/11/24 “Seventy weeks[c] are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.[d] 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again[e] with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its[f] end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,[g] and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
(Daniel 9:24-27) ESV
Daniel 9
Book of Daniel
Compiled from the writings of David Brandt Berg
1975-01-01
The ninth chapter of Daniel is one of the most astoundingly definite, literal time prophecies given in the entire Bible, giving the exact times for both the first and second comings of Jesus Christ!
The chapter opens with Daniel desperately calling out to God on the behalf of his people Israel, who at this time were captive slaves of the Persian Empire (about 538 B.C.; see verses 1–19).
“And while I was speaking, and praying, the man Gabriel being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation (worship). And he informed me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding” (Daniel 9:20–22).
Daniel had been praying for God to save His city (Jerusalem) and His people (verse 19). The angel now appears to tell Daniel when and how God is going to save them. “Therefore” he says, “understand the matter, and consider the vision” (verse 23).
The actual prediction begins in the 24th verse and continues to the end of the chapter, verse 27. As in the other Daniel prophecies, we will first give the prediction and follow it with the interpretation.
Vision: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy” (Daniel 9:24).
Interpretation: This word that’s translated “weeks” here in the King James Bible is the Hebrew word “shabua,” which literally means “seven.” Therefore, a little better translation of this would be “seventy sevens,” instead of “seventy weeks.”
As we proceed to read and understand the prophecy and its fulfillment, it becomes evident that these seventy sevens are seventy sevens of years, with each “week” representing a period of seven years, for a total of 490 years.
“Thy people,” Daniel’s people, were God’s people. So he says that as far as the history of God’s people is concerned, they’ve got seventy sevens yet to go to finish the transgression, make an end of sins, etc. As we proceed we will find exactly how this was to be fulfilled in seventy sevens.
Vision: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks (or 69 sevens): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself” (Daniel 9:25–26a).
Interpretation: In 453 B.C., Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of the Medes and Persians, gave Nehemiah the commandment to go forth and rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:5). There were several other proclamations made by Persian kings to release the Jews from captivity and let them return to Israel to rebuild the temple, but the principal proclamation to rebuild the city of Jerusalem itself was made in 453 B.C.
The prophecy predicted that from the time of that proclamation unto Messiah the Prince shall be 69 sevens of years, or 69 times seven years, which is exactly 483 years. From 453 B.C., this would bring us to exactly 30 A.D., the very year of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ!
Though Jesus was 33 years old when He was “cut off,” modern historians date the birth of Jesus at 4 B.C., and his crucifixion in 30 A.D. This is because of a miscalculation on the part of the Catholic monk, Dionysius, who in the sixth century devised our present calendar system.
Therefore, Jesus actually began His ministry at 30 years of age (Luke 3:23), in the year 27 A.D., and was crucified, as we said before, in 30 A.D. So here we have the 69 sevens of years, or the 483 years, giving us the exact time of the Messiah’s crucifixion.
Now you notice that the prophecy divides the 69 weeks into two groups: one of seven weeks, and then 62 weeks. This was because the wall and city were built in the first seven weeks or 49 years. Then, after that, there were still 62 weeks, or 62 sevens of years, before the crucifixion of Christ.
It says, “Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.” Isaiah, in another prophecy, tells why the Messiah was to be “cut off.” “For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken… when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin my righteous servant shall justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:8,10–11; 750 B.C.). He died for us—not for Himself, but for the transgression of the whole world—for our sins.
When Jesus died on the cross in 30 A.D., He accomplished in Himself the promises of that 24th verse: He finished the transgression, made an end of sins, and made reconciliation for iniquity. As the apostle Paul said, “We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). And “He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26). He brought in “everlasting righteousness” through salvation (Romans 10:4).
Though Jesus accomplished all these promises in Himself, we as believers in Him do not fully possess them yet. We only have them now by faith, in the realm of the Spirit, and we will not possess them literally until Jesus returns.
For instance, it says that after “seventy weeks” the “vision and prophecy” will be “sealed up,” or completed. Paul said that now “we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come (Jesus), then that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:9–10).
Therefore, we know that this seventieth week has not happened yet, because when it ends it will usher in perfection upon God’s people, which can happen only with the return of Christ. So this seventieth week is still in the future.
Vision: “Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (Daniel 9:26b).
Interpretation: After Jesus was crucified, do you know what happened to Jerusalem (“The city”) and the temple (“the sanctuary”)? In 70 A.D. the Roman legions came and burned Jerusalem to the ground, tore the temple down, and destroyed it! Over one million Jews were slain and 95,000 were taken as slaves.
Whether or not you agree with our interpretation of times and weeks, you cannot argue with the facts of fulfilled prophecy that show that the Messiah would come before the destruction of the temple and the city in 70 A.D.—40 years after Jesus’ death! This is only one of over 300 prophecies fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, all written 4 to 15 centuries before His birth!
Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 (750 B.C.) foretold that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of a virgin, and was to be called “the Prince of Peace” who had been in existence “from everlasting.” His betrayal by Judas is seen in Zechariah 11:12–13 (500 B.C.) for “thirty pieces of silver”; His crucifixion in Psalm 22:16, 18 (1000 B.C.)—“pierced my hands and my feet”; and resurrection in Psalm 16:10—“will not leave my soul in hell.”
We still have that seventieth week yet to go, which will end with the second coming of Jesus Christ—this time not as a sacrificial lamb, but as a roaring lion to take over the world and rule it with a rod of iron.
Vision: He shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week (seven years): and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27).
Interpretation: Now we have that week that was left over, that seventieth week—which will be the last seven years of history.
This “he” that confirms the Covenant is the “prince that shall come,” of verse 26. His people, the Romans, destroyed Jerusalem. They were “the people of the prince that shall come,” who is the Antichrist, whose empire, according to other prophecies in Daniel 2 and 7, will be a revival of and continuation of the old Roman Empire in spirit.
This Covenant has to do with the city of Jerusalem, the rebuilding of the ancient Jewish temple that used to stand on Mount Moriah where the Dome of the Rock now stands, and restoration of the temple worship of blood sacrifice.
“In the midst of the week (at the end of 3½ years, leaving 3½ more) he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease (in other words, stop religious worship), and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.”
This ceasing of the “daily sacrifice” by the Antichrist is also predicted in Daniel chapters 8 and 11. In Daniel 8 it says, “by him (the little horn) the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down… (by) the transgression of desolation” (Daniel 8:11–14). Daniel 11:31 says, “Arms shall stand on his part, and they… shall take away the daily sacrifice, and… place the abomination that maketh desolate.”
This “Abomination of Desolation” is going to be the “Image of the Beast” or a demon-possessed idol of the Antichrist. It may have something to do with money. The monetary system itself is an idol; it’s the money god of mammon, an abomination of desolation which the world worships! Money, in a way, is the “image of the beast” of this world, the reflection of his power—the entangling idol of governments today. “Show me a penny. Whose image hath it?” They answered: “Caesar’s” (Luke 20:24).
According to Revelation 13, the present money medium will soon be replaced by a new “money” medium, a remarkable credit system in which every person in the world who belongs to the system will have a credit number, without which he cannot buy or sell (Revelation 13:7).
This number will be branded on each person: “a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads…that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the Beast (the world leader and his government), or the number of his name…for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and six (666)” (Revelation 13:16–17).
Soon man will have a new monetary medium, and be branded by the Beast like cattle for the slaughter, and will be forced to worship the Beast and this image, or be killed!
The control center for this credit system will be the magical speaking Image of the Beast (probably the long-foretold super computer) which will be set up in the glorious holy mountain (Mount Moriah, Jerusalem) where the temple stood and the Mosque of Omar now stands. (See Daniel 11:45.)
Just look at how the world is being prepared for a mechanical god, an electronic brain, a computer deity, which they will then be willing to worship because it is their own creation, the work of their own hands. “They worship the works of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made” (Isaiah 2:8).
This idol of the Antichrist, this abomination of desolation, will be put right in the temple at Jerusalem to make the people worship it. They will also endeavor to do so in the very hearts of the people—the true temple of God, the spiritual temple of God.
They will succeed in those who knew Him not and were not truly His temple. But in His true temple, those true remaining believers, they will not set up the abomination, that worship of the Antichrist. As Jesus said, “The true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth”—the temple of His Spirit, not the temple “at Jerusalem.” “And they (the true worshippers) shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 4:21–23; 10:29).
Vision: “Even unto the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27).
Interpretation: The Abomination will be placed in the temple in the midst of the week and will make desolate until the “consummation,” which in the Hebrew literally means “completion,” or the completion of the week.
Then, at the second coming of Jesus Christ, the wrath of God will be poured upon the desolate—those who have accepted the Antichrist as God and worshipped his image, which will bring desolation and abomination to all who believe in it.
Jesus said, “When ye shall see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place where it ought not … then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 4:15,21 and Mark 13:14).
The first three and a half years of this dictator’s seemingly benign rule will be followed by three and a half years of a reign of terror called the Great Tribulation, under this demon dictator’s image and its false prophet, and an unparalleled worldwide persecution of both Jews and Christians!
According to the book of Revelation, it is during this time that the Gentiles will tread the Holy City under foot for “forty and two months”—“one thousand two hundred and threescore days”—while God’s witnesses shall prophesy in sackcloth with great power and wonders until they have finished their testimony. Then the Beast shall make war against them and kill them because their message has tormented those who dwell on the earth (Revelation 11:2–10).
The great red beast (Revelation 2:3) shall have power over all the earth for three and a half years, speaking great blasphemies and doing great wonders and miracles, so that all the world shall wonder after him and worship him, saying, “Who is like unto him, and who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4–8 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12).
The Antichrist and his forces will be all-powerful, so all-powerful they’re even going to think they can make war on God and His people—and that’s where they’re going to lose! God is going to protect us and keep us, at least a lot of us, if not most of us, supernaturally, miraculously, powerfully in many ways, and the message will get out all the more, in spite of everything they do! Then when it looks like we’re going to be really wiped out, Jesus comes and saves us—a happy ending to the story.
For then, Jesus said “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (at the consummation or completion of Daniel’s seventieth week), “then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven … and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds … from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven” (Matthew 24:29–31; Mark 13:27).
Here at the end of this seventieth week we have the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ to “gather together” His church—the true believers. This gathering together involves first the resurrection of those saints who have died, and then the transformation of those believers still alive at His coming, both of whom, at that time will receive immortal bodies.
“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God… (and) them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” when He comes.
“The dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:14–17).
Copyright © 1975 The Family International.
The Twelve Apostles
11/10/24 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
(Luke 6:12.13) ESV
08 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Solitude and Silence
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-04-29
As Christians, our desire is to walk closer to the Lord, to live our lives in harmony with His attributes and will, and to be a blessing to others. The Spiritual Disciplines aid us in this overall endeavor. The disciplines of solitude and silence can be especially helpful, as they allow us to put focused attention on the Lord without many of the distractions which encumber our daily lives.
The discipline of solitude refers to the practice of voluntarily and temporarily withdrawing to privacy and separating ourselves from life’s activities and distractions in order to have time alone with God. To practice the discipline of silence is to refrain from speaking for a period of time, and may also include separating oneself from external noise and voices, such as by going to a retreat or a place that is apart from your daily activities.
In a sense, these two disciplines can be seen as fasting from interaction and communication with other people in order to interact and communicate with God. It’s stepping away for a time, however long or short, from the influence of our normal circumstances—making ourselves free from distractions to focus more easily and more fully on the Lord and what He may have to say to us, and be renewed and strengthened spiritually.
Jesus Took Time in Silence and Solitude
Throughout the Gospels we read of Jesus separating Himself from those He was ministering to, and even from His closest friends and followers, to spend time alone in prayer and communion with His Father. Before beginning His ministry, we see Him being led by the Holy Spirit to spend forty days alone in fasting and prayer.[1] Before deciding which of His followers to designate as the twelve apostles, we’re told that He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night He continued in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples and chose from them twelve, whom He named apostles.[2] After hearing of the death of John the Baptist, Jesus withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself.[3]When the crowds gathered to hear Him and to be healed, He sometimes would withdraw to desolate places and pray.[4] After miraculously feeding the five thousand, He sent His disciples off in a boat, then, After He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.[5]
It was common for Jesus to separate Himself from others to be alone with God. Even when He was extremely busy, very needed, and doing great things, He still made a point of getting away from everyone to have time alone with His Father.
That evening at sundown they brought to Him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.[6]
Carving out time to be alone to commune with the Lord gives us the opportunity to pray and hear His voice without distraction. Solitude allows us to focus on connecting deeply with God, knowing we won’t be interrupted by others, especially when we add silence to the mix by disconnecting from all communication devices, phones, computers, etc. Of course, it isn’t always necessary to get away from noise and conversation to hear the voice of the Lord, as He can speak to us in any situation, but there are times when it’s beneficial to be alone and in quietness as we seek Him and listen to Him.
Input Overload
About a year and a half ago, someone broke into my car and stole my car stereo, which I wasn’t too happy about. While I don’t drive very often, I enjoyed listening to music when I did. Not having music readily available, I began to appreciate this time being somewhat disconnected, and I found myself using my time alone behind the wheel to pray and praise. I would look at nature, the trees, the flowers, the views, and thank God for their beauty. I would find myself conversing with the Lord about the errands I was running, or my plans for the day. I still haven’t replaced the stereo, because I’ve found that being alone without the distraction of the radio or music has given me an opportunity to have a little extra time in His presence.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with listening to the radio or music or watching TV, it’s wise to look at how much and in what circumstances we do these things. Do we put them on just to have background noise? Are we addicted to noise, or perhaps uncomfortable with or afraid of silence? What about constant input? Are we addicted to that? Do we find ourselves constantly checking our email, Twitter, or Facebook accounts; or texting, or reading, or listening to the news repeatedly throughout the day? While each of these means of communicating and getting information can be beneficial, it helps to realize that so much “connection” may be distracting us from spending time connecting with our own thoughts and with the voice of our Creator.
Allotting/Planning Time
As is the case with so many other things in life, taking time for solitude and silence likely won’t happen often if it isn’t planned. It starts with scheduling time for daily reading of God’s Word, for prayer and communion with Him. In addition to that time, it can be helpful to find moments when you step away from the hustle and bustle of daily life to focus your attention on the Lord. You could look at these short moments of silence as “one-minute retreats.”
When possible, it helps to take a longer time of solitude and silence. Perhaps setting aside a few hours on a weekend when you take some time alone with the Lord for reading the Bible or a devotional book that will help you learn about or focus on the Lord. You may want to use the time for Bible study, or perhaps prayer and meditation. You may have decisions or matters in your personal life which you need to think and pray about, or you may just want to take the time to open yourself to the Lord, to hear whatever He may want to speak to you about.
You might consider taking part of a day, a full day, or even a weekend or longer in solitude, if you’re able. This can be difficult to do when you have responsibilities such as taking care of children. Perhaps with planning and preparation you might be able to do it from time to time. Some people do it by trading responsibilities with others. Perhaps your spouse can fill in for you for a few hours while you take that time with the Lord. Maybe you can work out an arrangement with a friend to care for your children for an afternoon in exchange for you returning the favor at another time.
When you choose to practice silence and solitude, it often affects others—your loved ones most specifically. When you take time alone, it automatically involves them, since when you’re gone, your presence is missed. It’s important to understand and respect that this may be difficult for them. You should make whatever arrangements you can to make the experience easier for your loved ones, and do your best to help them understand what you are doing and why, and reassure them of your love for them and your desire for their company.[7]
When you have the opportunity to take an extended time in solitude, it’s a good idea to prepare for what you will do with the time. Perhaps you’ll want to schedule a certain amount of time for reading, for taking a walk in nature, and for prayer and listening to the Lord. If you are going to have an extended time in solitude, you may want to set aside some time for some extra rest and sleep.
Even if you’re not able to take extended time away, you may be able to find a place that you can retreat to on occasion for a short period of time. Perhaps there’s a park nearby that you can walk or drive to for a short time away, or maybe you have a spare bedroom in your house, or there’s a quiet area in your garage or attic, or maybe there’s a spot in your backyard where you can be alone. It’s not so much where you go to be alone or for how long; what’s important is that you take the time and make the effort to do it. Do you have a place for this? If not, you can most likely find one, though it may take a little effort.
More on Silence
Solitude and silence naturally go together. One author wrote: Silence is the way to make solitude a reality.[8] If you are separated physically from people, then you most likely aren’t speaking to them. Keeping silent for extended periods when practicing solitude can also help us learn to control our tongue. Learning to control one’s tongue has a role in being Christlike.
Dallas Willard wrote:
James, in his Epistle, tells us that those who seem religious but are unable to bridle their tongues are self-deceived and have a religion that amounts to little (James 1:26). He states that those who do no harm by what they say are perfect and able to direct their whole bodies to do what is right (James 3:2). Practice in not speaking can at least give us enough control over what we say that our tongues do not “go off” automatically. This discipline provides us with a certain inner distance that gives us time to consider our words fully and the presence of mind to control what we say and when we say it.[9]
Scripture tells us that there is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.[10] The book of Proverbs speaks specifically about not speaking more than necessary.
When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.[11]
Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life.[12]
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.[13]
Speaking less, and much more carefully, can help us gain control of what we say, and we avoid just “shooting off our mouth.” It helps us consider what we’re saying to make sure it should be said. Speaking less helps us to better listen and pay attention to what others are saying. It makes us more considerate of others and their needs.
We’re all different; some of us are naturally quiet and others of us can really talk. While all of us can learn to speak less and listen more, some of us may need to practice this discipline more than others do. This can be done by abstaining from commenting or giving our opinion when others are speaking, and instead listening more intently to others. We can also avoid or postpone conversations or phone calls in order to “fast” from speaking unnecessarily.
For many, the thought of being alone and/or not speaking with others and/or not being connected online is a frightening prospect, especially if it’s for longer than a short time. However, in practicing solitude and silence, we are temporarily separated from other people, but we are not separated from the Lord of love. The purpose of these disciplines is to bring us into deeper and more intimate communication with God. They take us away from the normal interaction we have with others and help us enter into focused fellowship and communion with God.
It’s a sacrifice and a commitment to separate yourself for a time of fellowship with the Lord, but the benefit of giving Him your undivided attention is well worth the sacrifice. It can be difficult to find the opportunity for solitude, especially for extended periods of time, and more so if you are parents of younger children, but even carving out “one-minute retreats” is well worth the effort. I encourage you to bring the disciplines of solitude and silence into your life whenever possible.
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry(Matthew 4:1–2).
[2] Luke 6:12–13.
[3] Matthew 14:13.
[4] Luke 5:13–16.
[5] Matthew 14:23.
[6] Mark 1:32–35.
[7] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (New York: HarperOne, 1988), 161.
[8] Henri Nouwen, “Silence, The Portable Cell” (Sojourners 9, July 1980), 22, as quoted by Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 10.
[9] Willard, Disciplines, 164.
[10] Ecclesiastes 3:7.
[11] Proverbs 10:19.
[12] Proverbs 13:3.
[13] Proverbs 21:23 NIV.
2014 The Family International.
07 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Fasting (part 2)
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-03-18
To Overcome Temptation and Dedicate Yourself to the Lord
11/08/24 There may be times when we are struggling with temptation and we need extra strength to overcome it. Or perhaps we have some besetting sin that we can’t seem to overcome. We may be faced with making a decision that will bring benefits into our life, but might put us in a position where we can give less time to the Lord or will be put in temptation’s way. It’s at times like these that fasting can help us overcome temptation or renew our dedication to the Lord. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus fasted, and during that time He overcame all the temptations He was faced with. Because He did, He received God’s power.[34]
To Express Love and Worship to God
Fasting can be done for the purpose of devotion to God, as an expression of our love for Him, thankfulness for all He’s done for us, and as an act of worship and praise. It can be done to show God that He is more important to you than eating, that you are willing to set aside the pleasure and even need for food for a time in order to focus on Him, that you are nourished by being in His presence.
When You Fast …
As mentioned earlier, there is no explicit command to fast; fasting is a private matter between you and the Lord. The act of fasting doesn’t gain you any extra merit; it isn’t meant to be a bargaining chip with God or a guarantee that He is going to answer your prayers. However, like the other Spiritual Disciplines, it puts you in a position to receive from God.
If you choose to fast, you should consider beginning by fasting one meal or maybe two. It may be best to not start by trying a fast for three or more days. One way to start is to begin by fasting lunch, and then the next time by fasting both lunch and dinner. This way you go into the fast having just eaten, and you end it with breakfast the next morning, which means you are fasting for about twenty-four hours. In time, you can move to beginning your fast after dinner and fasting breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day, and breaking the fast with breakfast the following morning. This is a thirty-six-hour fast. For someone choosing to fast on a regular basis, this could work well. There are, of course, various options of how to fast, how to start, and how to build up to it, so if you choose to fast you can experiment to see which one works best for you.
Longer fasts of three, five, ten or more days require more knowledge regarding what to expect, how to keep hydrated, and how to break the fast without damaging your body. If you consider a longer fast, there are some websites listed at the end of this article that have important information which you should read and follow. If you are diabetic, have a health condition that is affected by your diet, are pregnant or nursing, ill, frail, or recovering from illness, or have any other health problem, you probably shouldn’t fast; and if you wish to, you should check with a doctor first. Also, check with a doctor before considering a fast if you are taking strong medicines. If you have any health concerns whatsoever, consult your doctor as to whether it’s safe for you to fast. Children shouldn’t fast meals, though they may want to give up eating desserts or sweets for a time.
It may not be possible for you to fast a number of consecutive meals due to your work, your health, or caring for your family. If that’s the case, another option would be to fast one meal, and perhaps use the time you’d normally spend eating that meal to pray or read, or maybe witness. Another possibility is that if you regularly eat out at work, or if you dine out fairly regularly, you could consider fasting one meal a week and donating the money saved to someone in need.
Fasting might seem to be a big step to take; it did to me. I can say, though, from my experience that I am glad I took the step, as I feel that I’ve benefited from practicing this Spiritual Discipline. I can’t necessarily say my fasting has resulted in a specific blessing or reward that has come to me because of fasting, but that’s not the reason to fast. I don’t fast because I want something from the Lord. I fast because I love Him and this is one way of expressing that love and that He comes first in my life. Any spiritual blessings or results are a side effect and completely in the Lord’s hands. When I fast, or practice any of the Spiritual Disciplines, I’m committing to live in accordance with God’s Word and nature. My desire is to do what I can to be more like Jesus, to have a close relationship with God, to endeavor to live my life in alignment with His will. I find that fulfilling and rewarding in itself. I’ll end with a quote from Donald Whitney which expresses what I have experienced since beginning to fast.
Like all the Spiritual Disciplines, fasting hoists the sail of the soul in hopes of experiencing the gracious wind of God’s Spirit. But fasting also adds a unique dimension to your spiritual life and helps you grow in Christlikeness.[35]
Websites that have information about the physical aspects of fasting and breaking a fast:
http://www.ihopkc.org/about/fasting-guidelines-and-information/
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Luke 4:2.
[2] Matthew 4:2.
[3] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 161.
[4] Daniel 1:12.
[5] Matthew 3:4.
[6] Esther 4:16.
[7] Acts 9:9.
[8] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 162.
[9] Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber (Joel 2:15–16).
[10] Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD (2 Chronicles 20:3–4). See also Nehemiah 9:1, Esther 4:16, and Jonah 3:5–8.
[11] Matthew 6:17–18.
[12] Matthew 6:5–7.
[13] Matthew 6:2–3.
[14] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 52–53.
[15] Matthew 9:15.
[16] Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 53.
[17] While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13:2–3).
When they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed (Acts 14:23).
[18] Matthew 6:3–4.
[19] Matthew 6:6.
[20] Matthew 6:17–18.
[21] Nehemiah 1:4.
[22] Daniel 9:3.
[23] Ezra 8:23.
[24] Arthur Wallis, God’s Chosen Fast (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1968), 42, as quoted in Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 166.
[25] Judges 20:26–28.
[26] 1 Samuel 31:12–13; 2 Samuel 1:11–12; Judges 20:25–26.
[27] 1 John 1:9.
[28] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 169.
[29] 2 Chronicles 20:2–4.
[30] Ezra 8:21–23.
[31] Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16).
[32] Psalm 109:21–22, 24.
[33] Psalm 35:13 NIV.
[34] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 175.
[35] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 180.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
07 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Fasting (part 1)
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-03-18
11/07/24 The Spiritual Discipline of fasting is a tough one for a lot of people. Like many of us, I had fasted a few times, but it was many years, even decades, ago. I haven’t been so keen on fasting, but after studying about it last year, I decided to try it again, and I’m glad I did. During the past year I’ve generally fasted one day a week, and I did one three-day fast as well. I’m no expert, but I’m very happy I’m learning about it and experiencing it, as I’ve found it to be spiritually fulfilling.
The fasting covered in this article will be limited to the fasting of food as spoken of in the Bible. This principle of fasting can be applied to abstinence from things other than food—such as television and other entertainment, recreational Internet browsing, social media, alcohol consumption, or talking—for the purpose of focusing on spiritual matters. However, the focus of this article is abstaining from food.
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, and in Christianity in general for many centuries, fasting was fairly common. The Bible records types of fasting which differ from one another based on the food or water intake.
Types of Fasting
A normal fast refers to a fast in which a person abstains from all food but not water. It is likely that when Jesus fasted for forty days just prior to the beginning of His ministry, He abstained from food but not water. Luke tells us: He ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, He was hungry.[1]Matthew wrote: And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.[2] In neither case does it mention Jesus being thirsty, but it does say that He ate nothing. Since the human body can normally function no more than three days without water, we assume that He drank water during this time.[3]
A partial fast refers to when some types of food are not eaten, similar to how Daniel and his three companions asked the chief official to “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.”[4] By this definition John the Baptist also adhered to a partial fast, as he limited what he ate. His food was locusts and wild honey.[5] Throughout Christian history, believers devoted themselves to partial fasts by eating much smaller amounts of food, or eating only simple foods.
There are instances of what are called absolute fasts during which neither food nor water is taken. Esther petitioned the Jews throughout Susa to hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.[6] Saul, who later was known as the apostle Paul, also observed an absolute fast after his encounter with the risen Christ.
For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.[7]
The Bible also speaks about two supernatural fasts. Author Donald Whitney explains:
There are two instances of these. When Moses wrote of his meeting with God on Mount Sinai, he said, “I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water” (Deuteronomy 9:9). 1 Kings 19:8 may be saying that Elijah did the same thing when he went to the site of Moses’ miraculous fast: “So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.” These required God’s supernatural intervention into the bodily processes and are not repeatable apart from the Lord’s specific calling and miraculous provision.[8]
While there are Christians today who have fasted for forty days, these would have been normal fasts, meaning that liquids were drunk, as opposed to the supernatural fast of Moses and possibly Elijah.
Scripture also speaks of congregational fasts[9] in which believers fast together for a specific purpose, and national fasts[10] in which a whole country or people fast. In this article, we will focus on private fasts by individuals, the ones which Jesus referred to when He said:
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[11]
For the most part, those practicing the Spiritual Discipline of fasting today fast from food but not water (normal fast), and many of those do it alone without others knowing about it (private fast).
There is no explicit command in the New Testament that Christians must fast; it is not a specified requirement. Jesus did, however, refer to fasting in a way that showed an expectation that believers would do it. In the verse quoted earlier, Jesus says: When you fast, do not look gloomy, and, When you fast, do so in secret. He used similar language when speaking of prayer:
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. But when you pray … pray to your Father who is in secret. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do …”[12]
The same language was used when He spoke about giving:
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you … When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing …”[13]
Using the phrase “when you” assumes that you do it sometimes.
Richard Foster expressed it this way:
It is as if there is an almost unconscious assumption that giving, praying, and fasting are all part of Christian devotion. We have no more reason to exclude fasting from the teaching [of Jesus] than we do giving or praying … Having said this, however, we must realize that these words do not constitute a command. Jesus was giving instruction on the proper exercise of a common practice of His day. He did not speak a word about whether it was a right practice or if it should be continued. So although Jesus does not say, “If you fast,” neither does He say “You must fast.” His word is, very simply, “When you fast.”[14]
When Jesus was asked by the disciples of John the Baptist why Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast, while they and the Pharisees did, He responded by saying:
“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”[15]
While Jesus was with them, it was a time of feasting, not fasting.[16] The time, however, was coming when He would be taken away, and then His disciples would fast. While we don’t read of His disciples fasting when He was with them, we do hear of the early church fasting after His ascension.[17]
It’s interesting to note that when Jesus spoke about giving to the needy in secret, about praying in secret, and about fasting in secret, a promise of reward was given.
When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[18] But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[19] But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[20]
While fasting isn’t a command in the New Testament, it is a Spiritual Discipline available to those who wish to use it in their desire to be like Jesus, to grow in godliness. As with all the Spiritual Disciplines, fasting isn’t a means to gain merit or earn favor with God. We don’t fast in order to impress Him or so that we will get our way in some matter we desire, nor to gain His acceptance. God’s love and acceptance have already been given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
Donald Whitney gave examples of different situations within the Old Testament showing when and why it may be beneficial to fast, which I’ve summarized.
To Strengthen Prayer
As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.[21]
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.[22]
So we fasted and implored our God for this, and He listened to our entreaty.[23]
Arthur Wallis wrote in his book God’s Chosen Fast:
Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importunity into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly in earnest…. Not only so, but he is expressing his earnestness in a divinely appointed way. He is using a means that God has chosen to make his voice be heard on high.[24]
When Seeking God’s Guidance
Fasting can be helpful when seeking God’s will in decisions, when asking for His guidance. We see an example of the children of Israel seeking the Lord with fasting and prayer when seeking His will as to whether to continue fighting after suffering devastating losses two days in a row.
Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. And the people of Israel inquired of the LORD … saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people of Benjamin, or shall we cease?” And the LORD said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”[25]
In Times of Grief
There are a number of biblical examples of fasting and prayer as a response to grief over someone’s death.[26] Fasting can also be a response to grief and remorse over sin, as it can communicate our sorrow for sinning against the Lord. Fasting doesn’t bring forgiveness of sin, as forgiveness is a gift given to us through salvation. However, we are told to confess our sins to the Lord. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.[27] Fasting doesn’t make us more worthy of forgiveness, but it can communicate the grief and confessions our words may not be able to.[28]
When Seeking Deliverance or Protection
Throughout the Old Testament there are examples of people fasting along with praying when in need of protection and deliverance. A number of these instances were congregational or national fasts, whereby those in danger fasted together, beseeching the Lord for protection.
Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.[29]
Then I [Ezra] proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek Him, and the power of His wrath is against all who forsake Him.” So we fasted and implored our God for this, and He listened to our entreaty.[30]
Another example includes Esther asking the Jews in Susa to fast and pray before she risked death by going to see the king unannounced.[31]
We also see an instance where King David fasted and prayed because people were speaking hatefully against him and making accusations. He apparently fasted for some time, as he says his body had become gaunt and he was weak through fasting.
O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for Your name’s sake; because Your steadfast love is good, deliver me! For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me. My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt, with no fat.[32]
When you are being gossiped about, falsely accused, spoken against, or persecuted for your faith, you can go to the Lord in prayer and fasting for protection and deliverance.
To Humble Yourself Before God
Fasting can be a physical expression of humility before the Lord. David said in Psalms: I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.[33] We’re not able to make ourselves humble; however, fasting expresses to the Lord that we are dependent on Him and weak without Him. When you fast, you realize how quickly the lack of food affects you. We often feel strong and self-sufficient, so it can be quite humbling to realize how fragile we actually are. (to be continued)
Boasting About Tomorrow
11/06/24 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15) ESV
06 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Stewardship/The Wise Use of Time
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-03-04
Time is one of the most valuable resources God has entrusted to our care; it can’t be replaced, replenished, or relived. Each of us has a finite amount of time in our earthly life, and how much we will have to work with and when our life will come to an end is in God’s hands. We are stewards of our time and should use it wisely, as we will be asked to give account of how we managed what was put into our care, including our time. As the apostle Paul wrote, each of us will give an account of himself to God.[1]
Before going further, let me clarify that when I’m speaking of the proper use of time in the context of the Spiritual Discipline of stewardship, it should be understood as using it in alignment with God’s nature and character and according to His will, for His glory. It’s not limited to only doing things that are directly linked to your relationship with and service to the Lord, such as prayer, witnessing, etc. For example, we sometimes spend it on entertainment or relaxation.
Taking time to rest and relax is in alignment with God’s will, as seen by His commanding a day of rest. Some may feel as if the time spent working at a job is wasted, when they would prefer to use that time in more visible service to God. But working to provide for yourself and your family is in alignment with God’s nature and will, and when committed to God, is part of your service to God. While taking time to read God’s Word and pray is important, so are the everyday necessities of life such as cooking, cleaning house, changing diapers, and caring for your family. Our lives call for a balanced use of time, and it’s in that context that we are talking about the use of time as part of stewardship.
Perspective and Eternity
In every calendar year we live, we are graciously given 8,760 hours[2] by our Creator. It is our responsibility to use them wisely and to make the most of them.[3] Unfortunately, it’s easy to waste time and fritter it away. Using it wisely requires discipline and sacrifice, as mountains of time management books have expressed over and over again. Decisions need to be made to forgo spending time on something we like doing and want to do, and instead using it for the purpose of improving in some area or working toward goals. Disciplined time management is needed in any area of life we hope to move forward in, including growing in godliness and becoming more like Jesus.
A key to understanding the importance of using our time for godly purposes is recognizing that this life is where we prepare for eternity. We know this holds true when it comes to salvation, as one’s acceptance or rejection of Jesus affects one’s eternity. In addition, how we live and what we do or don’t do in this life plays a role in our eternity. It doesn’t determine our salvation, but Scripture says that it does affect the rewards we will receive in the afterlife. Paul addressed this when he wrote about building our lives on Jesus as the foundation:
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.[4]
It is worthwhile to invest in godly pursuits, in following God’s will for us, in drawing closer to the Lord. Of course, these aren’t the only things that it is important to devote time to, but they are things that can easily be overlooked within the busy lives we lead. Constantly putting off spending time in prayer, reading God’s Word, and other activities which strengthen our faith and bring godliness into our lives can easily result in not doing them at all, because the time we thought we would have to do them later turns out to have been spent doing something else.
None of us know when our lives will be over. As James wrote:
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.[5]
Our times are in God’s hands,[6] and while it’s wise to plan as if we are going to live a long life, it’s also wise to use our time for the purpose of godliness as though it were uncertain that we will live tomorrow.[7] Today is the day to do God’s will, to make good decisions, to be generous, to share His love with another, to pray for someone, to help the poor, to visit the sick, to spend time in prayer and adoration, to be Jesus for someone.
Since what we do with our time matters both in this life and in the life to come, how we use each day counts. Properly managing the time we are given by God in a manner that helps us accomplish our goals, while allowing us to have a proper balance in our work, recreation, family life, and faith life, is an important part of our life on earth. The “right now” of every day is time that God has graciously given us, and we should value it deeply. When your time on earth is finished, will you be happy with how you used this precious gift God put into your hands, or will you have regrets?
Francis Chan uses a classic illustration about the time we have in our lives in relation to the eternity we have before us. He lays down a rope that looks about 30 feet (10 meters) long, and at one end three inches (8 centimeters) of it are painted red. He makes the point that so many of us are overly focused on the three red inches—our comfort, our status, the inch or so that is left of our life—yet we ignore the rest of the rope, which represents eternity.
Of course, the three inches which represent our lives on earth are important. God has given us life and time on this earth with the expectation that we will live it to the full and enjoy the life He has given us, in alignment with His nature and character, and that we will glorify Him in the lives we lead and leave the world a little better because of how we lived. However, those three inches don’t represent our entire existence. There is more to life beyond that, and being mindful of that fact should cause us to consider how we invest our time and where we place our values. You can watch Chan’s impressive illustration here.
Values and Commitment
Wisely investing in the present as well as eternity means investing time in things that are important in this life and also have value in the next. That includes such things as taking care of your family, teaching your children to live in accordance with God’s attributes, nurturing your relationship with your spouse, learning new things, cultivating friendships, caring for those in need, sharing God’s love and salvation with others, being kind and generous, being mindful of the environment, and being a good influence in your community. In short, investing your time wisely means living life in a manner that reflects God, that lets your light shine before others, that has a positive effect on those around you, and also lays up treasure in heaven.
Living a life that reflects the Lord would include keeping connected to the Lord through reading, studying, and applying God’s Word; giving time to prayer, praise, and worship; sharing the message of salvation with others; managing our finances and possessions in a godly manner; giving to God and others; sharing what we have been entrusted with; serving God and others. Each of these activities requires a commitment of time, and in order to devote the necessary time, it’s necessary to be disciplined in the use of it.
It takes work, discipline, and commitment to manage our time, as well as thought, reflection, planning, and sometimes coaching or help from another person if time management isn’t one of our strong points. Making the effort can make our lives happier and more fulfilling. People who are disciplined and organized in how they use their time are more likely to achieve their goals, and are at the same time less stressed or flustered than those who don’t do this. Wisely using our time plays a role in our effectiveness and happiness in this life, and according to Scripture has an effect on our life to come as well.
Time Management and Balance
If you are willing to work at using your time more efficiently, as well as cutting out time wasters, you will gain more time for the things that are valuable to you, such as being with your loved ones, learning things you’re interested in, and working toward reaching your personal goals, whether practical or spiritual or both. Effective time management can also eliminate stress in your life.
There are plenty of books, websites, courses, and time management tips that you can avail yourself of to help you use your time wisely. I found it helpful to do an Internet search on “how to stop wasting time,” which supplied numerous articles on ways to use my time more efficiently. You may want to do an audit of your time, and if so, a search for “time audit” will provide some ways to evaluate how you presently use your time.
We should watch out about wasting time on activities which either have little or no value, or which absorb an inordinate amount of time in relation to their value. Some things are fine in small doses, but can easily encroach on our time if we’re not disciplined. For example, I really like to watch some TV series. While they serve as an avenue of relaxation for me, which is a benefit, I can also spend too much time watching them. Unless I discipline myself and set limits, I could end up spending many hours on something that has no eternal value—time which could be put to much better and more godly use. Relaxing and resting is important, but it’s easy to cross the line from using some time for relaxation to wasting time on activities that steal hours away from the most useful and worthwhile endeavors, or even the things that are most personally fulfilling.
In relation to the use of time as a Spiritual Discipline, it helps to take to heart what the Bible teaches about the afterlife as a motivator to use the time we are given by God for godly purposes and to live in accordance with His Word and will. Being good stewards of the time we have, disciplining ourselves in the use of it, devoting time to developing and strengthening our spiritual lives and our connection with God, and avoiding wasting this precious gift, helps us to be productive in this life and lay up treasures in heaven.[8]By using your time for godliness, for helping others, for sharing the Gospel, you will lay up treasure for yourself as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that you may take hold of the life that is truly life.[9]
Invest your time wisely.
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Romans 14:12.
[2] 8,784 hours in a leap year.
[3] Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15–16 NAS).
[4] 1 Corinthians 3:11–15.
[5] James 4:14 NIV.
[6] Psalm 31:15.
[7] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 135.
[8] Matthew 6:20.
[9] 1 Timothy 6:19, paraphrased.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).
[2] Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness (1 Timothy 6:11).
[3] Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment … (1 Timothy 6:6).
[4] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 21.
[5] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 7.
[6] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 18.
[7] Ibid., 18.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
05 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Stewardship/Giving and Tithing
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-02-25
11/05/24 Understanding the principle of ownership—that God owns everything, and that we are caretakers of what He has entrusted us with—should encourage us to look to His example regarding how to share what He has placed in our care. As His stewards, we are expected to use what is His in alignment with His nature and His will.
God’s Generosity
Throughout the Bible we read about God’s generous and gracious giving.
He gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.[1] I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.[2]
As our Father He gives us good things,[3] good and perfect gifts,[4] our heart’s desire[5] and what we ask for when these align with His will,[6] His peace,[7] wisdom,[8] and grace.[9]
Motivated by His love for humanity, God gave His Son, Jesus, for our salvation,[10] and He gave Himself to redeem us.[11] We’re given the water of life,[12] the free gift of God.[13] He has lavished upon us forgiveness, redemption, and grace.[14] He has also poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us[15] as a guarantee.[16] We’ve also been given the gifts of the Spirit, which are distributed according to His will.[17]
Understanding God’s generous nature as the owner of all things guides us in our attitude toward giving. As the children of such a generous Father, we should want to follow His example. Knowing that we are stewards of God’s possessions and that He wants us to be generous with what He has put into our care should help us develop the attitude of cheerful and generous giving, both when giving to the Lord through our tithes and offerings as well as when giving to others.
When we give of our finances to the Lord and others, we give honor to God.
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.[18]
When the apostle Paul wrote about the gifts the Philippians had given toward the Lord’s work, he likened the giving to an act of worship. He called the gifts a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.[19] He was comparing the gifts given to God’s work by the believers in Philippi to the sacrifices burnt in the Temple as worship to God.[20] The book of Hebrews speaks of sharing what you have as a sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.[21]
Giving is an act of worshipping God.
Giving with Gratefulness
Recently I took some time to think about why Maria and I tithe ten percent of our monthly income and the gifts we receive, instead of just looking at it as a duty or something which we have personally committed to doing. Rather than just tithing and giving gifts to others as a routine, I reflected on the meaning behind it, the significance of giving to the Lord. I thought about how blessed I’ve been to know the Lord for over two-thirds of my life, about all the blessings I’ve received, our children and grandchildren, how privileged I’ve been to serve Him, about the difficult times He’s pulled us through, and times of joy and happiness we’ve experienced. Spending time in praise and thanksgiving when returning a portion of what the Lord has given us this past month made giving our tithe much more meaningful to me. It wasn’t just a duty; it was an offering of thankfulness for His love and care for us. I’ve also started looking at what we give to missionaries, as well as to the poor and needy that we come in contact with, in the same way.
So often we can look at tithing as we do paying taxes. We expect to get services from our church or fellowship, or from God as payback for our tithes in the same way that we expect our governments to provide roads, schools, etc. But this isn’t what tithing is about. Tithing is an expression of our love and gratitude toward God and an act of praise, thanksgiving, and worship.
Our giving to God or others is meant to come from the heart. We shouldn’t be giving grudgingly or out of duty because we feel we have to; rather we should give because we want to, from a place of thankfulness and praise in response to God’s love for us.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.[22]
Donald Whitney expressed the reason for giving cheerfully when he wrote:
When you think of how God has given you the greatest possible gift in His Son, Jesus Christ, when you think of the mercy and grace He has given you, when you think of how He has provided all you have, and when you think that you are giving to God, you should be able to give thankfully and cheerfully.[23]
When Giving Is Difficult
It’s often hard to tithe and give to others when we’re just making ends meet and don’t feel like there’s anything extra. It’s especially difficult to give when we genuinely don’t even have enough for our own needs.
The apostle Paul wrote about the Macedonian believers who, though impoverished, gave generously and joyously toward those in need.
Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in His kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.[24]
We see a similar situation of those with very little still giving in the Gospel of Mark, when he tells of Jesus sitting across from the “treasury,” the 13 collection boxes which were placed along the court of the women within the temple complex in Jerusalem. He watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And He called His disciples to Him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”[25]
When Jesus stated that the minuscule amount the poor widow gave—the equivalent of 1/64th of a laborer’s daily wage of one denarius—was more than the large sums given by the rich, He was making a profound point. Why was her gift considered to be more? Because of what it cost her. She gave all she had to live on, while the rich gave from their abundance. She didn’t have any extra finances to fall back on; the rich did. Her giving was not only sacrificial, it also showed her faith in God’s supply, provision, and care. Stepping out on a limb, she sawed it off in an act of love for God. She gave sacrificially and trusted in God’s faithfulness to provide for her. Jesus saw her willingness to sacrificially give to God and her faith in His care as being more valuable than what the rich had given. Giving sacrificially out of love, giving generously because of faith in God’s love and care for you, is the kind of giving Jesus was commending.
We can also take heart from more recent examples of Christians who gave in leaner times, such as William Carey:
I was once young and now I am old, but not once have I been witness to God’s failure to supply my need when first I had given for the furtherance of Hiswork. He has never failed in His promise, so I cannot fail in my service to Him.[26]
Systematic Giving
When speaking about giving, Paul told the church in Corinth:
Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.[27]
He was suggesting that giving should be planned out and done systematically. For our tithes, offerings, and giving to others, it’s best to develop a system of setting aside what we plan to give; otherwise it’s easy to put it off and then have to scramble at the last minute to come up with the funds when it’s time to tithe. You can follow Paul’s suggestion of setting aside money on the first day of the week, or each time you receive some income, so that it will be available when it’s time to give to God. However you do it, being systematic helps to ensure that you have your tithe available when it’s time to present it to Him.
Along with being systematic in giving, Paul makes the point that the funds set aside should be in keeping with our income,[28] or as it says in other Bible translations, as he prospers. The expectation is that we will give in proportion to our income. If our income grows, our tithe and giving should grow with it. Whitney writes:
The more you prosper, the higher should be the proportion of your giving. There is no percentage goal in giving. Giving 10 percent of your gross income does not necessarily mean you have fulfilled the will of God. That’s not a ceiling of giving to stop at, but a floor to move from.[29]
Some wealthy Christians, or those who have a high income but few expenses, practice inverse tithing, or a form of it, where instead of giving ten percent to God and living on the other ninety percent, they live on the ten percent and give the ninety. As Paul wrote, we should give in keeping with how the Lord has prospered us.
Results of Giving
What is the effect of giving generously to God and others? God’s blessings in your life. Jesus said:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.[30]
When we give, we receive. Our generosity is met by God’s generosity. It doesn’t necessarily mean that when you give financially you will receive more finances in return, as what is given as a result of your giving is unspecified. But the promise of God’s blessing is there. Paul reinforced what Jesus taught when he wrote:
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.[31]
Sir John Templeton, Chairman of Templeton Funds, offered the following observation:
I have observed 100,000 families over my years of investment counseling. I always saw greater prosperity and happiness among those families who tithed than among those who didn’t.
In addition to expressing the principle of reaping what you sow, Paul also speaks of other spiritual principles regarding giving in Second Corinthians chapter nine. He begins with:
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.[32]
We are encouraged to give willingly and joyfully from our hearts, as this is something that God loves. Paul then tells us of God’s ability to bless us for cheerfully giving so that we will have not only what we need, but plenty left over to share with others:
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.[33]
Paul continues:
Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.[34]
This is the reassurance that God, who supplies our needs, will provide and increase our resources, which will make it possible for us to be even more generous. The result of God supplying for us, and us giving to others, will be people thanking and praising God.
You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.[35]
Besides thanking God for supplying their needs through us, the people who have benefited from our generosity will also pray for us with deep affection.
And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.[36]
The decision you make to be cheerfully generous in your giving can start a chain reaction of events. God may bless you by supplying your needs so you have extra to share with others, which would then make it possible for you to be even more generous, resulting in those who have been helped by your giving thanking God and also potentially praying for you. All of this gives glory to God. It’s a win-win situation. Paul expresses it this way:
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift![37]
Giving to God and others goes hand in hand with being a good caretaker of all the Lord has given you. He may want to bless others through His funds which you manage. His way of meeting the need of a certain missionary might be through your giving; perhaps He wants to bless those running an orphanage or school for the poor through you. Your giving to the Lord through your tithe is a means of helping the Gospel to be preached. Those who tithe to their church help support their church and its ministries. Those who tithe to TFI help make it possible for members around the world to receive regular spiritual feeding, to have resources for spiritually feeding and teaching new converts in their local languages, and for missionaries to receive grants and gifts. Your giving to the Lord through your tithe makes it possible for Him to benefit others through the church or organization you tithe to.
Commitment and Attitude Check
Regularly and systematically sharing some of what God has put in your care requires making a commitment and following through consistently. Systematic giving calls for trust that God will provide for you, even during times when your giving requires a leap of faith. Being a cheerful giver stems from having the right relationship with possessions and developing an inner attitude about giving that reflects that relationship. It’s comprehending that you are an agent of the Lord, that you are giving on His behalf, and that you have been given the privilege of representing Him to others, both practically and spiritually.
Early last year, I realized that I wasn’t a cheerful giver when it came to some beggars who are outside a grocery store that I regularly shop at. I found myself grumbling every time I went to the store, because I knew I was going to see the beggars and feel compelled to give to them. The Lord convicted me about my attitude. He reminded me how blessed I am to know Him, that He has always supplied for me, and that rather than feeling negative about it, I should be happy for the opportunity to give, as He loves those beggars and wants to help them through me. That changed my outlook and attitude about giving. I’m determined to give cheerfully as unto the Lord and be thankful for the privilege of representing Him to others in that way.
We’ve been given the honor of knowing the Lord, of receiving His blessings, of being agents of His love and salvation to others. He has given us the greatest gift there is: eternal life through Jesus. He loves us, provides for us, and sustains us. Because of our love for Him and gratitude to Him, we are asked to be cheerful and generous as we give back to Him through our tithes, and through the gifts we give to others. In making the commitment to tithe and give, and keeping that commitment, we honor and worship Him, and are in alignment with what Jesus said is the great commandment:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.[38]
As the apostle Paul said,
Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”[39]
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
04 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Stewardship/Simplicity
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-02-22
11/04/24 The Spiritual Discipline of Stewardship is about properly using things that God has entrusted to our care, including our possessions, finances, and time. In order to understand and practice the discipline of stewardship and various disciplines that fit under its umbrella, it’s helpful to first understand a few basic principles: the principle of ownership, the principle of stewardship, and the need to have a right relationship with material things.
The fundamental principle of ownership, simply stated, is that God owns everything you own. The Bible teaches that God, as the Creator of all things, owns everything, which means that whatever each person possesses, He ultimately owns.
We read that The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein;[1] for all the earth is Mine;[2] whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine;[3] the silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, declares the LORD of hosts.[4] All that we “own” is actually owned by our Creator, which includes not just our possessions, but ourselves as well. Because God owns them all, the biblical understanding regarding our things is that we are simply stewards or caretakers of what God owns and has put in our charge.
Donald Whitney explains this principle well:
That means we are managers or, to use the biblical word, stewards of the things God has given us. As a slave, Joseph was a steward when Potiphar placed him over his household. He owned nothing, for he was a slave. But he managed everything Potiphar owned on his behalf. The management of Potiphar’s resources included the use of them to meet his own needs, but Joseph’s main responsibility was to use them for Potiphar’s interests. And that’s what we are to do. God wants us to use and enjoy the things He has allowed us to have, but as stewards of them we’re to remember that they belong to Him and they are primarily to be used for His Kingdom.[5]
While God may own everything, He wants us to be happy and enjoy the things He has given us, as it says in 1 Timothy 6:17: God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. As custodians of God’s resources—specifically the things in our possession, and generally the resources of the earth—we can use them for ourselves and our loved ones, to live our lives and to enjoy what He has placed in our care. Stewardship, however, implies being faithful to manage the true owner’s resources and to manage them according to the instructions, or at least the guiding principles, of the owner. The owner sets the parameters and the manager works within them.
Our Relationship with Possessions
Understanding the principles of ownership and stewardship helps us to develop a proper relationship with possessions, money, and wealth. Having the right relationship with these things is vitally important to our relationship with God.
I want to point out that when speaking of possessions and money, within the context of the Spiritual Discipline of stewardship, it should be understood that material possessions and finances play an important role in our everyday lives. Having sufficient means to live, to provide for your family, to have your legitimate needs adequately met, is part of the godly use of what the Lord has entrusted to your care. As stewards of God’s funds, we are meant to use them in alignment with His nature and character. This means that besides using them for food, clothing, and housing, we can use some for taking time off, recreation, and celebration, as resting, relaxing, and celebrating are things which God has told us to do.
Money and material possessions are morally neutral—neither good nor evil in themselves. We need them to live. The problems that arise due to wealth don’t come from the wealth itself, rather they stem from having a wrong relationship with it. It is when we crave money, when we love it, or when it becomes our main focus, and when we assign it power and importance that should be reserved for God alone, that there are problems.
As the apostle Paul said in his letter to Timothy:
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.[6]
It’s the love of money or wealth—in other words, a wrong relationship with it—which can damage us spiritually. Jesus pointed out that when one loves mammon—translated in some Bible versions as money and in others as wealth—this negatively affects one’s relationship with God. It creates a rivalry with God.
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.[7]
Jesus wasn’t saying that wealth or money are evil, but He warned that loving it or setting our heart on it, making it central to our lives, putting our trust and hope in it for our security and safekeeping, is giving it the place of God in our hearts. God is meant to be central in our lives, and we are instructed to put our trust and hope in Him for our security and safekeeping. Loving and trusting in money and possessions displaces God in our hearts, and this is what Jesus calls serving mammon.
Having money, or working to earn money to live, to care for one’s family, to improve one’s economic situation, is not serving mammon. The apostle Paul made it clear that providing for your family is vital. If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.[8] Jesus wasn’t condemning money or its legitimate use. He was speaking about the dangers which arise in one’s life when undue importance is put on money and wealth, especially when one puts their trust in it, when it begins to take the place of God in one’s life, when a person’s relationship with their money supplants their relationship with God.
Some might feel that saying money isn’t evil in itself promotes the idea that all Christians should be financially well off, an idea which isn’t supported in Scripture. At the same time, it is also incorrect to say that money or wealth is in itself evil. It is the heart and attitude of the one who has the wealth which makes it either evil or good. As Robert E. Speer (1867–1947), author and authority on missions, said: We cannot serve God and mammon; but we can serve God with mammon. There have been many men and women of God who were wealthy and who used their wealth in God’s service by supporting mission works, financing missionaries, creating businesses which provided employment and made it possible for the poor to earn a living, and in numerous other ways.
The Dangers of Riches, and True Treasure
While wealth isn’t evil in itself, Scripture makes it clear that having riches is spiritually challenging and potentially dangerous. We read a warning in Psalms: If riches increase, set not your heart on them;[9] and Proverbs says: He who trusts in his riches will fall.[10] Jesus conveyed the challenge that the rich face when He said: For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.[11] He explained that treasure should not be laid up on earth but rather in heaven, and drove the point home by showing that your heart is where your treasure is.[12]
We read further admonitions about the dangers of the wrong relationship with wealth throughout the rest of the New Testament. The book of Hebrews says to Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”[13]Paul said that bishops should not be lovers of money[14] and to Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.[15]
Our true treasures are not money and possessions; our true treasures are the kingdom of God, His love and interaction in our lives, our salvation, God’s provision and care for us, and our coming rewards. Understanding this puts our finances and their use in the right perspective.
Understanding the principles of ownership (that God owns everything) and stewardship (that we are to use what God has given us in conjunction with His will and His Word), and the need for developing a proper relationship with possessions and finances, all helps us to adjust our inner attitude and outer behavior regarding those things that we have control over, both tangible and intangible. Money and possessions are tangibles that we must decide how we use. Time is an intangible, yet we can also decide how we will use it. When we understand that our lives, our time, and our possessions all belong to God, we are in a better position to make godly decisions as to how we use what we are stewards over and how to have the proper relationship with them.
There are a few Spiritual Disciplines that can be put under the umbrella of stewardship, as they have to do with the use of our possessions or time. These are simplicity, giving and tithing, and the use of time, all of which will be covered in this and subsequent articles.
The Discipline of Simplicity
One of the disciplines which falls under the stewardship umbrella is the Spiritual Discipline of simplicity. Simplicity is refraining from using the money or possessions that we are stewards over merely to gratify our desire or hunger for status, glamour, or luxury. It means we use the finances at our disposal for meaningful purposes, that we live within the bounds of good judgment as far as what we spend finances on.[16] It is being sensible and wise in our financial spending, and using the funds entrusted to us with care. It’s being modest in our personal spending, while being generous in giving to and helping others.
In order to bring simplicity into your life, you might consider:[17]
- Buying things for their usefulness rather than for their status. Avoid basing your buying decisions on the latest trends or what will impress others, and choose according to what you need. Don’t focus on impressing others or on your personal status.
- Simplifying your life by developing the habit of getting rid of things which you no longer use or need. Many of us hold on to things we haven’t used for a long time, which could benefit someone else. Try giving them away and be free from having to store them. If you have become overly attached to some possession, consider giving it to someone who needs it.
- Keeping yourself from being propagandized by advertising and social trends. The goal of marketing is often to convince you to discard your current item, which is sufficiently meeting your needs, and to buy the latest better, faster, more powerful model. You can make a conscious effort to avoid that, and use what you have until you truly need to replace it.
- Avoiding purchasing things you don’t need. Do without nonessential items rather than going into debt to purchase them.
- Learning to enjoy things that you don’t own. Use a library, public transportation, a public beach, or a park. Don’t feel you have to own things to use and benefit from them.
- Minimizing or forgoing things or activities that produce an addiction in your life. These could be excesses in food or drink (junk food, alcohol, soft drinks, coffee or tea), or the excessive use of technology, communication, and entertainment devices. If you find you have a habitual or compulsive relationship with certain things or activities to where you can’t control your use of them, then stop using or doing them, put limits on them, or fast their use for a time.
- Being careful not to let your responsibilities such as your family, or your legitimate pursuits such as your work, business, investments, etc., or your friends, become the center of your attention to the detriment of your relationship with God and His kingdom.
This list isn’t in any way meant as laws to be adhered to, but rather provides practical counsel on some matters to be aware of, and how to minimize or remove things that may be a distraction to your relationship with God and may be competing with Him for first place within your heart.
The discipline of simplicity can be understood as a means of being freed from some of the unnecessary attachments to the things of this life, a means to set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.[18] Jesus told us that our heart is where our treasure is, therefore it’s wise to examine what our true treasure is. We should have a right relationship with our possessions and recognize the damage that can occur if that relationship gets out of balance. Simplicity can lessen our focus on ourselves and our things and help to keep us focused on our true treasure, our loving God who has given us the most valuable things we could ever possess—His love and salvation.
Other aspects of the discipline of stewardship will be discussed in subsequent articles.
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Psalm 24:1.
[2] Exodus 19:5.
[3] Job 41:11.
[4] Haggai 2:8.
[5] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 140–41.
[6] 1 Timothy 6:9–10.
[7] Luke 16:13 NAS.
[8] 1 Timothy 5:8 NIV.
[9] Psalm 62:10.
[10] Proverbs 11:28, NAU.
[11] Luke 18:25.
[12] Matthew 6:19–21.
[13] Hebrews 13:5.
[14] … not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money (1 Timothy 3:3).
[15] 1 Timothy 6:17 NIV.
[16] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (New York: HarperOne, 1988), 168.
[17] As taught by Richard J. Foster in Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 90–95.
[18] Colossians 3:2.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
03 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-02-04
11/03/24 The Spiritual Discipline of prayer is a key component in our relationship with God, as it is our main means of communication with Him. It is in prayer that we are able to converse with our Creator.
As Christians, we have been given the incredible privilege of coming into the presence of God as His children, due to the salvation granted through Jesus. We can speak with Him, praise, worship, and adore Him, tell Him of our love for Him, and thank Him for all He’s done and continues to do for us. We can bare our hearts before Him, expressing our troubles and needs. We can intercede for others in their time of need. We can bring our requests to Him and ask for His help. We can tell Him how much we appreciate the beautiful things He’s created, and thank Him for the multitude of blessings we each have. When we’re weak and weary, we can speak to Him about it. When we’ve done wrong and have sinned, we can confess, ask for, and receive His forgiveness. We can speak with Him when we’re joyful or sad, in good health or bad, whether we’re rich or poor, for we have a relationship with the One who not only created us, but who loves us deeply and wants to participate in every aspect of our lives.
Relationship with God, and Jesus’ Example
Relationships require communication, and prayer is the main way we communicate with God. It is our means of inviting Him to participate in our daily lives, of asking Him to be directly and intimately involved with the things that are important to us. When we come before Him in prayer, we are asking Him to take an active part in our lives or in the lives of those we are praying for. Prayer conveys the reality of our overall situation, that we need Him and desire His presence in our lives.
Being in good communication with God is a major part of our faith, of our relationship with Him. This is why prayer is something we need to cultivate, invest time in, and practice as a discipline. Communicating with God in prayer is a means of drawing closer to Him, of deepening our relationship, and in the process, it helps us to become more godly, more like Jesus.
When it comes to praying, there is much to learn by looking at Jesus’ example of prayer within the Gospels and reading what He taught about it. One of the most fundamental things that Jesus imparted to His followers regarding prayer was about having the right relationship with His Father. In the Gospel of Mark we hear Jesus say, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”[1] Abba was what a son or daughter in first-century Palestine would call their father throughout their lives; it was a familiar word, like Dad or Papa, in the Aramaic language that was spoken in Jesus’ day. Jesus used this word in prayer and taught His disciples to do the same, because it expressed the close, endearing, familial relationship believers should have with God. Throughout the Gospels when Jesus addresses God as Father in prayer, He most likely used the term Abba, as He would have been speaking Aramaic.
In every instance but one[2] throughout all four Gospels, when Jesus prays, He uses the word Father.[3] He constantly prayed to His Father, and He taught His disciples to do the same. (Since the New Testament was written in Greek, the Greek word Pater was used instead of Abba; however, Abba was preserved in three instances, which gives the understanding that Abba was the term Jesus and His disciples used in prayer, which was translated as Pater or Father in the New Testament.[4]) Jesus’ use of Abba (Father) set the tone for the personal relationship we are privileged to have with God because of the gift of salvation. We are the sons and daughters of God; not in the same way as Jesus is, but as children adopted into God’s family. When we pray, we are coming before Abba, our Father.
This manner of addressing God was also used in the Greek-speaking churches of Paul’s day. It is a word that was particularly associated with Jesus in the early church; to say Abba was to share in a common sonship and a common inheritance with Jesus.[5] We, as children adopted into the family of God, also have a relationship with the Father.We are able to have an intimate connection with Him, as we would with our earthly father.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”[6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.[7]
Teachings from the Gospels about Prayer
When Jesus taught about prayer through the parables, He made comparisons to situations such as the friend who borrowed the loaves at midnight,[8] or the unjust judge[9] who eventually answered the woman’s plea. Through these story examples, He made the point that if the friend or the unjust judge would answer the petitions made to them, how much more would our Father in heaven answer our petitions? He demonstrates that we can have confidence that our prayers will be answered by our generous, loving Father. Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him![10]
In the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee, Jesus speaks of humility and confession in prayer.[11] In the parable of the unforgiving servant, He touched on forgiveness, showing that it is prayer offered with a forgiving spirit that is answered.[12] Pompous and pretentious prayers which draw attention to oneself are to be avoided; rather prayers should spring from sincerity of heart and motive.[13] He spoke of intensity and vigilance in prayer[14] as well as expectancy.[15] [16]
By His example we learn to pray in solitude,[17] to pray in thanksgiving,[18] to pray when faced with decisions,[19] and to intercede for others.[20]
Once, when Jesus finished praying, His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. He responded by teaching them what is today called the “Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father.”[21] This rich prayer deserves a fuller explanation than can be given here, but in short it teaches us to pray by: praising God, the one who is holy and above all; expressing our desire and willingness for His will to be accomplished in our lives; acknowledging our dependence on Him to take care of our needs; asking for forgiveness of our sins, and deliverance from evil.
Besides praying to the Father in Jesus’ name, as He instructed His disciples to do, from examples in the Gospels we understand that prayers should be offered to Jesus as well.
A leper came to [Jesus] and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.”[22]
A ruler came in and knelt before [Jesus], saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.”[23]
Those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”[24]
Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him, and it is He who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Him.[25]
Jesus, through His example, and through teaching and emphasizing a relationship with the Father, has shown the importance of prayer and how to pray and in what circumstances, and most importantly that our prayers should be grounded in an intimate relationship with God. We are to be like children who climb on the lap of their father, with no pretense or fear, knowing and trusting that their father loves them and will protect, provide, and care for them.
Looking at Our Own Prayer Lives
Prayer plays a vital role in our spiritual lives, our connection with God, our inner growth, and our effectiveness as Christians. Jesus’ example of prayer, of getting away from the busyness of His life, taking time alone in prayer, even spending whole nights in prayer, interceding for others and praying effective prayers, marks the trail for those who long to walk in His footsteps.
When we hold up our prayer lives to Jesus’ teaching and example on the subject, how do we fare? Do we pray often? Do we pray in faith, fully believing God will answer? Do we recognize that by praying we are asking God to intervene in our lives? Do we understand that we are praying for God’s will to be done, recognizing that His will may differ from ours? Do we realize that He does answer, but His answers may not always be yes?
As the professor in my class on this subject said, God is not a cosmic bellhop. He’s not at our beck and call, waiting for us to order Him to do whatever it is that we want Him to do. As followers of Jesus, we strive to live in accordance with God’s will, which means that when we pray, we pray both in God’s will and for His will. As the Lord’s Prayer says, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Prayer is asking for the will of God to be done. It’s in this area that the Spiritual Discipline of Bible intake blends with prayer. As we read and meditate on His Word, we are more likely to understand His will, helping to align our prayers with His will.
As Richard Foster wrote:
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:3). To ask “rightly” involves transformed passions. In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after Him: to desire the things He desires, to love the things He loves, to will the things He wills. Progressively we are taught to see things from His point of view.[26]
Developing Proficiency in Prayer
When we desire to achieve proficiency in an area, we often look to the examples of those who are already proficient in order to learn from them. If you play golf, then you will study and try to follow the techniques of the golfing greats who have gone before you. The same is true in almost any field—music, business, the arts, medicine, etc. There are those who have gone before us in prayer who have become accomplished, and if we follow in their footsteps and use their example as a pattern, we too can have more fruitful and rewarding prayer lives.
For example, we see that Jesus rose very early in the morning, while it was still dark, departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.[27] The apostles gave themselves to the word and prayer and didn’t let the daily duties get in the way of what was most important for them.[28] Martin Luther, when faced with so much to do, gave himself to three hours of daily prayer. John Wesley devoted two hours a day in the presence of the Lord. For these greats, and numerous others who have been effective in their Christian lives, time spent in prayer has played a significant role.
Of course, they most likely didn’t start with such devotion to prayer, but became more proficient at it as time went on. While the fast-paced lives many of us live today may not allow for spending hours in daily prayer, we shouldn’t dismiss these examples. Rather we should each look at our own prayer life, at the time we spend in His presence, and ask ourselves if we are investing enough time communicating with the One with whom we are in what should be our primary relationship. Does our time in prayer reflect our deep desire to have Him participate in our lives, or is it more of a hit-or-miss commitment?
It can be very effective to pray when you are reading and meditating on God’s Word. You are already tuned in to what God is saying to you through His Word and you can use what He’s speaking to you about as a stepping stone to your conversation with Him. Prayer isn’t meant to be a one-way conversation, with us speaking and expecting God to do all the listening. In times of prayer we should also open ourselves up to hear what God wants to say to us, through the Bible, through what godly teachers or preachers are saying, or through getting quiet before Him and opening our hearts to hear His voice. He can speak to us in many ways: through impressions He gives, thoughts He puts in our minds, through Bible verses or prophecies we receive. Prayer is communication, and communication is a two-way street. So besides asking God to hear what we are saying to Him, we should also be giving Him the opportunity to speak to us.
Coming before the Lord in prayer is something that is expected of us, as believers, as shown by Jesus’ communications with His disciples.
In the book of Colossians Paul says: Continue steadfastly in prayer …[33] Continuing steadfastly in something means to give it constant care and attention. To do this requires a commitment, disciplining yourself to do it. It means considering it important enough to set aside regular time to give to prayer and conversation with the Lord.
We are called to be in continual relationship with God, in a sense having an ongoing dialogue with Him, talking to Him, asking His guidance, praising Him, listening to Him throughout our day. This can be seen as the meaning of Paul’s general admonition to pray “continually” or “without ceasing.”[34]
While there is no exact prescribed formula for how to pray or how long to pray, Scripture is quite definite that we should pray. I’m pretty confident in stating that most of us Christians don’t devote the time to prayer that we should. Polls over the past years have shown that Christians, even dedicated ones, pray on average about seven minutes a day. This doesn’t seem to be the kind of time invested into practicing a skill that will result in proficiency. So how do we develop a better prayer life? There really isn’t any other way than by praying. How do you build up to running five kilometers a day? You start exercising or running today, and you keep it up regularly, increasing the time for which you run and the distance you cover as your endurance builds. It works the same with prayer. You begin by beginning. If you don’t take the first step by carving out a little time for it, most likely you won’t pray regularly.
Some Methods to Consider
Start with committing even ten minutes a day to prayer. If you are unsure what to pray about or how to go about it, try using the well-known ACTS method of prayer: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.
Begin with adoration—praising, adoring, and glorifying God in prayer. You might find it helpful to incorporate verses from the Bible into your praise. (You can find a collection of verses on glorifying and praising God here.) After praising and worshipping, you can move on to confession—acknowledging your sins and asking for forgiveness. You can then move on to thanksgiving, expressing your gratitude for all the Lord has done and is doing for you. (Verses on thanksgiving also here.) After that, you can bring your prayers for yourself and others to Him in supplication. If you spend just a few minutes on each section, you will already be over the seven-minute average.
Another fruitful means of prayer is combining it with your Bible reading and meditation. As you read and dwell on what you are reading, as you apply it to your life and circumstances, as the Lord lays thoughts on your heart through His Word, bring those things to Him in prayer.
Prayer is our means of communicating with God, of coming into and remaining in His presence. As we climb onto our Heavenly Father’s lap, as His children, we can ask Him anything, we can trust Him with everything. We can feel His love for us, His assurance, His care. In our time of communicating with Him we learn from Him, and in time we become more like Him. If we truly desire to become more like Jesus, we must walk with Him on the path of prayer.
[1] Mark 14:36.
[2] (Mark 15:34)
[3] Matthew 11:25–26, 26:42; Mark 14:36; Luke 10:21, 23:34,46; John 11:41, 12:27–28; 17:1,5,11,21, 24–25.
[4] Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6.
[6] Romans 8:15.
[7] Galatians 4:6–7.
[10] Matthew 7:9–11.
[11] Luke 18:10–14.
[12] Matthew 18:21–35.
[13] Matthew 6:5–6; Mark 12:38–40; Luke 20:47.
[14] Matthew 26:41.
[15] Mark 11:24, 9:23.
[17] Luke 5:15–16, 6:12.
[18] Luke 10:21; John 6:11, 11:41; Matthew 26:27.
[19] Luke 6:12.
[20] John 17:6–9, 20–26.
[21] Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4.
[22] Matthew 8:2.
[23] Matthew 9:18.
[24] Matthew 14:33.
[25] John 9:37–38.
[27] Mark 1:35.
[28] Acts 6:4.
[29] Matthew 6:5–6.
[30] Matthew 6:9 NIV.
[31] Luke 11:9 NIV.
[32] Luke 18:1 NIV.
[33] Colossians 4:2.
[34] 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NIV.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
Build Your House on the Rock
11/02/24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24,25) ESV
02 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Bible Intake
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-01-21
Christians who desire a flourishing relationship with God and who are interested in spiritual growth recognize that spending time taking in and absorbing God’s Word is of utmost importance. It is within the pages of the Bible that we learn about God and His love for humanity, about Jesus and His message, about how to live in harmony with God and our fellow human beings.
God is the Creator, and He wants to be in relationship with His creation. In order to make that possible, He has revealed Himself to us through the Bible. In it, He tells of His love for us and of the actions He has taken to make it possible for us as imperfect and finite beings to be in relationship with Him. The more we abide in His Word and let His Word abide in us, the more we understand how to live our lives in alignment with Him, in accordance with His will, and in a manner that reflects Him and His love, especially in our interactions with others.
Reading God’s Word
- Setting aside time daily to read the Bible provides the opportunity to connect with God each day. It opens us up to letting Him speak to us through what we read, to His instruction and guidance, to His help through life’s problems and difficulties. Regular reading of God’s revelation to us reminds us of the moral code which we are meant to fashion our lives around, and provides us with guidance when we are faced with decisions. It is a key element for those who seek to be like Jesus, because it is in the Bible that we hear His teaching, see the example of His love, and are introduced to the relationship with His Father that His sacrifice has opened up for us. As we abide in His Word, we become more and more aware of the value He places on each individual, and the love and compassion He has for every human being. As we begin to absorb the truth contained within these pages, as we ponder and pray about those truths, and as we apply them to our daily living, we begin to anchor both our inner and outer lives on the foundation of Christlikeness, on godliness, and on the truth of God.
Each day we are flooded with a barrage of input from a wide variety of delivery systems which influences us in one way or another. Taking time daily to read what God has said to us provides a way to navigate through the maelstrom of information and input that we are faced with. It enhances our spiritual ability to discern truth and falsehood. It makes it easier to keep our hearts centered on those things which are important to living lives of true happiness, inner peace, and alignment with God and His will. It helps us to survive and overcome all that life brings our way. As Jesus said: Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.[1]Abiding in God’s Word brings us in regular contact with His Spirit. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.[2] Part of having that contact with the Lord, of having that promised peace, is spending time reading His Word.
Carving out the time to read daily is no easy task—it requires self-discipline, as does each Spiritual Discipline. Like the workouts and training that athletes must do daily to maintain their conditioning and excel in their performance, taking regular time to read Scripture will strengthen your spirit and make you a stronger Christian—one who is grounded in God’s truth and love. The connection with God, that savoring of His Word, helps you to be Spirit-led in your daily interactions with others, in your decision making, and in your ability to stay strong i the face of daily temptations.
There is no specific formula for how much you need to read daily or what portions of the Bible you should read. The key is setting aside the time to do it and then sticking to it. It helps to have a good contemporary translation. The English Standard Version (ESV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the New International Version (NIV) are known to be good and accurate contemporary English translations.
It helps to commit to reading a certain number of chapters per day, as having a realistic goal can motivate you to stick with your reading even on busy days. The book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life makes the observations that reading 15 minutes a day will take you through the entire Bible within a year, and that reading three chapters a day and five chapters on Sunday will accomplish the same. It also points out that since the Bible contains 66 different books, for variety’s sake you might want to consider starting to read in three places—Genesis, Job, and Matthew—as this divides the Bible into three sections that are equal in length, so by reading the same number of chapters in each section each day you will finish the three sections, and thus the entire Bible, at roughly the same time.
Finding and following a Bible reading plan of some kind can help you stick with your reading and forge ahead when you find yourself in the more difficult portions of Scripture. There are a variety of apps for electronic devices which can help you design your reading plan, including some that provide the reading program and the text. Some people prefer to read from the pages of their Bible in book form. Whether you read from a Bible or on your computer or use a mobile app, what’s important is that you read it.
Information about apps:
http://thecripplegate.com/three-must-have-bible-apps/
http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/best-bible-apps-for-the-ipad
http://rachelwojo.com/4-fabulous-bible-apps-i-recommend/
Information about Bible reading programs:
http://www.ligonier.org/blog/bible-reading-plans/
http://www.navpress.com/dj/content.aspx?id=138
Ideally, you should read in a situation free from distractions, perhaps in a quiet spot early in the morning before your day begins or late at night when all is winding down. The quietness and absence of activity around you facilitates meditating on what you are reading. If early morning is not possible, try to find another time of day when it is. But even if you can’t carve out some quiet time, then read on the run, in whatever time opens up for you—or listen to it in audio form as you go. It’s a fight to keep your commitment to read/study the Bible, but doing so will make a difference in your life.
Hearing about God’s Word
Along with personally reading God’s Word, it can be beneficial to hear His Word spoken about as well. This would entail reading, listening to, or watching sermons, talks, discussions, and posts which pertain to the Word and godly principles. Anchor, Directors’ Corner and Just One Thing can help with this, and there are other very good sites where men and women of God speak about and teach God’s Word.
I’ve found that there are some teachers I like to hear, whose style and what they speak about resonates with me more than others. But other people I know love to listen to someone who doesn’t appeal to me. We’re each different, but the point is that it can be helpful to watch or listen to those who share God’s words in a manner which speaks to you and helps strengthen your connection and relationship with the Lord.
It’s often much easier to listen to someone else speak about the principles and teachings of God’s Word than it is to take the time to read the Word yourself and to think about and meditate on what you have read. While it’s spiritually feeding and beneficial to listen to sermons and read articles about the Word, it shouldn’t replace your time reading the Bible and benefiting from what the Lord Himself has to say to you personally through His Word.
Meditating on the Word
When you read the Bible or listen to others expound on it, it’s important to ask yourself what God is speaking to you about through what you’re reading or hearing. Take time to think about what you’re reading. If a passage stands out to you, read it again. Think about it; ask yourself why it stood out to you and what the Lord might be trying to tell you through it. If a part of a sermon you listen to speaks to your heart, listen to it again, and think and pray about it. Remember, the reason for reading or listening isn’t to get through the material as quickly as possible, or to cram in as much as you can in the allotted time, but rather to absorb it, and to let it speak to you and become part of you. It’s a time to let the Lord communicate with you through His Word.
Focusing on what you read or hear, and thinking more deeply about it, is part of meditating on God’s Word. Our lives are so busy, and we often feel we need to rush from one thing to the next, so it’s difficult to take the time to truly think about what we’ve read and how to apply it, but it’s important to do so if we want it to affect us.
In the Psalms we hear David speak of meditating on God and His Word:
I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.[3]
Hundreds of years earlier, God spoke to Joshua about the importance of continually meditating on the Word of God.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.[4]
The great prayer warrior George Mueller wrote regarding meditating on God’s Word:
What is food for the inner man? The Word of God, and here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water passes through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it and applying it to our hearts.[5]
Donald Whitney wrote:
The tree of your spiritual life thrives best with meditation because it helps you absorb the water of God’s Word. Merely hearing or reading the Bible, for example, can be like a short rainfall on hard ground. Regardless of the amount or intensity of the rain, most runs off and little sinks in. Meditation opens the soil of the soul and lets the water of God’s Word percolate in deeply. The result is an extraordinary fruitfulness and spiritual prosperity.[6]
Reading, listening to, and meditating on the Word of God brings His blessings into our lives. As Psalm 1 says: Blessed is the man … [whose] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.[7]
Reading God’s Word and meditating on it brings us into personal communication with God. As we meditate on what we’ve read, we create the opportunity for His Word to speak to our hearts because we put ourselves in the position of being willing to listen to Him. In meditating on His Word, we enter into His presence, hungering to learn, to grow, to change, to draw close to Him, to do His will. He desires to speak to each of us directly. However, if we aren’t listening or meditating on Him and His Word, if we are so busy reading what He’s said that we don’t give Him room to speak to us personally about what we’re reading, then we are truly missing something important.
Many Christians are happy to listen to what this or that speaker or preacher has to share, to be inspired by someone’s sermon, yet are much less inclined to have that one-on-one communication with the Almighty that comes when we discipline ourselves to read, study, and meditate on Scripture. Richard Foster addresses this point:
Human beings seem to have a perpetual tendency to have somebody else talk to God for them. The history of religion is the story of an almost desperate scramble to have a king, a mediator, a priest, a pastor, a go-between. In this way we do not need to go to God ourselves. Such an approach saves us from the need to change, for to be in the presence of God is to change. That is why meditation is so threatening to us. It boldly calls us to enter into the living presence of God for ourselves. It tells us that God is speaking in the continuous present and wants to address us … All who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord are the universal priesthood of God, and as such can enter the Holy of Holies and converse with the living God.[8]
Of course, meditating on what you’ve read or listened to takes time, and if you find you don’t have the time to stop and listen, then you might want to consider reading a little less to free up time to meditate on what you’ve read. Author Maurice Roberts wrote:
It is not the busy skimming over religious books or the careless hastening through religious duties which makes for a strong Christian faith. Rather, it is unhurried meditation on the gospel truths and the exposing of our minds to these truths that yields the fruit of sanctified character.[9]
If we want godliness in our lives, if our desire is to emulate our Savior, if we want the light which shines through us to be the light of God and His love, then we need to take time with Him and His Word. Disciplining ourselves to take this time daily is a key component of Christlikeness. Of all the Spiritual Disciplines, this is the most important, as God’s Word—the Bible—is His revelation of Himself to humanity. Reading and meditating on it, applying it to our inner being and to our outer actions is vital to being like Jesus. It is through the regular deep absorption of the water of His Word in our hearts that we are gradually renewed and transformed to become more like Him. It is through the application of what we read and meditate on that we have the grace to live lives that are in alignment with His will. For His Word is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path.[10]
Take the time to commune deeply with God through His Word. It will change your life.
[Jesus] said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”[11]
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”[12]
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.[13]
You have exalted above all things Your name and Your word.[14]
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word.[15]
I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.[16]
I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.[17]
Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.[18]
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Matthew 7:24–25.
[2] John 6:63.
[3] Psalm 119:15–16.
[4] Joshua 1:8.
[5] Roger Steer, Spiritual Secrets of George Mueller (Wheaton: Harold Shaw, 1985), 62, quoted in Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 76.
[6] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 49–50.
[7] Psalm 1:1–3.
[8] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 24.
[9] Maurice Roberts, “O the Depth!” The Banner of Truth, July 1990, 2, quoted in Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 55.
[10] Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).
[11] Luke 11:28.
[12] John 14:23.
[13] John 15:7.
[14] Psalm 138:2.
[15] Psalm 119:9 NIV.
[16] Psalm 119:11.
[17] Psalm 119:15–16.
[18] John 17:17.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
Bear One Another’s Burdens
11/01/24 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
(Galatians 6:8-10) ESV
01 – The Spiritual Disciplines: Introduction
The Spiritual Disciplines
Peter Amsterdam
2014-01-15
Trying to live according to the teachings of Jesus and to be more like Him is a personal goal for me, as I know it is for many of us. We want to follow His example of being loving and compassionate, generous, forgiving, kind, prayerful, Spirit-led, and of having a deep relationship with the Father and the determination to do God’s will.
As Christians, we aspire to pattern ourselves after Jesus. We desire to be godly, meaning that we live in a manner which honors God, which is based on the knowledge of His Word, and with the awareness of, and reverence for, His constant presence within us. In short, living in a way which is pleasing to Him. The question is: How do we do that effectively? What steps can we take to help us to live godly lives?
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, a young man he was mentoring, telling him that he should train himself for godliness,[1] that he should pursue it,[2] as there is great gain in doing so.[3] The Greek word Paul used for training was gymnazō, which the English word gymnasium comes from, and which means to exercise vigorously. In other words, Paul was saying that Timothy should put effort and exercise into becoming godly.
We all know that if we wish to become proficient at something or to become an expert or professional in some aspect of life, we must train and practice. When I was fourteen years old, I learned the basics of how to play the guitar. I could eventually play well enough to accompany myself or others when singing, but I never progressed further. I always admired those who were good guitarists, who could play more than the basic chords, which was the extent of my skill. Some years ago, I was talking with a young lead guitarist who in my opinion played amazingly. He told me that he could play lead guitar so well because throughout his teen years he’d practiced the scales over and over again. He was proficient because he’d put in the time and work to become so.
Besides not becoming proficient in my guitar playing, when I was ten I gave up playing the piano after a few years of lessons because I wasn’t willing to keep up with the tedious hard work and practice that was necessary to play proficiently. Similar to my guitar playing, I learned the basics, but I never became skilled. I’m using music as an example, but this holds true whenever one wants to become skilled in some field. It requires effort, practice, time, and energy to become adept.
Sports stars perform with such skill because they work at it regularly. They practice daily, they sacrifice, they take care of their bodies, they work on the areas in which they need to improve, they listen to their coaches. They consistently train for what they do. So often we see experts make their skill look simple—an ice skater who makes a beautiful move, an artist who sketches a perfect likeness, a high-diver who performs a flawless dive. It looks effortless, yet we know that to reach that level of proficiency has required a commitment to practice long and hard. They didn’t start out as champions or experts; they started with a desire to become proficient and were willing to work at it.
Living lives which reflect Jesus’ light and love to others, living in accordance with God’s will, being attuned to the Holy Spirit, making godly choices, cultivating a close relationship with our Creator, all of this requires effort on our part. Paul was making this point when he told Timothy to train in godliness.
How do we train for godliness? By applying ourselves to doing those things which put us in a position to receive God’s blessings and strength; by doing what is necessary to align the inner attitudes of our heart with God’s Spirit, Word, and will. Living a God-centered life isn’t something that happens on its own; it requires effort and commitment on our part. It calls for spiritual growth, which will contribute to developing such a life. As we mature in our faith, as we walk closer with God and as we live in alignment with His will, we are inwardly transformed, which in turn manifests itself in our outward life, helping us to be more God-centered and Christlike.
One means of such spiritual growth is practicing what are referred to as the Spiritual Disciplines. Learning about and applying the Spiritual Disciplines can help you deepen your love for the Lord and your connection with Him in significant ways. They can help you align your life with God’s will and put you in a position to receive God’s blessings. Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines is similar to becoming proficient in any field; it entails making decisions which require self-discipline. It isn’t easy, but it is rewarding.
In his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald S. Whitney quoted Tom Landry, who coached the Dallas Cowboys football team for thirty years, as saying:
The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.
Whitney went on to say:
In much the same way, Christians are called to make themselves do something they would not naturally do—pursue the Spiritual Disciplines—in order to become what they’ve always wanted to be, that is, like Jesus Christ. “Discipline yourself,” says the Scripture, “for the purpose of godliness.”[4]
This series of articles will touch on the Spiritual Disciplines. The Spiritual Disciplines are not a means of gaining God’s love or favor for works we are doing or sacrifices we are making, nor are they a deal or contract between you and the Lord which states, “If I do this, then God will do that.” Rather, engaging in the Spiritual Disciplines is a means by which you put yourself in the position to receive God’s grace.
Grace in the New Testament generally refers to God’s gracious gift of salvation through Jesus. However, the word grace is not limited to salvation. Throughout the Bible grace is used in the sense of loving-kindness, showing favor, performing compassionate acts which arise out of affection and goodness. Grace is God’s unmerited and compassionate favor which He bestows, not because He must or is forced to, but because of His love for us. From my experience with the Spiritual Disciplines, I can say that through them I have felt God’s grace in my life.
Author Richard J. Foster wrote:
The apostle Paul says, “He who sows to his own flesh will reap from the flesh corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8). Paul’s analogy is instructive. A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is provide the right conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground, he plants the seed, he waters the plants, and then the natural forces of the earth take over and up comes the grain. This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines—they are a way of sowing to the Spirit. The Disciplines are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where He can work with us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God’s means of grace. The inner righteousness we seek is not something that is poured on our heads. God has ordained the Disciplines of the spiritual life as the means by which we place ourselves where He can bless us.[5]
The Spiritual Disciplines aren’t magic bullets which will change your life immediately; instead they are a way of life that puts you in the position to be transformed by God. They are a means to a deeper relationship with Him, to living as Jesus did. In fact, they include many of those things Jesus did when He walked the earth, such as prayer, spending time alone with His Father in quietness, fasting, sacrificial living, service to others, and more. It logically follows that if we want to be like Jesus, we would want to follow the example of how He lived, especially in regard to communing and connecting with His Father, and doing our best to serve as an example of God’s love and compassion to others.
There are three main avenues which God uses to help us grow into Christlikeness. The first is people—our loved ones, spouse, friends, coworkers, teachers, mentors, and even those who oppose us. All of them can be catalysts for change in our lives.
The second avenue of change is circumstances—the challenges we face, whether with health, finances, losing a job or getting a new one, moving locations, or any other things which require stretching and moving out of our comfort zones. God uses circumstances to bring change and growth to our doorstep. When He uses people and circumstances to bring spiritual growth, He is using outside influences which are generally beyond our control.[6]
The third avenue is the Spiritual Disciplines, which work from the inside out. While we have limited control over the outside influences and circumstances which draw us closer to God, the Spiritual Disciplines can generate change and growth from within. It’s each of us making a decision to take action for the purpose of inward spiritual change and growth. With the other two avenues, we have little choice or control; however, with the Spiritual Disciplines, we can choose to use them as a catalyst for growth, and we can choose which ones to practice and when.[7]
The disciplines which will be covered in this series are Bible intake, prayer, stewardship, simplicity, giving, wise use of time, fasting, solitude and silence, journaling, learning, confession, worship, celebration, service, fellowship, and evangelism. Different authors categorize the disciplines differently and some list additional disciplines. The ones that will be included in this series are those which most authors cover and which virtually all agree are considered Spiritual Disciplines.
How deeply we dwell in communion with God, how open we are to His influence, how much we choose to do His will, how dedicated we are to maturing in our faith, are things that we each decide. How important is your connection to the Lord? What are you willing to do about it? These are questions that only you can answer. But if you have the desire to dwell in Him and let Him dwell in you, to grow in faith, to be in the position where He can bring the spiritual growth you seek, then I suggest you practice the Spiritual Disciplines on a regular basis.
Using the Spiritual Disciplines is a private matter between you and the Lord. While there are some which should be practiced daily, such as Bible intake, meditation, prayer, and praise, there are others which are generally used less frequently. It’s up to you, in communion with the Lord, to determine which ones to practice and when.
While many great Christians of the past practiced the principles brought together in the Spiritual Disciplines, they aren’t reserved for those who have reached such spiritual heights. The disciplines are for everyday Christians like you and me. They are for mothers and fathers, those in the workplace, students, missionaries, and anyone who loves Jesus and wants God to be involved in their lives.
The Spiritual Disciplines that will be covered in this series are ones that I’ve selected from three prominent books on the subject: Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster, The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard, and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney.
The goal of this series is to bring about awareness of the Spiritual Disciplines, to provide a basic explanation of them so that you will have the tools in hand to strengthen your spiritual life and to help you reach your goal of being more like Jesus. It will also be a help to those of you who are teaching, ministering to, or discipling others, as you will have this means to teach them about the disciplines. My prayer is that you will find the Spiritual Disciplines a blessing to you and those you minister to.
(To read the next article in this series, click here.)
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).
[2] Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness (1 Timothy 6:11).
[3] Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment … (1 Timothy 6:6).
[4] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 21.
[5] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 7.
[6] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 18.
[7] Ibid., 18.
Copyright © 2014 The Family International.
03 “Signs of the Times” (part 2)
Book of the Future, Part 3
Book of the Future
Compiled from the writings of David Brandt Berg
1983-03-28
10/31/24“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25). The peoples of the earth are likened unto the sea and the waves in the Bible (Isaiah 57:20–21). So here Jesus is speaking symbolically of the peoples and nations of the world—their wars and rumors of wars and riots and terrorism—the waves of their various wars and conflicts and uprisings.
Is this happening today? Every time you turn on the television, it roars. Every time you turn on the radio, you can hear the waves of a new war roaring, a new riot, a new rebellion, a new revolution, more terrorism, more strikes—the sea of the peoples of the earth, roaring in the last days.
“And men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26). Do you know what is one of the greatest causes of death in the Western world today? Heart failure. I can remember, when I was younger, the days when people were not living in fear and terror. They might have been living in poverty and destitution and sometimes they might have been hungry, but they didn’t live in fear of getting murdered on the street or of being annihilated with an atom bomb in a nuclear war. But the atomic bomb put a pin in their balloon and created one of the world’s greatest problems: the awesome specter of a nuclear holocaust and the world’s most horrendous war.
Another prediction regarding the endtime has to do with the interest in the occult, psychic phenomena, spiritism, demonology, and witchcraft which the world is experiencing. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1–2). There have been all kinds of weird religions attracting wide followings, particularly among the youth. In their pursuit of genuine spirituality, many young people have gone into ancient mysticism, drugs, and the occult.
Another major sign of the very end predicted in the Bible is regarding a one-world government, led by a powerful superhuman anti-Christ dictator, which is going to arise in the last days of man’s rule on earth just before Christ returns to take over. The world’s going to have to have a tough dictator to rule a tough people! When lawlessness becomes rampant, it will be necessary to have a really tough totalitarian dictatorship to get things under control.
Regarding this soon-coming anti-Christ dictator, the apostle Paul wrote: “Now we beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (He said that then, 2,000 years ago.) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (of Christ’s Second Coming) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–4).
In the book of Revelation, this Antichrist and his government are referred to as a “beast,” whom all the world will wonder after and finally worship (Revelation 13). Everything that was prophesied in the Bible about all the various world empires down through history has all come true, so we know this last government of man will also come to pass. According to scriptures which we will study in detail later in this book, the Antichrist will reign for seven years: The first half will be a more or less general world peace as he consolidates his power and establishes his kingdom, and the second half will be 3½ years of “great tribulation” such as the world has never known.
The Bible gives us several specific glimpses into this final one-world government’s policies and methods to help us recognize it when it arrives. The scriptures show that he will make a seven-year pact or covenant of compromise and religious freedom in Jerusalem, and give the Jewish people permission to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. But exactly 3½ years after he has confirmed this religious covenant, he suddenly breaks the agreement and wants everybody to worship him as God or be killed. At that point he places the “abomination of desolation in the holy place,” which apparently is his image or idol erected in the rebuilt temple area in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15).
Jesus Himself said that when you shall see this Antichrist’s image, this abomination of desolation standing in the Jewish temple area, then will begin the last 3½ years of man’s rule on earth, a time of “great tribulation.” That’s going to be the first sign that you’re nearing the very end, the last 42 months of this age, and you’ll know that you’re only 3½ years from the coming of Jesus! He says that then shall begin the Great Tribulation, the last 3½ years of man’s history, the last half of the seven-year reign of the Antichrist. Jesus said that after that tribulation, you’ll then see the sign of the coming of the Lord in the air.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect (His church) from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29–31). Hallelujah! The glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ to resurrect and rapture His own!
In the next verse of this beautiful, prophetic, “signs of the end” chapter of Matthew 24, Jesus very simply and plainly tells us more about how we can tell when these final, tremendous, earthshaking events are about to happen: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matthew 24:32–33). He said that just as you see the blossoms of the trees and the flowers and you know that summer is coming soon, so you’ll know that His Coming is near when you see these different events which we’ve covered here come to pass. You say, “Most of them don’t sound like blossoms and flowers to me! They sound more like thorns and thistles and briars and horrors.” Not for us who love Jesus.
To us, all of these signs are flowers and blossoms and beautiful fulfilments of his prophecies and signs of His soon-coming—signs of the summer that is near, of the beautiful golden age, the springtime of the coming of Jesus and the springing up of His flowers from the earth, “the dead in Christ that shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)—the Resurrection. Spring is like a resurrection! Throughout the winter it seems as if everything is dead, but as it grows warmer day by day, life begins to spring from the earth. That which seemed to be dead arises and there’s a resurrection of the earth in the springtime.
“And when these things begin to come to pass”—when you see these things happen, even when they begin to come to pass, what does He tell us to do? “Then look up, and lift up your heads.” Don’t be discouraged; don’t look down! Don’t do what Peter did; don’t look down at the waves and start to sink. “And lift up your heads, for your redemption”—your salvation—“draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).
When all these terribly bad things begin to happen, start looking up, because Jesus is coming soon! “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:33–34). He wasn’t talking to His disciples back then, 2,000 years ago, because they didn’t see all these things being fulfilled. The generation that sees all these things will not pass away till all these things are fulfilled.
Many people never seem to sense impending doom or things that are about to happen until it’s too late. It reminds me of what Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees: “Ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3).
Most people just still go on, business as usual. Unwittingly, they themselves become a fulfilment of another prophecy about the latter days: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His Coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3–4). In other words, “There’s no danger! Business as usual.”
Just like Jesus said about the days of Noah, “They ate and drank, married and were given in marriage, and knew not until the flood came and swept them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37–39). Most people today are just going on, business as usual. “Oh, they’ve been preaching this business about Jesus coming for centuries, and He hasn’t come yet.” He is coming, and you’d better be prepared by having Him in your heart and believing in Him, or you’re apt to be swept away with the rest of the scoffers and procrastinators in the judgments of God that are going to be poured out after Jesus returns.
Noah preached to those unbelieving people of that wicked world for 120 years before the flood, and they never repented! They were probably waiting to see if it was really going to rain, if it was really going to happen, then maybe they’d climb on board with him. In the meantime, they laughed, sneered, jeered and persecuted him and his sons as they worked on that ship for 120 years. Then Noah and his family finally went in, and it says that God shut the door so that nobody else could enter (Genesis 7:16). And by the time it started to rain and rain and rain and began to flood, it was too late for that wicked generation, who were left behind to drown in the flood of their own iniquity!
The only hope is Jesus. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: No man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). He loves you and will forgive your sins and give you His love, His joy and His peace if you will just humble yourself and pray, asking Him into your heart. So receive Jesus today and prepare for His Coming by serving Him and telling others about His love, so that He may say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:21).
Copyright © 1983 The Family International
Godlessness in the Last Days
10/30/24 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
All Scripture Is Breathed Out by God
10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 ) while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:1-13) ESV
03 “Signs of the Times” (part 1)
Book of the Future, Part 3
Book of the Future
Compiled from the writings of David Brandt Berg
1983-03-28
When Jesus’ disciples went out from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives and asked Him, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?” He didn’t reply with only one sign, but with dozens (Matthew 24:3). In fact, His Word is full of specific “signs of the times”—signs of the last days, of the endtime, signs that you should look out for and expect, so that you will know when you are near the end, how near the end you are, and what is going to happen at the very end.
He has been quite generous in His revelations of the future. He has specified what the various endtime events will be and has even given us approximate timeframes leading up to the very end, which will climax in the Antichrist reign before the Second Coming of the true Christ, followed by the idyllic age of the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ here on earth, the kingdom of God on earth, all of which we will cover in detail in later chapters of this book. But for now, let’s examine some of the specific biblical predictions and prophecies regarding conditions and events during the last days of man’s current rule on earth, as foreseen by God’s prophets thousands of years ago.
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6–8). We’ve had these things for two millenniums since Jesus was here. He said they’re only the “beginning of sorrows.”
Although the world had never been completely free from war prior to 1914, until then, war had never been so widespread. From 1914 to 1918, with World War I, a world war was waged, and then again from 1939–1945, with World War II. In the latter, only 12 small nations of the earth were not actually or technically involved, and altogether 93 million people served in the armed forces of both sides. At the 21st session of the International Red Cross in 1969, it was reported that more than 90 million people had been killed in wars since the twentieth century began, over $2 trillion had been spent on arms, and 130 conflicts on five continents had been waged.
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). Never has the gospel been preached in all the world to all nations as much as it is being preached right now. If not directly by missionaries, travelers, and visitors, it is certainly being preached by the modern mediums of radio, television, and printed literature [and now the Internet].
The modern means of communication and transportation that make the fulfilment of the preceding prophecy evident bring to mind another prediction regarding conditions in the last days, given to the prophet Daniel in 534 B.C.: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4). Here the Lord is telling His prophet, who had just received some of the most detailed, specific, descriptive prophecies regarding the one-world Antichrist government in the entire Bible, “Daniel, I’m giving this vision to you, but it’s not for you. It’s not for your time and it’s not for your people. It’s for an endtime when many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.”
People’s means of travel—horse and buggy, wagons, camels, sailboats, etc.—hadn’t changed for thousands of years until just a little over 100 years ago. Until then, man still traveled in the same fashion that Adam traveled. He walked or rode an animal or something pulled by an animal. But in this very short period of time, mankind has advanced from a state little different from Adam’s to one in which a man not only drives at enormous speeds, but flies and even goes to the moon and beyond.
People travel more today than they ever traveled before. International tourism is a huge business, with millions of people traveling outside their own countries every year throughout the world. Cars today can travel at up to 300 mph, planes at 2,000 mph, and spaceships at 100,000 mph. A jet can fly around the world in 58 hours, a spacecraft can circle the world in 80 minutes, and in less than one second a radio message can reach the ends of the earth!
2,600 years ago another prophet actually foresaw, “in the days of the Lord’s preparation” (before He returns), our modern highways and their racing, raging automobiles: “The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of His preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings” (Nahum 2:3–4).
Imagine this prophet seeing a vision of future highways, our superhighways, and scores of cars speeding along with their headlights on at nighttime! Cars at night with their headlights must have looked like lightning to him. And they certainly jostle one another in the broad ways. Thousands of people are killed every year in auto accidents from this jostling.
“And knowledge shall be increased.” More has been discovered by science in the last 100 years than had been discovered or invented in the previous 6,000 years. Knowledge has been increased within this past hundred years almost beyond imagination, but much of the world still toils to try to scrape together enough to eat.
“Knowledge” has “increased,” but without God and without His Word, what good is it all if people have no purpose in life and no love of God and fellow man? Unwittingly, they’ve fulfilled another prophecy about the latter days: “This know also, in the last days, men shall be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:1,7).
By abandoning God, the Bible, and Christianity, and putting nothing in its place, life becomes just a meaningless, chaotic process of evolution! If there’s no God, then there’s no ruler. And if there’s no ruler, then there are no rules. And if there are no rules or laws, then nothing is either right or wrong. Chief Justice Fred Vinson of the U.S. Supreme Court summed things up perfectly when he said, “Nothing is more certain in modern society than the principle that there are no absolutes.” You cannot have any kind of order without some kind of moral basis, a code of conduct, a sense of right and wrong, of good and evil, of what’s right to do and what you shouldn’t do.
Things are not going to get better and better, as evolution purports. The Bible predicts just the opposite. “In the last days, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:1,13). In fact, Jesus Himself said that “as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37). In the days of Noah, the world was so bad that God was sorry He had even made it—sorry He had even made man. It says in Genesis, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:5,11).
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12). With today’s selfish and self-indulgent “me generation,” this prophecy by Jesus about the endtime is being fulfilled. Another passage of scripture regarding this is found in 2 Timothy 3:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1–4).
Abortion is one of the major sins of this generation. God says, “In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these” (Jeremiah 2:34). Such people today are not only “without natural affection,” but they have no respect for the sanctity of life, the holiness of life, God-given life, and are taking the lives of babies while they’re still in the stomachs of their mothers. (To be continued)
He Will Not Forsake His Saints
10/29/24 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.[b]
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices! (Psalms 37:3-7) ESV
Choose Well
A compilation
2016-10-11
It may surprise you to know that God likes you, His children, to make your own choices within His will. I know you delight yourself in the Lord most of all and want to do His will. But when we do, it is His delight to also give us the desires of our hearts, because He’s the one who puts them there when we’re pleasing Him.1 If we love the Lord with all our hearts, these personal desires are usually the right ones, because we only want to please Him. So your personal desire in the matter has a great deal to do with God’s will. He gives us what we want and have faith for.
But as my mother used to say, “When in doubt, don’t!” For as His Word says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”2 If you’re convinced in your own heart that it is not God’s will, you should not do it. If you’re not sure and do not know for sure, and have not yet made certain that a thing is God’s will, then the best thing to do, of course, in the case of uncertainty, is to wait on the Lord until He reveals it to you one way or the other.
Anything is possible, for with God nothing is impossible, for all things are possible to him that believeth.3 However, you must be personally sure that something is God’s will for you.
Time is the great tester, so I’d certainly advise you to wait until you’re sure. As Paul says, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”4 You personally must make the choice, and the decision is up to you and you alone. No one else can make it for you, not even God. Make your own choice.
God will give you whatever you want that’s good for you, because He loves you, and “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”5
God does not usually choose for us. We have to choose for ourselves, find His will for ourselves, seek Him diligently to know His will, and to know what is best through our knowledge of His Word and personal experience. This is why He put us here, this is what we’re here to learn, and the major part of our training: how to make the right decisions through our personal contact with Him, our knowledge of His Word and His will, and our love for Him and others.
The door is now open. Walk in where you will, by your own free and loving choice. Fear not, little one, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.6—David Brandt Berg
*
We make many choices in life. We’re each responsible to live according to what we feel called to do and what we feel God is asking of us. It’s often difficult to make important choices, those “mountain peaks of decision” that David talked about when he said:
There have been mountain peaks of decision with nothing but thin air between me and the next peak, and I had to take that step alone and trust God for the consequences, with no guarantee but God, no warranty but His Word, all other conditions being against it, all natural circumstances being opposed to it, the waves and the winds fighting against it. All I had was the hand of God. But He never let me down, even if He had to pick me up by that hand and lift me across to that next mountain peak without any visible, natural, normal, logical, reasonable means of help.7
During such times of decision, we need each other’s encouragement, and we benefit from relationships in which each party is supportive of the other. May we choose well and accept and appreciate the wonderful way He is guiding each of us, however that may be.—Maria Fontaine
Follow your heart
Introduction: In 2005 Steve Jobs gave the commencement speech at Stanford University. In commencement speeches the speaker traditionally passes on some wisdom for life that will help the graduating students commence the next phase of their life. Here are excerpts of his speech:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get here. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.—Steve Jobs8
*
The clock of life is wound but once
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
To lose one’s wealth is sad indeed,
To lose one’s health is more,
To lose one’s soul is such a loss
That no man can restore.
The present is our own,
So live, love, toil with a will
Place no faith in “tomorrow,”
For the clock may then be still.
—Robert H. Smith
Published on Anchor October 2016. Read by Jason Lawrence. Music by John Listen.
1 Psalm 37:4.
2 Romans 14:23.
3 Luke 1:37; Mark 9:23.
4 Romans 14:5.
5 Psalm 84:11.
6 Luke 12:32.
7 David Brandt Berg.
8 https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505.
Choose Whom You Will Serve
10/28/24 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
(Joshua 24:14-15) ESV
Choice
David Brandt Berg
1973-05-01
It may surprise you to know that God likes you, His children, to make your own choices within His will. I know you delight yourself in the Lord most of all and want to do His will. But when we do, it is His delight to also give us the desires of our hearts, because He’s the one who puts them there when we’re pleasing Him (Psalm 37:4). If we love the Lord with all our hearts, these personal desires are usually the right ones, because we only want to please Him. So your personal desire in the matter has a great deal to do with God’s will. He gives us what we want and have faith for.
But as my mother used to say, “When in doubt, don’t!” For as His Word says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). However, if you’re truly convinced in your own heart that a thing is God’s will, you should do it, no matter what anybody says. But if you’re convinced in your own heart that it is not God’s will, you should not do it, no matter what anybody says. But if you’re not sure and do not know for sure, and have not yet made certain that a thing is God’s will, then the best thing to do, of course, in the case of uncertainty, is to wait on the Lord until He reveals it to you one way or the other.
In the meantime, don’t let anybody else tell you that it is of the Lord and okay to go ahead, or that it is His will that you do so, if He has not said so. Just say you’re waiting on the Lord to know His will. Anything is possible, for with God nothing is impossible, for all things are possible to him that believeth (Luke 1:37, Mark 9:23). However you must be personally sure and not merely be swayed by others. It must be your own personal desire from the Lord, in which case it would be of God. However, even if such should be the case, there could still be many obstacles yet to hurdle, as you well know.
Time is the great tester, so I’d certainly advise you to wait until you’re sure of your own mind and heart and God’s will. As Paul says in that same 14th chapter of Romans, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). You personally must make the choice, and the decision is up to you and you alone. No one else can make it for you, not even God.
This is one of the mysteries of God’s will and His plan: That He hath bestowed upon each of us the immortal majesty of personal choice to do either good or evil. And strange as it may seem to some, it even pleases the Lord to give us our personal choice between several alternative goods, all within His will, if it is our personal desire, even as we would our own children in letting them pick out their own personal choice of a toy, or an outing, or a pleasure, as long as it is safe and good for them. This is one thing people don’t seem to understand about God: He really likes to give us our choice, even as we do our own children, as long as it is not something bad for us, or bad for others.
If your choice has not seemed to work out well, it could be that you made a mistake at that time and let others choose for you. Don’t let that happen again. This time, make your own choice. God will give you whatever you want that’s good for you, because He loves you, and “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). If it is good for you and those involved, He will be more than glad to give it to you.—Although sometimes He gives us the desires of our heart but sends leanness to our souls just to teach us a lesson and to show us that we made a foolish choice (Psalm 106:15).
So, contrary to popular opinion, God does not usually choose for us. We have to choose for ourselves, find His will for ourselves, seek Him diligently to know His will, and to know what is best for us and others through our knowledge of His Word and personal experience. This is why He put us here, this is what we’re here to learn, and the major part of our training: how to make the right decisions through our personal contact with Him, our knowledge of His Word and His will, and our love for Him and others. We must do what we know is right, and be willing to live and to die for what we know is the truth.
But as He says, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Be sure you’re right, and you know you’re right. Then go ahead and do what you know is right, no matter what anybody says, and not because anyone has said it, but because you yourself are personally convinced it’s God’s will, have established it in the mouth of many witnesses, and confirmed it through many leadings, signs, and other fruits and evidences. Follow His guiding Word to you to help you know what’s best. He likes you to seek it out and find it, so you yourself will know it’s right when you do it without a doubt.
Think of your own children or family. Think how you love them, and how you like to make them happy, as well as keep them safe and healthy, as long as they love you and delight themselves in obedience to your word, even giving them the choice of many things that are good for them. And remember that God is like that with you. That’s what He wants you to do and to have, to give you the desires of your heart, as long as you delight yourself in Him. But they must be the desires of your heart and not merely someone else’s—your choice and not only another’s.
May God bless and keep you and continue to make you a great blessing and give you every desire of your heart as you delight yourself in Him and His love.
The door is now open. Walk in where you will, by your own free and loving choice. It is His delight to give it to you. Fear not, little one, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). God bless you!
Copyright © May 1973 by The Family International
New and Old Treasures
10/27/24 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew13:51,52) ESV
Bible Basics for Witnessing
David Brandt Berg
1978-09-01
Why the Bible is important
The Bible is well known and a well-recognized authority. Most people have at least heard about it, and a lot of people respect it, and there are millions of people who believe in it. If you can quote the Bible to people, or if you can find the verses you are quoting or the proof in the Bible and show it to them, a lot of people will believe it.
Even for the people who may not believe it, the Word is powerful just the same and very convicting. “Sharper than any two-edged sword,” full of the power of the Spirit and very convincing (Hebrews 4:12). I’ve used the Bible with a lot of people who didn’t believe in God or the Bible at all, but it sank in and it drove home.
I hope you’re not neglecting your Bible reading and Bible studies. The letters I’ve written are like a commentary, explaining a lot that’s in the Bible and a lot that’s not. But these were given more or less with the understanding that you already knew the Bible and were at least familiar with the Word of God.
The Bible is an authoritative book, recognized and believed by millions, and a lot of people will accept it if you can show it to them in the Bible, that the Bible says so. They’ll believe it, or at least they’ll respect it, or they’ll stop and think about it and it will impress them in some way. So it’s important to at least be able to find the verses that you want to show people when you’re witnessing.
Most people have heard about the Bible, and a lot of people claim to even believe in the Bible. But we have found that most people, though they have heard about it, know about it and believe in it, don’t know it. A lot of people know about Jesus, but they don’t know Him.
The Bible is an absolutely inexhaustible source of wisdom and knowledge, out of which you constantly find “treasures new and old” (Matthew 13:52). It’s a marvelous book!
Faith comes by hearing the Word
If you get the Word down in your heart and you know it, it’s going to be a great help to you; but if you don’t even know it, how can you believe it? It’s almost hard for me to believe anybody’s even saved who doesn’t know or at least grasp John 3:16. If they don’t know one single scripture verse in the Bible, how can they believe? What do they believe?
You’re saved by believing the Word. “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). I believe anybody who’s really saved must remember at least part of John 3:16 or some scripture that gives them the essentials on salvation. They must know some verse on which they’re hanging their faith. They must know some verse by memory, or at least part of the verse, on which they’re leaning for their salvation by faith.
How can they be saved if they don’t know the Word? Paul goes into that and finally winds up with, “How can they believe if they don’t have the Word, because faith comes by hearing the Word!” So when your faith depends on your knowing the Word, it is very important for you to know the Word.
Witnessing
The way I used to teach witnessing was: First of all, ask questions; second, listen to the answers; third, give God’s answers; and fourth, get a decision.
It’s amazing how few people know how to witness. It’s amazing how many people want to preach sermons instead of witness. It’s amazing how many people want to reverse things, like some people do about prayer. Most people pray, “Hear, Lord, Thy servant speaketh,” instead of like dear Samuel, who said, “Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth” (1 Samuel 3:1–10). You get a lot further that way, listening to the Lord instead of talking so much that you don’t even have a chance to listen to what He has to say!
With most people, prayer is a one-way street, and they do all the talking and don’t have time to listen to God; and some people witness that way. I went door to door with a preacher who knocked on the door and the only way he knew how to witness was to preach a sermon. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together.” I mean, you’d think he was preaching to a congregation! The dear little housewife would come to the door and blink her eyes and wonder, “What in the world is going on, anyway? Here’s this preacher on my doorstep, and the baby’s falling out of the high chair, the dinner’s burning, and the wash is ready to be hung, and I’d like to hang him!”
So there are a lot of dos and don’ts in witnessing, but they’re mostly embodied in just those basic four things. How are you going to witness to somebody if you don’t know a thing about them? You don’t even know whether they’re saved or not, or whether they know the Lord or believe the Bible or believe in God or anything else. How are you going to know those things if you don’t ask them?
As a witness, you’re a soul doctor. You ask the patient what’s wrong: “What are your symptoms? What’s your problem?” Wouldn’t you think it was funny if you walked into a doctor’s office to tell him about your illnesses and problems and he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote you a prescription before you had a chance to open your mouth! That’s the way some people witness!
We know the Bible’s a prescription and we know it’s got all the answers, but how do you know you’ve got exactly the right one for that particular case unless you ask some questions? And what good is it going to do to ask the questions if you don’t listen to the answers? Sometimes it does people good just to talk. You might have to sit there and listen to them for an hour or two or more. And the more they talk, the more you learn about them and the better you’ll know how to talk to them in the long run.
You’re like a doctor to a patient, who listens to them give their symptoms and all their troubles and what their aches and pains are. As you listen, then you begin to diagnose what their principal problem is and what they really need.—What kind of prescription they need, what verse they need, what particular answers they need. The answers, of course, are all in God’s Word. So after you’ve heard all of their answers—which are not always the right answers—then you can give them God’s answers to their problems.
You’ve asked them and you’ve heard what they need, they’ve heard the answers, then you just simply get some kind of a decision. That’s witnessing in a nutshell!
The arithmetic of soul-winning
Dr. Chafer, the famous professor who got himself in trouble with Billy Graham and other evangelists by saying that a Christian who was a good witness for the Lord could win more souls to the Lord in his lifetime than evangelists, used to prove by statistics that if you faithfully witness and win at least one soul every six months and teach that soul in the next six months how to win another soul, that by the time your life was ended more souls would have been won than Billy Graham could ever think of winning.—Just by a simple process of personal soul winning and teaching others to win souls.
It’s like the old story of, “Which would you rather have, a hundred thousand dollars today or a penny on the first day of the month, two cents the next day, and then double it every day until the end of the month?” As I recall, you wind up with a total of over $10 million just by doubling those pennies every day.
If you would win one soul to the Lord at least every six months, one good firm salvation, and spend the next six months teaching him or her how to win other souls, and thereby you win at least two souls a year to the Lord, and each of your converts wins two souls a year to the Lord, and each of their converts wins two souls a year to the Lord—it would be possible to win the entire population of the earth in 16 years, believe it or not!
Copyright © September 1978 by The Family International
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
10/26/24 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[e] because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. (Romans 5:5:9-13) ESV
Why Sin Matters
Peter Amsterdam
2020-05-18
Sin is an important topic, since it affects the life of every human being and is what has caused the separation of humans from God. Thankfully, God, in His love and mercy, has made salvation from sin available to humanity through Jesus’ suffering and death.
Rufus Jones offers the following thoughts on sin:
Sin is no abstract dogma. It is not a debt which somebody can pay and so wash off the slate. Sin is a fact within our lives. It is a condition of heart and will. There is no sin apart from a sinner. Wherever sin exists there is a conscious deviation from a standard, a sag of the nature, and it produces an effect upon the entire personality. The person who sins disobeys a sense of right. He falls below his vision of the good. He sees a path, but he does not walk in it. He hears a voice, but he says “no” instead of “yes.” He is aware of a higher self which makes its appeal, but he lets the lower have the reins. There is no description of sin anywhere to compare with the powerful narrative out of the actual life of the Apostle Paul, found in Romans 7:9–25. The thing which moves us as we read it is the picture here drawn of our own state. A lower nature dominates us and spoils our life. “What I would, I do not; what I would not, that I do.”1
The most common Hebrew word used for sin in the Old Testament is chata, which is defined as “to miss the goal or path of right and duty, to miss the mark, to wander from the way.” The Old Testament also uses words translated as to break off (as in breaking God’s covenant), transgression of God’s will, rebellion, going astray.
The New Testament uses a variety of words when speaking of sin. These are translated as violate, transgress, overstep, miss the mark, go past, fall beside, failure, wrongdoing, deviate from the right path, turn aside, a deviation from truth and uprightness, unrighteousness of heart and life, lawlessness, ungodliness, unbelief, rebellious disobedience, and falling away.
Some definitions of sin from theologians are as follows:
Sin may be defined as the personal act of turning away from God and His will. It is the transgression of God’s law … the violation of God’s command. It is the turning away from God’s expressed will.2
Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.3
While God has expressed His will and moral law through the Bible, there was a time when the Bible didn’t exist. There are also many who haven’t heard of it or read it, or don’t know that it contains truth about God and His will. However, all throughout history humans have inherently known God’s moral law to some extent, as God has embedded it in the heart of each person.
“When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.”4
While many people do not specifically know the moral laws of God as expressed in Scripture, everyone has a basic understanding that murder, stealing, lying, etc., are wrong, which is evidence of an overall moral consciousness that humans have. This understanding is often referred to as natural law or moral law and is contained within the Ten Commandments.5
Because humans have intuitive knowledge of the moral law within them, they have a sense of what is right and what is wrong, of moral accountability. Their conscience “bears witness.” God’s expressed moral law and will in Scripture, and each person having an intuitive knowledge of the moral law and a conscience that bears witness when they break the moral law, means that all humans—whether they know Scripture or not—are aware that they fail to conform to or that they deviate from the moral law, and that they are doing wrong.
The first sin
When Adam was told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God didn’t give him a specific reason why he shouldn’t eat it, only that there would be serious consequences if he did. Adam was in a position to show his willingness to obey God’s commands, to submit his will to the will of his Creator. It can be seen as a test of whether he would allow God to determine what was right or he would undertake to determine this for himself.
Adam and Eve’s first sin shows the essence of sin. They resisted God’s will and would not subordinate themselves to it, but rather chose to do what they felt was in their best interest. They wouldn’t let God decide what was best for them.
Louis Berkhof explained it like this:
The essence of that sin lay in the fact that Adam placed himself in opposition to God, that he refused to subject his will to the will of God, to have God determine the course of his life; and that he actively attempted to take the matter out of God’s hand, and to determine the future for himself.6
Instead of accepting that God was their Creator and as such they were subordinate to Him, they yielded to the temptation to put themselves in the place of God. God had said that if they ate of the tree, they would surely die. The serpent told them they wouldn’t. God had told them what was true, yet they disbelieved God’s word; they questioned who was right.
The decisions Adam and Eve made to not subordinate themselves to God, to not accept His determination as to what is right, and to not believe Him, are emblematic of the root cause of the specific sins of individuals throughout the history of humanity. Every human is tempted to sin just as the first humans were, and every human yields to that temptation. In doing so, each of us has acted toward God in the same manner that Adam and Eve did.
Prior to this first sin, Adam and Eve lived in harmony with their Creator. They enjoyed His fellowship; they trusted and believed Him. Their freewill decision to disobey God changed that, not just for themselves but for all of humanity. This sin resulted in the fall of man, and humankind hasn’t been the same since.
Humankind stands guilty of sin before God due to Adam and Eve’s sin being imputed to all, and due to our own individual sinning. As sinners, we are separated from God; we physically die and stand guilty before Him and deserve punishment for our sins.
God, in His love for humankind, made a way for humans to be forgiven, to be reconciled with Him, and to be spared from His wrath.
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned … For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”7
Being reconciled to God through Jesus, being forgiven for our sins, being redeemed, is the greatest gift one can receive—a personal gift directly from the hand of God. It not only changes our lives today but for eternity. It is a gift that each of us has received, and that we have been asked to pass on to others. It’s the good news we are commissioned to tell others about, so they too can be freed from sin’s grasp and can become children of the eternal, loving, gracious, and merciful God.
Originally published September 2012. Adapted and republished May 2020.
Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
1 Rufus M. Jones, The Double Search—Studies in Atonement and Prayer (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1906), 60–61.
2 J. Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology, Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 222.
3 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 490.
4 Romans 2:14–15.
5 Exodus 20:13–17.
6 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1996), 222.
7 Romans 5:12, 17–19.
God Is Love
10/25/24 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7,8) ESV
REGARDLESS OF YOUR RELIGION, race, nationality or social status, your heart is the same as other people’s hearts around the world. The desire and need for love, peace and happiness is universal. These are longings that God has placed within each of us. Even though the world we live in is becoming more complex and confusing, the answer to our most pressing problems is the same now as it has been for every age and generation: Love— true love, lasting love, God’s love. What everybody needs is love! This is still God’s solution. It’s so simple: If we love God, we will have His love in our hearts, and we will love and care for each other. I T IS PEOPLE’S REJECTION of God’s love and His loving laws that has caused most of the evils and troubles in our world. For when we truly love God and our neighbors, we won’t mistreat them; we will do to others as we would want them to do to us. We will do what we can to help those who are in need, those who are suffering. This is why Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love—to first of all love God, and then to love your neighbor as yourself. In fact, He said that these two simple laws fulfill all the laws of God. MANY PEOPLE WILL CONTEND, “But I don’t believe in God!” Yet if you were to ask them if they believe in love, most would reply, “Of course I believe in love!” Well, if someone can believe in love, they can believe in God, because according to the Bible, “God is love.” God is not only love, but Jesus added, “God is Spirit.” He is the great Spirit of love who created the beautiful world and vast universe in which we live. He is almighty, far beyond our limited understanding. So to show us His love and to help us understand Himself, He sent His own Son to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. All Jesus did was talk about love and show love to others. Then finally, in love, He gave His life for you and me, so that we could have God’s love, forgiveness, and free gift of eternal life. “For God so loved the world [you and me], that He gave His own Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in Him should never die [be separated from God’s love], but have everlasting life.” God loves you so much that He gave Jesus to die in your place, to take the punishment for all the things that you have done wrong. You just need to simply believe and receive Him. SO IF YOU EVER FEEL that you don’t have enough love, maybe it’s because you haven’t yet found God’s love. There is an empty spot in each heart that only He can fill, that nothing else will truly satisfy. If you would like Him to fill that place in your life, ask Him to, and He will. Just confess that you’re not perfect, that you have made mistakes, and that you need God’s forgiveness. The Bible tells us, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” We have all done or said things that are wrong, so we all need to be forgiven, because without forgiveness of sin, we remain separated from God’s perfect love. But through Jesus, we receive forgiveness and salvation: “The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ.” Jesus promised that if you open up your heart and ask Him to come into your life, He will answer your prayer. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door [of your heart], and knock: If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.” You can receive Jesus by praying a simple prayer like the following: Dear Jesus, please forgive me for all the wrongs I have done. I want to know Your love, so I now invite You into my heart. Come in and help me to love You and others. Amen. God bless and make you a blessing to others. If you would like to find out more about how His love can change hearts, read the beautiful story of Jesus in the Gospels of the Bible, This tract may be freely reproduced and distributed in any language in this format, so long as the text is not altered. Art by Hugo Westphal. Text by Michael Roy. What Everybody Needs Is Love! (TFI copyright)
Some Will Depart from the Faith
10/24/24 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
(1 Timothy 4:1-5) ESV
Why does it say in 1 Timothy 4:1 that some will depart from the faith?
Answer
As part of Paul’s instructions for preparing Timothy to lead and appoint leaders in the church at Ephesus, Paul warns him that some will depart from the faith: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared” (1 Timothy 4:1–2, ESV).
Paul uses the Greek word apostesontai, which means “to be apart from, depart from, or stand apart from.” It’s the source of our English word apostasy. In this case, those departing are leaving “the faith.” Instead of holding to the sound teaching that is part of the faith that is in Christ Jesus (as Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 3:13), these people are choosing to follow a different path and listen to different voices.
Those who depart from the faith in the last times will choose to listen to deceitful spirits and doctrines or teachings of demons. They will follow false teaching that sounds convincing and is intended to deceive. These falsehoods are carefully devised; their design is to deceive people from following the faith. Those who depart from the faith are following liars with “seared” consciences. Their consciences are burned; the false teachers, who are mouthpieces for evil spirits, are dull to their own hypocrisy and unscrupulous behavior (1 Timothy 4:2).
To ensure that Timothy understands, Paul provides him with a couple of specific examples. The false teachers of the last times will forbid marriage and abstain from foods that God has permitted (1 Timothy 4:3). Those who will depart from the faith will be deceived by a kind of legalism. No longer will these people focus on the grace of Christ or the faith that Jesus authored and perfected (Hebrews 12:1). Instead, they will attempt to regulate behavior in contradiction to the freedom God has provided.
In the immediate context, Paul explains how some people will depart from the faith, but not exactly why. However, in 1 Timothy 6:3–5 Paul offers an explanation of why a person might choose to follow falsehood. Paul notes that one either agrees with the “sound instruction” of Christ or becomes “conceited and understand[s] nothing.” A teaching that differs from the apostle’s doctrine does not comport with godliness (1 Timothy 6:3). Paul further explains that these who depart from the faith have an unhealthy interest in controversies and disputes (1 Timothy 6:4). The result is envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction. Such is the condition of those who are depraved of mind and deprived of truth (1 Timothy 6:4–5).
The warning, then, is that we ought to hold fast to the sound words—the words of Jesus Christ. Paul cautions Timothy to “watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them” (1 Timothy 4:16). Before Timothy could encourage others to hold fast to the faith, he needed to guard himself against hypocrisy. Only then could he teach well and encourage others not to depart from the faith. Despite all efforts, some people will depart from the faith, and Timothy ought to carefully prepare to deal with such people. The preparation involved being above reproach himself and being equipped with the sound words of Christ and grounded in the teachings of the faith. (GotQuestions.org)
Luke 21
Antichrist Tribulation and Second-Coming Salvation
David Brandt Berg
1981-03-26
10/23/24 Welcome to another Bible study of the prophecies of God’s Word regarding the endtime, the last days. We’re going to read Luke 21, beginning with verse 20. Jesus is speaking:
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.”
“For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.” Whose wrath? The wrath of God.
Verse 24: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” This passage sounds a great deal like Matthew 24.
How long shall Jerusalem be trodden down at this time? You say, “That happened a long time ago when the Romans took over Jerusalem and destroyed it and the Temple, and they cast out the Jews into all nations of the earth, and led them away captive.” He’s saying that that will happen.
But He’s using exactly the same terminology in this passage that He used in the passage in which He describes the invasion of Israel by the Antichrist forces. In this case, instead of saying, “When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place,” He says, “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
First it has to be compassed with armies and desolated because of its rebellion against the world government of the Antichrist, who then sets up his image, and then follows this time of great trouble such as was not since the world began. Not only for Israel, but for all people of whatever religion worldwide, because the Antichrist will insist that the whole world worship him and his image then.
They shall fall by the edge of the sword, be led away captive, and there’ll be a terrible time of trouble. Here’s a key in these words in the middle of the 24th verse: “And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” In Revelation 13, where this same terminology is used, we are going to see exactly how long the Gentiles are going to tread down Jerusalem until their time be fulfilled.
He’s talking in this 13th chapter about a beast that rises up out of the sea, the sea of humanity, “having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy” (Revelation 13:1). We’ve already seen this beast in Daniel 7 in various forms, and here he is a combination beast with all the great world powers depicted in one great beast with seven heads, the seven great world empires that have come and gone upon the stage of history from the days of earliest Egypt to this last one of the Antichrist.
The ten horns are upon the last head. In a following chapter it is made clear that the ten horns are ten kings who cooperate with this beast in his last form, his seventh head, the Antichrist. They are ten great world powers, kingdoms who cooperate with the final great world leader, this devil-man, this Satan in the flesh, the Antichrist. “Upon his horns ten crowns, upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” He’s anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-religion, and demands that the whole world worship him as its God.
Third verse: “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast.” This dragon is that old red Dragon, that same ol’ boy that’s been causing us trouble ever since the Garden of Eden. He was called the serpent then; now he’s called a dragon.
Revelation 12, verse 9: “That old serpent Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.”
In this 12th chapter he was cast out of heaven into the earth, so now he’s come down to earth to create hell on earth. “For he knoweth that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12). He’s only got three and a half years left to do all the damage he can possibly do. So he personally possesses the Antichrist, this world leader, and from then on it’s literally the Devil ruling the earth, and it’s hell on earth.
“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast?” (Revelation 13:4). The world is waiting for a superman, a god-man who can solve their problems, answer their questions, heal their economic ills, unite their politics, end their religious squabbles, stop all the wars, and bring permanent peace and union to all nations.
“Who is like unto the beast?”—this Antichrist. “Who is able to make war with him?” He’s apparently got vast military might by this time. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” (v. 5). As far as the religions of the world are concerned, he’s going to be totally blasphemous against their gods and against God Himself and Christ Himself.
How long is this situation going to last? “And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months” (Revelation 13:5).
In the 11th chapter of Revelation, verse 2, John says that he is told to measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. “But the court which is without the Temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles. And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” Three and a half years. There it is again, exactly what He said back in Luke 21:
“They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (v. 24). They will conquer and capture Jerusalem and Israel. The Antichrist forces will invade and conquer Israel because of its rebellion against the Covenant, and the Antichrist will set up his capital there, and he himself will sit in the temple of God, as God, proclaiming that he is God. For 42 months, or three and a half years.
Verse 25: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.” The peoples of the earth are sometimes likened unto the sea and the waves.
“Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (v. 26). You know what is one of the greatest causes of death in the U.S.? Heart failure! And it is often caused by anxiety, tension, pressure, and all these words which are summed up in one little four-letter word: fear.
“For the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (v. 26–27). When is Jesus going to come? After the Antichrist has invaded Israel and taken over Jerusalem and trodden it under foot for three and a half years, 42 months, or 1260 days, according to the Jewish calendar.
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads” (v. 28). Don’t be discouraged, don’t look down; don’t get down in the dumps. Don’t do like Peter did: look down at the waves and start to sink. Look up! Don’t look out, because the outlook is very bad. Don’t look down, because that’s even worse! But look up.
“And lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” When all these terrible things begin to happen, start looking up, because Jesus is coming soon! As He said in the 27th verse, “They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” So when these things begin to come to pass, “then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”
When you see a fig tree begin to blossom, you know summer’s nigh, so He said when you see all these things begin to happen, you’ll know that His coming is soon. “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (v. 31).
Verse 32: “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.” When you begin to see all these things happen, when you hear about the Antichrist making a religious Covenant in Jerusalem, know that the end is near. He will give religious freedom to all religions if they’ll support him, and allow the Jews to rebuild the Temple on Mount Moriah. He will allow the Muslims to preserve the Mosque of Omar, and no doubt even let them erect a Christian church there to symbolize the world’s three greatest religions in their holiest place upon the face of the earth. He said, “When you see these things happen, you’d better start looking up, because I’m coming back very soon.”
Then the Antichrist breaks that Covenant in the midst of the seven years, at the end of the first three and a half years. He gets fed up with religions; he gets fed up with their squabbles and fights and controversies. Even though he’s done everything he can to try to please them with the internationalization, inter-religionisation of Jerusalem, they’re still not happy. They still cause him all kinds of trouble, and he finally decides the best way to solve this problem is to just get rid of them all.
He says, “I’ll set myself up as God. I’ll put my statue there on Mount Moriah in the midst of their temples, and we’ll abolish all other religions. There’ll only be one world religion, just as there’s now one world government under me. They can worship me as their god! That’ll solve all these religious problems.”
But when the Jews and the Christians and the Muslims rebel, he has a lot of trouble. “A time of trouble such as has never been, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). The time of Jacob’s trouble, the time of the Great Tribulation for the last half of his reign, three and a half years. God’s Word says when you see these things happen, look up, because your redemption draws nigh!
When you see all these things come to pass, “know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. This generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled” (Luke 21:31–32).
“What do you mean the kingdom of God is nigh at hand? I thought the kingdom of God is already here, within us. What does it mean that this generation will not pass away till all be fulfilled? Those apostles and disciples are dead, and it never happened.” He’s not talking about them. Of course they’re dead! They weren’t the generation that saw all these things happen and all these things fulfilled.
It’s the generation that sees these things fulfilled, that generation shall not pass away until all these things shall be fulfilled. And He says when you do see all these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws nigh.
Our complete salvation of spirit, soul, and body will be here when there will be no more death, no more pain, no more fear, no more sorrow nor crying nor sickness, and we’ll have perfect bodies and “spirits of just men made perfect” as our redemption is completed when Jesus comes (Hebrews 12:23). We’ll rise to meet Him in the air, whether out of the grave or from the surface of the earth, and out of this horrible time and this awful world with its hell on earth led by the Devil and his angels.
Copyright © March 1981 by the Family International
The High Priestly Prayer
10/22/24 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. (John 17:1-4) ESV
There Are Absolutes
David Brandt Berg
1975-12-01
The whole principle of modern education is that there are no absolutes; nothing is sure, nothing is certain. That’s the way history is now too. “We used to say history was absolute, but now we’re not sure it was that way at all. We’re not sure of anything!” The whole idea is to say, “It ain’t necessarily so.”
They’ve destroyed faith in the Bible, God, history, and His creation. You see, if there are no absolute quantities, then there are no answers and things are not necessarily right or wrong.
It’s the same idea as destroying faith in God. If they destroy faith in God, that there is a God, then how can there be any right or wrong, because there’s nobody to make the rules? If there’s no God, there’s no ruler, there are no rules, and if there are no rules or laws, then nothing is either right or wrong.
Look how they’ve attacked each major field that proves the evidence of a perfect God. The first thing they attacked was religion itself. The subtlety of the attack on religion was that there was no necessarily right religion, therefore there was no necessarily wrong religion. Various religions were just religions, probably fabrications of man anyway, so how could you say which was right or wrong?
In other words, there were no religious absolutes. The whole idea was aimed at destroying faith in God. “They are just manmade creeds.” These broad-minded greatly tolerant ones could now say, “Now your religion may not be good for me, but maybe it’s okay for you.” You know that condescending attitude: “But since there is no God, there is no really right religion or wrong religion, and no religion can make laws for anybody else.”
It all goes back again to the godless premise that if there is no ruler, there are no rules, and if they can prove there are no rules, then they can debunk God—prove there is no ruler. If they can prove each of these fields is imperfect, then they claim they can prove that the perfect doesn’t exist—therefore God doesn’t exist.
Outside of God’s creation proving the existence of God, mathematics proves the order of the universe. Math proves there is rhyme and reason to things.
History is another thing which really proves the existence of God—God’s laws of retribution, the rise and fall of empires because of either righteousness or wickedness. This is one of the surest proofs there is of the existence of God and the rules, including fulfilled prophecy. So what did they have to do with history? They had to debunk history. This is still a favorite occupation of some historians, to claim that what we thought and heard all our lives that these [famous] characters were really like, they weren’t like that at all.
They did the same with music, to where music didn’t have to have harmony, it didn’t have to be pleasant, so that there was no such thing as good or bad music, because there were no rules. “Since there are no rules, you’re not breaking any when you have disharmony and noise.” So they abandoned the laws of music, too.
Look at art: Modern art doesn’t even have to mean anything. It doesn’t have to make any sense—no meaning, no order. See, if you can destroy the meaning, if you can prove to people there’s no meaning to a thing, then there’s no order, no purpose, and there’s no plan, therefore, there’s no planner.
Both art and music used to follow very strict laws to produce real beauty, but both art and music have abandoned the rules; they’ve thrown away the laws.
In the same way they attacked creation: They had to try to prove there was no order to things, no laws, no plan, no purpose. Therefore, there was no planner or anybody that gave orders. Therefore creation just became a meaningless chaotic evolution. “It all just happened by accident.” Everything which had any rules or order or plan or purpose, proving that there is some kind of ruler who makes the rules and gives orders and plans things with a purpose—everything that had any order or plan or rules to it had to be attacked to destroy any faith in the absolute and therefore in God!
In every field of science, math, art, music, history, philosophy, and religion, they have tried to destroy confidence and faith in the absolute to try to shake your faith that there is anything sure, anything that is necessarily so or true or right. The whole theme song is: “It ain’t necessarily so. The things that you read in that Bible, they ain’t necessarily so. Beginning with the Bible, that ain’t necessarily so; and history, it ain’t necessarily so; religion, it ain’t necessarily so; and philosophy ain’t necessarily so.” They’ve gone right on down the line through everything—“creation ain’t necessarily so; music, art, none of them, are necessarily so, because there ain’t no so. There’s nothing that’s true, so there is no truth,” in other words.
Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus answered him and said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). So if nothing is so, then nothing is true, then there is no truth and no Christ! So to disprove the existence of God, they had to disprove the existence of truth and rhyme and reason, order, plan, laws, rules, etc.
In the United States they had a whole generation who grew up under progressive education in the big cities, who were taught the progressive way of learning to read in which they used no phonics, no phonetics, no alphabet. You didn’t even necessarily have to learn how to pronounce the word. All you had to know was what it meant, if it meant anything, and of course, it didn’t necessarily mean that. So language also no longer had any absolutes or rules. You couldn’t prove that a word really meant what it said; maybe it meant something else. Maybe one thing to one person, another thing to somebody else. So a whole generation of high school students arrived in college and couldn’t read or write!
To abandon the ruler they had to throw away the rules! To get rid of God they had to get rid of the absolutes—the right and the wrong and the meaning and reason for things. Drunkenness is not drunkenness—it’s now a mere disease called alcoholism. Violations of sexual laws are no longer sins; they’re mere perversions or aberrations.
A revolutionary education today would be back-to-God education, and that’s really revolutionary in this modern day and age! Back to God in creation. Back to real faith in religion, back to creation in science, back to a plan in history, beauty in art, harmony in music, laws in learning to read, right and wrong in behavior, and order in government and God in everything—the Creator of all things, the designer of everything, the planner—so that life again means something.
For God is the only one who can give a real meaning to living. Let’s get back to God in our education, in every subject in every field. I taught school for years, and I brought out God in everything, showing there was perfection in all things and that the perfect one had a hand in the creation of all, and there was a reason for everything.
Back to reasoning, back to a pattern for existence made by a divine Designer who makes the plans according to rules, brings about order, and who gives meaning to the universe and purpose to the planets, and love to our hearts and peace to our minds, and health to our bodies and rest to our spirits, and happiness to our lives and joy to our souls, and the wisdom to know that “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), and that mere knowledge is not enough, but how to use it is more important for the glory of God.
We must see God in everything to give it meaning, reason, purpose, plan, design and a goal, and peace and order and a design for living given us by the great Designer in His rules and laws, rights and wrongs and absolutes, without which there can be no peace and no order and no happiness.
Thank God for the absolutes and the rules of the Ruler, that we may know the difference between right and wrong and therefore find happiness through His love and His loving laws and reasonable rules. May God help you to “know Him, whom to know is life eternal (John 17:3). And absolute!
Copyright © December 1975 by The Family International
1 Thessalonians: Chapter 4 (Part 2)
1 and 2 Thessalonians
Peter Amsterdam
2023-03-14
10/21/24 Having covered the topic of sexual immorality in verses 3–8,1 Paul moved on to address another problem that had arisen in the Thessalonian church.
Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.2
Paul began by commending the Thessalonian believers for their brotherly love. Normally, brotherly love is used to describe fraternal love, the love between members of a family. It wouldn’t be used to describe those outside of the family circle. However, Paul used the word to express the relationship between Christians who have become brothers (and sisters) in the community of faith. Paul refers to the believers as brothers 17 times in 1 Thessalonians.
The New Testament term brotherly love describes the relationship the Christian believers have because of their common faith in Christ. Other examples in the New Testament include:
Love one another with brotherly affection.3
Let brotherly love continue.4
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.5
The command to love one another was a key point of Jesus’ teaching, as He called His disciples to imitate the kind of love which He had given them.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.6
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.7
These things I command you, so that you will love one another.8
Jesus’ teaching to love one another was a theme that was repeatedly taught by His disciples.
This is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.9
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.10
This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.11
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.12
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.13
Because this teaching was available to the Thessalonians, Paul could rightly say you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.14
That indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.15
The second reason that the Thessalonian Christians didn’t need to receive further instructions about brotherly love was because they were not only showing love to their fellow Thessalonians, but they also extended that love to Christians who lived throughout Macedonia. They were extending love beyond their home church to those of other churches in the area, likely those in Philippi, Berea, and possibly Amphipolis and Apollonia.16
Paul doesn’t specify the ways in which the Thessalonians have shown this mutual love for all the Macedonian believers. It may be that Paul was referring to the economic aid that the Thessalonians provided for the needy Christians in their region. In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote:
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.17
Back to chapter 4:
… and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.18
Here Paul puts the focus on those in the church who were dependent on patrons for their financial livelihood. Many of these patrons were wealthy members of the believing community who typically gave financial support to their clients, who in some cases were also members of the church. The clients affiliated themselves with the patrons in hope of receiving benefits such as food and representation in return for demonstrating public honor and support for their patrons. The more clients a patron had, the more important they were perceived to be.
Paul made the point that rather than participating in the patronage lifestyle, the Thessalonian believers should busy themselves with their own work so that they would no longer be dependent on others for their livelihood. They were to work with their own hands as they went about their own work so that they could provide their own needs.
That was exactly what Paul and his companions were doing. While Paul was a missionary, he was also a tentmaker. Although he could have lived off the donations of those he ministered to, he chose not to take advantage of this right. In the book of Acts, Paul made the point that he supported himself through his work as a tentmaker.
I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.19
So that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. Because some of the Thessalonian believers were involved in the affairs of the city and were economically dependent on their patrons, they didn’t contribute to the needs of the church and the Christian community. Paul’s solution to the problem was that they step back from participating in the affairs of the city, step out of the patron/client system, and instead take up honest labor so that they would be free from dependence on their patrons. Paul was calling the Thessalonian Christians to conduct themselves in a manner which would bring them respect rather than their being beholden to a patron. They should be seen as solid members of the local community and conduct themselves as upstanding citizens. Along with this, Paul instructed them that they should not be dependent on others for their livelihood.
Up until this point in this chapter, Paul referred to things that the believers already knew. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus;20 we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you;21 you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.22 At this point, however, Paul moved on to a different subject: the question of what will happen to “the dead in Christ.”
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.23
It seems as if the Thessalonian believers were somewhat deficient in their knowledge regarding believers who had died. Likely they hadn’t received sufficient teaching on this topic, so they asked Paul some questions regarding Christians who had passed away. Paul used the metaphor asleep for those who had died, but a few verses later he speaks of those who have passed on as the dead. The dead in Christ will rise first.24
The reason Paul didn’t want the believers to be uninformed about the Christians who had died was so they wouldn’t grieve as others do who have no hope. Paul wasn’t saying that believers couldn’t grieve when their loved ones passed on; rather, as one author wrote:
Their grief should be tempered and informed by the hope they held, based on the resurrection of Christ and the promise of his coming.25
Paul goes on to say:
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.26
One of the fundamental beliefs of the church was/is that Jesus died and rose again. Paul was probably quoting from a creed which was in circulation among believers and was used in the Thessalonian church at that time. The death and resurrection of Jesus was put forward as the guarantee of the resurrection of believers.27
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.28
Paul begins this sentence by stating that this teaching was inspired by Jesus (“a word from the Lord”), and because of this it is authoritative for Christian believers. In the Old Testament, the “word of the Lord” generally referred to the prophetic oracles. Some examples are:
The word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest.29
Now the word of the LORD came to me (Jeremiah).30
The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri.31
However, in the New Testament, the word of the Lord isn’t used that way. Rather it refers to the message of the gospel which is proclaimed.
This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.32
And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.33
For some reason it was important for the Thessalonians to know that when Jesus returns, the believers who were alive would not have precedence over those who had already died. Paul states that the dead in Christ will be raised first; then the living, along with the raised dead, will be taken up to meet the Lord. This would have been comforting to the Thessalonians in their grief.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.34
In the previous verse, Paul referred to Jesus’ coming. The Greek word for such a coming was parousia. This is a term which generally meant the glorious “coming” of a sovereign (a supreme ruler) or ruler visiting a city. Such visits were cause for great celebrations including banquets, speeches praising the visitors, religious activities, competitions, sacrifices, and dedications of statues, as well as the construction of arches and new buildings. On such occasions, the city officials and the people of the city would wear special clothing and would head out of the city to meet the sovereign and to escort him into the city.
Paul used this concept of parousia to describe Jesus’ coming and the glory and pomp which will accompany His return, as well as to reassure the Thessalonians that all Christians, both those living and those who have died, would take part in this wonderful event. Jesus’ return will not be a secret. First, there will be a cry of command. We’re not told who issues the cry of command, but it may refer to God the Father, who issues the order for the dead in Christ to rise.
Jesus’ return is accompanied by the voice of an archangel. We’re not told the name of this archangel. However, within the New Testament there is only one archangel named, the archangel Michael in Jude 1:9.
When the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”35
There is only one other angel named in the New Testament, the angel Gabriel, who was sent to Mary, the mother of Jesus.36 However, angels are referred to 83 times in the New Testament.
The third great sound is the sound of the trumpet of God. Trumpets in Paul’s time were not used primarily as musical instruments; rather, they were used in military exercises and events such as funeral processions. In this case, the dead will hear the great sound of the trumpet call of God and they will respond to the command to rise. Both here and in 1 Corinthians 15:52, the trumpet of God is the call for the resurrection of the dead. In Matthew 24:31, the trumpet of God is what calls together the dispersed people of God.
When the sound of the trumpet of God is heard, the dead in Christ will rise first. Not all the dead are raised at this time; only those who have received salvation through Christ before they died. Paul wanted to make it clear to the Thessalonians that the believers who had died will rise and will participate in the Lord’s return. They will not miss the opportunity to be present when Jesus returns.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.37
After the dead have risen, then the living Christians will be joined together with those who are raised, and together they all will go out to meet the Lord, at the time of His parousia. This glorious event is also often referred to as the “rapture.” Paul’s reference to we who are alive likely indicates that Paul and his partners expected to be alive at the parousia. From Paul’s perspective, the primary group is those who are resurrected, who are then followed by the living. When the two groups are joined together, they all will be caught up together. Hearing that both the dead and living would be caught up in the clouds would have been a revelation to the Thessalonians. As one author says:
Never had such a glorious event been contemplated.38
To meet the Lord in the air reflects the custom of sending a delegation from the city to receive dignitaries who were coming. An example of this is found in the book of Acts, when Luke describes how the delegation of Christians from Rome went out to receive Paul and his companions as they approached the city.
The brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us.39
In writing about meeting the Lord in the air, Paul makes the point that it is the bodies of the resurrected believers and the living believers, and not just their souls, who will meet the Lord in the air. He doesn’t explain how this will happen, but from this and his other writings he makes it clear that he expects a transformation of the human body to a state of immortality.
Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.40
Someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.41
The end of this process, the resurrection and being caught up in the clouds, is stated in the final sentence, and so we will always be with the Lord. Scripture tells us that believers’ souls are united with the Lord at the time of death.
I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.42
We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.43
Therefore encourage one another with these words.44
The Thessalonians grieved over the death of some members of their community. Added to that grief was their concern that the dead might be excluded from meeting the Lord when He returns. Paul shared a revelation in this letter that they could use to comfort each other. At Christ’s return, all believers, whether dead or alive, will be united with Jesus, our King and Savior, where we will always be with the Lord. How wonderful!
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1 See 1 Thessalonians: Chapter 4 (Part 1).
2 1 Thessalonians 4:9–10.
3 Romans 12:10.
4 Hebrews 13:1.
5 1 Peter 1:22. See also 2 Peter 1:7.
6 John 13:34–35.
7 John 15:12.
8 John 15:17.
9 1 John 3:11.
10 Galatians 6:2.
11 1 John 3:23.
12 1 John 4:7.
13 1 John 4:11.
14 1 Thessalonians 4:9.
15 1 Thessalonians 4:10.
16 Acts 17:1.
17 2 Corinthians 8:1–4.
18 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12.
19 Acts 20:33–34.
20 1 Thessalonians 4:2.
21 1 Thessalonians 4:6.
22 1 Thessalonians 4:9.
23 1 Thessalonians 4:13.
24 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
25 Gene L. Green,
26 1 Thessalonians 4:14.
27 Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14.
28 1 Thessalonians 4:15.
29 Ezekiel 1:3.
30 Jeremiah 1:4.
31 Hosea 1:1.
32 Acts 19:10.
33 Acts 13:49.
34 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
35 Jude 1:9.
36 Luke 1:26–27.
37 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
38 Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 226.
39 Acts 28:15.
40 Philippians 3:20–21.
41 1 Corinthians 15:35–37.
42 Philippians 1:23.
43 2 Corinthians 5:6–9.
44 1 Thessalonians 4:18.
Copyright © 2023 The Family International.
1 Thessalonians: Chapter 4 (Part 1)
1 and 2 Thessalonians
Peter Amsterdam
2023-02-28
10/20/24 In the fourth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he begins the first sentence with the word “finally”—an indicator that he’s transitioning to a different subject.
Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.1
Paul was addressing the Thessalonian believers, whom he called brothers (the Greek word used is adelphoi). Some translations use brethren,2 while others use brothers and sisters.3
He used the phrase we ask and urge you. Often this phrase was used to make a request; however, when it was used in exhortations such as this one, the meaning was much stronger—a closer translation might be “beseech” or “entreat.” The form in which Paul addressed the Thessalonians wasn’t particularly familiar or personal, but was somewhat diplomatic, with personal notes added in. He made the point that the authority behind his teaching was given through the Lord Jesus. Throughout this and the following chapters of this epistle, Jesus’ divine authority is put forward as the basis of Paul’s teaching.
Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to make continual progress in their spiritual growth. They had already applied some aspects of the instructions they had received from Paul and his companions, and now Paul was exhorting them to progress even further, that you do so more and more. The message Paul had given them was God’s call to salvation (2:13), but it also included the teaching that was to be a guide for their moral conduct. They were to continue to walk and please God, just as they were already doing, but even more and more.
Paul reminded the Thessalonian believers what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus (v. 2). Throughout the first part of this letter, Paul urged the Thessalonians to recall what they already knew (2:5, 11; 3:4; 4:2, 4) and to practice it. The instructions they had received were not just vague guidelines; they were “commands” or “orders.” When the Thessalonians accepted Paul’s teaching as the word of God,4 they were obligated to obey it. They knew that the instruction he gave was through the Lord Jesus.
At this point in the letter, Paul was focused on the sexual ethics of the Thessalonian believers and the instructions that he was giving them.
This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.5
Paul began by saying that the believers’ sanctification was the will of God. At a number of points in the New Testament, the “will of God” signifies God’s moral plan which should be put into practice. Doing His will is the counterpoint to being carried along in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. The moral will of God for the believers was put forth by Paul in the teaching the Thessalonians had received from him. As Christians today, we face the same moral choices of following God’s moral plan or succumbing to the popular culture of our day.
Paul made the point that the believers should be sanctified, as an important part of God’s plan. The apostle Peter made the same point when he wrote:
As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”6
The sanctification of the Thessalonian believers is Paul’s main concern, as seen in the phrases this is the will of God, your sanctification (4:3); that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness (4:4); and God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness (4:7).
Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians echo the decree of the Jerusalem council, where James said, My judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality.7 The believers were to avoid sexual immorality, which meant any kind of sexual relation outside of heterosexual marriage, whether it was fornication, adultery, homosexuality, incest, prostitution, or bestiality.8 In verse 4, Paul states that each Thessalonian believer was to control his own body in holiness and honor. To do this, they were to abstain from sexual immorality (v. 3).
In speaking about passionate lust, Paul referred to the wantonness and lack of restraint of the Thessalonian nonbelievers. Paul also referred to such lust elsewhere in his writings.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.9
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.10
As new Christians, they had come out of idolatry through belief in Jesus, and they were called to show their new faith and their new community by their changed lifestyle. They were no longer to engage in the sexual conduct of their contemporaries.
In verses 3–5, Paul covered the general problem of “sexual immorality”; however, in verse 6 he addressed the specific issue that caused him to write this section. Members of the Thessalonian church were committing adultery amongst the believers. Paul’s instruction was that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.11
Sexual excesses were common in Greek society, including married men committing adultery. Believers were not “to wrong” or transgress against other believers by having sexual relations with their spouses. Paul reminded the Thessalonians that this wasn’t the first time he had addressed this issue. The members of the Thessalonian church could not claim ignorance, as they had been warned about these matters.
The Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.12
Having written of the negative consequence of judgment for sexual immorality, Paul reminded the Thessalonians of the positive benefits of not indulging in adultery and other sexual sins.
God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.13
Impurity is the opposite of holiness or sanctification. It can mean either ceremonial or moral impurity, depending on the context. Here, sexual impurity is the context. Elsewhere in Paul’s writings, he writes against sexual impurity.
Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.14
Rather than the sexual impurity that the Thessalonians previously practiced, they now were meant to pursue holiness in their lives. Paul makes this point again later in this epistle when he writes:
May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.15
God called them to His service, and as believers, they were to align their conduct with His calling.
Whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.16
Paul strongly makes the point that his teaching on sexuality came from God and expressed God’s will. He states that if someone ignored or treated this message as unimportant, they were not just rejecting Paul and his teachings, but were rejecting God Himself. It may be that some of the Thessalonian believers questioned Paul’s authority and therefore questioned some of his teachings. Some may have distinguished between his teaching of the gospel, which they considered divine teaching, and his moral teaching on sexuality, which they rejected as coming from a man. Paul, however, reminded those who were selectively choosing what to believe and what to reject that they were disregarding God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
This brings us to the end of the first topic Paul wrote about in chapter 4. As the chapter continues, Paul moves on to another topic, which will be covered in the next article.
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1 1 Thessalonians 4:1–2.
2 KJV, NAS, NAU.
3 NIV, NLT, TNIV.
4 1 Thessalonians 2:13.
5 1 Thessalonians 4:3–6.
6 1 Peter 1:15–16.
7 Acts 15:19–20.
8 Gene L. Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 190.
9 Romans 1:24.
10 Colossians 3:5.
11 1 Thessalonians 4:6
12 1 Thessalonians 4:6.
13 1 Thessalonians 4:7.
14 Ephesians 5:3.
15 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
16 1 Thessalonians 4:8.
Copyright © 2023 The Family International.