TLP Inspiration: 5/14/18

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Don Merritt

As a new week begins…

…each of us will face its challenges. There will be circumstances that develop, circumstances over which we may not have any control, circumstances that we simply cannot fix or that are bigger and stronger than we are. Some will surmount those situations and circumstances; others will be swept up by them− which will it be for you?

There were two boats sailing in the bay. A stiff wind swept into the area blowing in the direction of the rocks and away from the harbor. The pilot of one of the boats was taken closer and closer to the rocks, its pilot having great difficulty controlling his course as the wind blew him closer and closer to disaster. Yet the pilot of the other boat adjusted his sails and set his course against the wind toward the safe harbor, for he knew that a good sailor can use the wind and sail against it. The minutes went by as one boat approached its end on the rocks and the other approached the safe harbor…

When all was said and done, the first sailor was lucky to have survived, and the other wrapped up an enjoyable day of sailing.

As we begin this new week, we can either be wrecked on the rocks of our circumstances or we can let God direct our course into the safe harbor of His loving arms, for just as two boats can sail in opposite directions in the same wind, we can move in opposite directions in response to our circumstances. In the case of sailing, the difference is training and skill. In the case of our life’s circumstances, it is seeking God’s presence that makes the difference.

Which way will we sail this week?

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Sunday Sermon Notes: May 13, 2018

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Don Merritt

Title: The Best News I’ve Ever Heard

Text: Ephesians 4:7-16

  1. Spiritual Gifts and the Character of God

Spiritual Gifts go a long way in revealing the character of God. So, before we get into our lesson, let’s have a look at what they will reveal to us about God. To begin, consider the following:

  1. God is generous

He is a generous God: He gives us gifts beyond our own human potential, power and abilities.  To put it another way, He is a generous giver to provide things for you in life that will enable you and I to travel farther in life, to enjoy life more, do more in life, to have greater impact, and to experience more joy and fulfillment than we could have ever known without Him.

  1. God is creative

God created all of these gifts; they are His idea. He initiated all of these gifts and He chooses the individual who receives the gift and how it is manifested through them.

  1. God is industrious

God is on a mission.  He has a purpose and a plan, and the gifts are tools to accomplish that, and He is allowing us to help.

  1. God has given gifts to His people

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”

Ephesians 4:7-8

Our God, who set aside the glories of heaven and came down here to the earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, did a great deal more than just to provide for our Salvation.  Yes, I know that sounds a little strange, but He actually did. He had a plan, a really big plan, to build His Kingdom on this earth, and as incredible as it may seem, He wanted each one of His followers, you and me, to have a role in building it to achieve His Purpose for creating Mankind. Doing that rises beyond human limitations, and to ensure that we could each play our parts in this great project, He gave each of us a spiritual gift to help us through.

(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (4:9-13)

Can you see His plan in these verses? He spread His gifts through the Body of Christ, so that some would teach and train others, while still others would fill supporting roles, so that when each does his part, the Kingdom is built up.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (4:14-16)

As each one of us does their part in building up the Body of Christ, we all become mature followers of Christ, no longer infants in the faith, but strong, mature and steadfast people who can withstand the perils of this life. We will be sustained in His love, steadfast in His strength and guided by His wisdom as we carry though our lives in Christ. I don’t know about you, but to me, this is the best news I’ve every heard anywhere… and we haven’t gotten to our glorious eternity yet!

 

Posted in Sunday Class Notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TLP Op-Ed: 5/12/18

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Don Merritt

Another interesting week

As each new week begins, I have ideas for this column, but by the time comes for me to write it, I have to toss my ideas in favor of events I’d rather not write about; this week is no exception. Back on Monday President Trump finally announced what we knew he would do sooner or later and pulled the US out of the ill-advised Iran nuclear deal crafted by the previous Administration. As one would expect, certain people cheered while others jeered and “Death to America” sounded in the streets as usual in Iran.

Oh yes, and news coverage was overwhelmingly negative against Trump, as it always is.

Quite a few pundits observed that nobody would ever enter a deal with this country again, that we cannot be trusted ever again, and that the upcoming North Korea talks were doomed. The New York Times demanded to know where the Secretary of State was, calling him AWOL when he didn’t appear at Mr. Trump’s announcement.

Where was the Secretary of State anyway?

Then we find out that Secretary Mike Pompeo was in North Korea sitting across the table from Kim Jong-un making final arrangements for the release of three Americans being illegally held in North Korean work camps. I can’t help but remember that certain members of the Foreign Relations Committee refused to vote for Mr. Pompeo’s confirmation recently because they said he would rather go to war then negotiate with other nations. Anyway, the three Americans flew home with Mr. Pompeo and were greeted upon landing by none other than President and Mrs. Trump when they arrived at Joint Base Andrews at 3 am.

Of course, Mr. Trump’s critics said that showed weakness…

Later that day, President Trump publicly thanked Mr. Kim for releasing those three Americans, saying that it was a very good thing, and his critics accused him of praising a dictator. Then the date and location for the upcoming Summit was announced, and Mr. Trump’s critics said he would likely give away the store, because nobody will ever trust him again because of the Iran deal. To Mr. Trump’s critics I ask… How about his tie, did he have the right tie on when he made the announcement? I thought it was kind of weak; did you miss an opportunity?

Hold on… didn’t these same people say that Trump was a war monger who was trying to cause a world nuclear war− and now he’s going to give away the store for peace?

How about Mrs. Trump’s shoes… don’t you think her shoes were a bit off for the welcoming at the airport, that maybe they sent the wrong message? Oh dear, have the critics missed another opportunity?

By the way, has it occurred to Mr. Trump’s critics that he pulled out of that Iran deal because it was Mr. Obama who was willing to give away the store for a deal, and not Mr. Trump?

Time will tell, the US and North Korean Summit is now scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. We cannot know what the outcome will be, but we can be sure of this: Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi will denounce it, and press coverage will be overwhelmingly negative, as the “Blue Tide” continues to fade away…

Posted in TLP Op-Ed | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

TLP Inspiration: 4/12/18

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Don Merritt

The Bread and Life

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35

The day before He said these words, Jesus had fed the five thousand, and now they wanted Him to do it again. But Jesus had not come to earth to be a meal ticket; He had a much more important mission than that.

In the ancient Near East, bread was a symbol of life, for if you had a loaf of bread, you would not starve that day; Jesus was intent of giving Himself so that Mankind could live not for a single day, or even a week, but for all eternity. Yet, there is a catch!

We must go to Him in belief; we must accept the gift of grace He offers.

Most of the people who had gathered on that day long ago did not accept His gift, yet it is still available to us today… will we receive it? Each person must decide that for him or herself in this life. For those of us who have accepted His gift of eternal life already there is a second question to be answered: Will we share the gift, or will we keep it for ourselves only?

Of course, all who read this already know their answer: Who will we share Jesus with today?

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Study 3

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Don Merritt

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Do we believe the Word of God? If we do, then we must see that it is not just letters, words and phrases printed on a page. No sir, it is alive in the Person of Christ.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-4; 14

When we go to God in prayer, whose presence do we enter? Gee, that’s an easy one, the answer is right in the question: God’s presence. If the living Word was one with God, and prayer brings us to the presence of God, why would we think it’s a good idea to leave God’s presence to study His Word?

Prayer and Study have always been taught as two distinct spiritual practices; maybe we should think differently and combine them instead. I presented our look at Prayer in two different ways, one more formal and traditional, and the other less formal and less traditional, although far from new. Both are good and I recommended both of them in concert, and now I’ll suggest combining them with our study time.

So we pray, and then we study. Let’s not forget to ask God to direct us in our study, to open His Word to us, to give us the fullness of His Word.

We read slowly through a passage and come across something that seems odd to us: What is that supposed to mean? We look up other passages, we grab a commentary and look it up or Google it… Did we ask God for the answer? If you’re like me, I probably didn’t, after all, I’m a trained professional and went right to the Hebrew or Greek and applied my knowledge and training and experience… O wretched man that I am!

None of those steps is wrong or bad, by the way, only the attitude is a problem.

Just ask Him!

Even better is this approach: Pray the Word.

Take the actual language of the Scriptures and put it into your prayers along the lines of the prayer approach I discussed in Prayer 4 (Tuesday).  Pray it in short phrases, thank God for His Word, praise Him for what you’ve seen, move on and repeat the process and you’ll get the hang of it. As you come across something you are not sure about, just continue on and ask God to reveal it to you. Relax your mind, ask Him again and thank Him for His amazing Word. Don’t be too surprised when the part you weren’t clear about suddenly pops into your head. If it doesn’t, that’s OK, for often there is something else He wants you to see, and the answer to your question comes along another time.

After an answer comes is when I want to go to my study aids to see if I can confirm the answer that popped into my mind. Let’s be honest, sometimes we only get the answer we wanted to hear, and that might just be our minds playing tricks on us. Usually in those cases, I know I’m wrong about it…

With a little practice, you may well find that the Word of God is a much deeper source of treasure than you had imagined; it’s worth a shot in any case.

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Matter is Resolved

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Don Merritt

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

As we all know by now, Paul has been defending his apostolic ministry since chapter three, and this passage is his conclusion; or maybe I should more accurately say the epilogue. When you come right down to it, the conclusion of the persuasive defense was in the last passage, for here we have more about the result of the matter than a final appeal.

Everyone was now happy.

First, let’s recap the events: Paul spent a significant amount of time in Corinth preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and working with the new believers there to build a church. After that he went to Ephesus where he remained for a long time. While in Ephesus he kept in touch with the church in Corinth and sent at least one letter there. Later, they sent a letter to Paul asking about a number of things they were having trouble with and Paul wrote back answering their questions and adding his thoughts on a few things they hadn’t asked about; we call that letter 1 Corinthians.  Pail had plans to return to Corinth for a visit…

Then, word reached Paul that a group had arisen, mostly from outside of the congregation, in opposition to Paul, apparently telling the people there that Paul had mis-taught the gospel, taken advantage of them and was apparently attempting to abuse their contributions made for the church in Jerusalem. I think we can infer that these allegations became rather personal: Paul went to Corinth to confront his accusers, and that confrontation wasn’t pretty; things were said, emotions rose… Paul went to Macedonia.

From Macedonia, Paul shot off another letter to Corinth, a letter containing some pointed comments. Paul, who had expected to meet up with Titus in Troas, was very grieved; Titus was not there or anywhere in Macedonia. The people in Corinth were also very grieved; what had they done?

Finally, Titus appears on the scene and he was able to report that the Corinthians had come to their senses, dealt with the troublemakers and repented entirely of their little rebellion against Paul. As a result, Paul is all the more impressed by the Corinthians, for they have come to see a mistake and they had rectified it themselves: Harmony was restored and everyone is happy again. Then, Paul sent another letter, we call it 2 Corinthians.

Reading though the text we have already seen quite a few lessons to apply to our own times. Yet there are a few more we should consider…

First, there are a lot of people who would like to sow chaos in the church, and we must not allow ourselves to be misled by them.

Second, Christians should not take church advice from non-Christians.

Third, we are all human, and even the best and most mature among us are susceptible to being carried away with emotion: Be careful what you say to people.

Fourth, when there is a real threat to the unity of the church, deal with it sooner, not later.

Fifth, when we realize that we have made a mistake, admit it, repent and move on in the Lord, don’t worry about saving face.

Sixth, always remember that in Christ, forgiveness is the default setting.

I’m sure I can come up with a few more, and by all means, feel free to chime in with your own thoughts if you’d care to. For me the bottom line is this: Even in the first century when churches had direct communication with the apostles, they had problems. People made mistakes, people said things they shouldn’t have, and had their feelings hurt. Yet they faced their issues, they repented when they needed to, and they forgave when they needed to; it was never perfect, it was never easy. Yet they persevered and built the Kingdom, and their legacy is with us to this very day, a legacy of purpose, of hope and of life, and we should thank God for them and follow their example as best we can in the Lord.

Posted in Bible | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Study 2

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Don Merritt

As a Theology Professor, I was pretty good at teaching Scripture from a purely academic perspective; it was my job after all. I would never denigrate academics, quite the opposite, in fact. Yet in the academic environment, I had the nagging realization that we were doing an excellent job of training the next generation of teachers of the law, but not such a great job of teaching and training men and women to be ministers of the gospel. You see, dear reader, there is a fine line there, between placing our faith and trust in our own knowledge and academic skills, and placing our faith and trust in God, and the two kinds of faith are not the same thing.

Now that I am no longer in that environment, when I come across a student who is preparing for the ministry, I encourage them of course, but I also warn them about this peril. Some see it right away, others are quite sure that I have gone utterly mad… par for the course, I suppose.

A few years back I met a young Seminary student who was so very bright. He could cite chapter and verse for most any subject, he could give a philosophical analysis of everything, he knew pretty much everything. He was so very confident in his knowledge, in his analysis, in his insight. However, it quickly became obvious that he had no conception that anything he had learned about the teachings of Scripture had any relevance whatsoever to daily life. Actually, he wasn’t even entirely sure that he was a believer, but he was sure that he was going to be a Professor of Theology one of these days.

And he probably will, and that is the danger I’m talking about.

We can all study the Scriptures as an academic discipline, but the study of Scripture as a spiritual discipline is something different. Of course it is important to have a fundamental knowledge upon which to grow spiritually, but our foundation is built upon Jesus Christ who is the Person of the living Word. Our foundation as Christians is not built upon the letter only, and that is where many go wrong.

Traditionally, many of us have been taught that to grow in the Faith, we need to spend time in prayer and in the Word; that we need to go to Sunday School and be in worship every Sunday. I’m not going to say that this statement is wrong, but I will say that it isn’t nearly good enough.

Here’s what I mean:

Prayer and Study are two different spiritual practices, and that is how it has been taught for over a thousand years, but they need to be done together. Sunday School isn’t a bad thing; I’m actually teaching an adult class right now. Yet it has one great flaw, do you know what that is? There is no contemplation or concept of anyone ever graduating. Since no one graduates from Sunday School, it simply cannot be something that makes disciples for Christ, because the whole point of making disciples, is to train people to become makers of more disciples. This, Sunday School as we’ve traditionally understood it, delays indefinitely true discipleship, and that must stop.

As for attending corporate worship on Sundays, I think we should all be doing that. I realize that some have had a bad experience in the past and may not wish to attend again. I get that one, and please know that I have seen quite a lot over the years, and some of it hasn’t been very pretty. I have seen congregations that I would never recommend to another person, yes. However, I have also seen congregations that were beyond amazing. Please don’t let the bad behavior of another flawed human keep you from worshipping God in another congregation: Forgive your errant brothers and sisters and move on in the Lord. Otherwise, you let those people hurt you over and over again; ask God for the strength to forgive and move on, and I am confident that He won’t let you down.

I also realize that plenty of people simply cannot find a congregation that lives up to all of the person’s exacting requirements; oh, how often I’ve heard that one. Please remember that the rest of us are no more perfect than you are and be willing to forgive us our inadequacies. I’m sure you can find a group that will welcome you and be willing to forgive your inadequacies in return.

I’m sure you’re wondering what all of this has to do with spiritual practices, and that’s a fair question right about now. All of this has to do with the way we approach things, with our attitudes about spiritual things. In our next post, I’ll show you what I mean in practice.

Posted in Christian Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

A Warning

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Don Merritt

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16a

I have heard sermons in the past that used this text to teach that Christians should not marry unbelievers, but wouldn’t that be a funny thing for Paul to get into in a defense of his apostolic ministry? More to the point, wouldn’t there be a potential conflict with his instruction in 1 Corinthians 7:10-14 in which he told the people not to abandon their unbelieving spouses?

Hmm… What is old Paul up to here?

Paul’s wording is interesting: “yoked together”. There are similar references in two other places, Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:10. In Leviticus, different kinds of animals aren’t to be mated together; in Deuteronomy, two different kinds of animals are not to be yoked together to plow a field. To me, particularly since Paul has not given any of his usual hints that he’s changing the subject, the Deuteronomy reference makes a lot more sense than understanding this as a new unit about marriage. Remember, this section began in chapter 3 with outsiders coming into the church to convince people of a host of accusations against Paul…

Oh yes, he is referring to two kinds of animals plowing a field…

So, Paul is going back to the situation that led to the whole problem that broke out in Corinth and nearly destroyed the whole church there, when non-Christians used lies and slanders to attack him, and by extension, Christianity, while in their midst. With this understanding, the rest of this chapter is easy to follow. In our verses above, he uses a series of contrasts to illustrate his point. I should mention that Belial is a name that appears nowhere else in Scripture but was used numerous times in Jewish non-Scriptural literature of the times as a direct reference to Satan.

To support his position, Paul cites three Old Testament passages, and then concludes:

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

2 Corinthians 7:1

To be holy means to be “set apart”. For the church be holy, it must be set apart for God; that is what it means to live in holiness. Being set apart is not to be better than everyone or to be self-righteous and speaking harshly about other people. Rather, we are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves. However, it does mean that the church should not allow itself to be led astray or heavily influenced by non-believers. I have no doubt that the Corinthians who received this letter would happily testify to the disaster that this error caused in their midst.

As we continue, Paul will express his great joy that the Corinthians have repented of the mistake, the mistake he has just been talking about.

Posted in Bible | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Photo of the Week: May 9, 2018

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Don Merritt

Posted in Photo of the Week | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Study 1

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Don Merritt

The Spiritual Practice of Study goes back several thousand years and thus it shouldn’t seem like a new idea to anyone. It can take many forms and can be both an individual and group practice, yet for our purposes in this survey, I will approach the individual side of study rather than the group application. As an individual practice, study is most often approached on a more or less academic basis by most people, and for good reason. Who can argue with the assertion that it is essential for us to have a good foundation in Scriptural understanding?

There is, however, a potential danger to this approach, for most of us, in seeking to gain a fundamental understanding of the Scriptures, don’t consult the Scriptures, but instead, consult other works about the Scriptures. As a result, we learn theological doctrine, and only then open the Scriptures to find passages that confirm the teachings we have learned, usually to the exclusion of passages that may contract those teachings.

There is no substitute for reading the Word of God directly.

If you are new to Bible study, it may seem a daunting task at first, but I can assure you that it is not as difficult as it may seem when you begin; here are a few things you should know from the outset.

First, the Scriptures are the written record of God’s revelation of Himself to Mankind. Did you catch that? The written record of God’s revelation of Himself to Mankind.

Second, the Bible is a published volume containing the Scriptures; the terms are similar, but not the same.

Third, when you see the word “version” in the name of a Bible, it means “translation”. They are not different collections of the Scriptures, they are different translations of the same Scriptures from their original Hebrew and Greek texts into English… or whichever language you prefer. Thus, when you see for instance the “King James Version” (KJV) or “New International Version” (NIV) they refer to two different translations, one done in 1611 at the command of King James of England and Scotland, and the other done in the late 20th and again in the early 21st centuries. These are only two popular examples, there are many, many others. Normally, I use the NIV here on the blog, although I use several translations in my own study, as well as the original languages, including the KJV. Usually, I don’t teach in King James, however, because it is written in the language of Shakespeare, which few us understand well today.

Fourth, the Scriptures, also called the Word of God, are not like other writings. The Word of God is much more than a collection of old stories, ethical passages, rules and teachings, for the Word is alive and is one and inseparable from the Person of Jesus Christ. While knowing the facts is a very good thing, coming face-to-face with Jesus Christ is the main thing, and should be the goal for any study of Scripture.

Fourth, since getting into God’s Word is the main thing, if you aren’t sure where to start, read a chapter a day. Take your time, this isn’t a race. Start with Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. Before you begin, ask God to guide you, to open the Scriptures to you, to reveal Himself to you and then read slowly.

We are all busy people, but over many years, I have noticed something about busy people: They find time for the things they really want to do, so you can find the time to read God’s Word, and if you can’t find the time, then you can always make the time if you want to; simply schedule it as a daily “to do”. I’m confident that in time, like me, you’ll be glad you did it.

Next time, we’ll take a different look at the practice of study; see you then!

Posted in Bible, Christian Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments