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That No Human Being May Boast

1 Corinthians 1-4

Today we read in 1 Corinthians about division in the Church.  Corinth was the Las Vegas, the Sin City, of the Roman world.  Any and every sinful, wretched, filthy, debauchery of man could be found in this city.  With that kind of negative influence around you it would be hard to live a blameless life.  Still, Christianity was planted here and began to grow if not weakly due to its surroundings.  In Paul’s writing to the various churches we can see that some were more spiritually mature than others.  The Corinthian church seems to have been the least mature of the bunch.

Paul mentions in the passage we read today that the Corinthians are spiritual babies needing to be fed on spiritual milk rather than spiritual meat.  One of the problems they struggled with was unity in the body of Christ.  It seems that some in the church claimed to follow Paul while others claimed to follow Apollos or Cephas (Peter).  Interestingly, Paul inserts in the middle of his discussion on division in the church a discourse on wisdom.  He says in effect that God makes the worldly wise man a fool.  What seems like wisdom to the world is but foolishness to God.  I picture a bunch of men in the Corinthian church attempting to argue for their point of view in what would appear to the world as wisdom but in reality is foolishness born of spiritual immaturity.

Today the church is horribly divided with each denomination thinking they have it exactly right and that all other denominations have it wrong.  Some even think that if you don’t agree with their position you are not saved.  They develop learned arguments to support their point of view and by worldly standards are very wise.  Of course this is all foolishness to God.  There is no division in the Body of Christ – there is only spiritual immaturity in the Body of Christ.  That is not to say brothers that the theological issues that separate us are unimportant; some of the differences are critical, but we must work all the harder to be reconciled to each other.  We cannot compromise on the Word of God, but we must be patient and approach discussions on the issues with love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  On things that are open to interpretation we must be very careful and not trust in worldly wisdom, for we may discover that we have become fools.

In the end all will be revealed – God’s wisdom and our foolishness.  I’m sure all of us will find that we were mistaken on a point here or there and God has made this so for a very specific purpose – “that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

Have a blessed day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

The Words Of Wisdom

Proverbs 7-9

J. Vernon McGee said in his commentary “Thru the Bible” that the book of Proverbs is written as if to a young man starting out in life.  I do see that analogy as I read these Proverbs.  For example:

Proverbs 7:1-3

“My son, keep my words
and treasure up my commandments with you;
keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.”

The words “My son” give us this sense of someone instructing a young man.  In this case, however, the writer is using a literary devise which projects Wisdom as the speaker.  Now we know that Wisdom is not a person who can actually speak.  Solomon had to sit down and write these words for the anthropomorphized creature called Wisdom.  There my friends is a challenge for Christian men today.  Who will provide the words for Wisdom?

There are two kinds of men reading this blog today, those that need to be mentored and those that need to do the mentoring.  The problem is we never stop needing a mentor and so many of us who could mentor others are busy looking for someone to mentor us.  I would like to suggest that at some point in your spiritual growth you will hit a wall that can only be surmounted by mentoring someone less spiritually mature than yourself.  I remember an instructor once telling me that once I learned my lessons I need to go and teach them to someone else.  Doing so, he said, would help me truly own those lessons.

Some of you need to find a spiritual mentor that can speak wisdom to you.  Others of you need to find someone to mentor so you can continue to grow spiritually.  Christian men are suffering today for lack of mentoring relationships.  If we are to stand together as a light in this very dark world then we must start seeking out these relationships.  We must be willing to mentor others even when we feel we still need mentoring ourselves.  If we don’t, the words of Wisdom will go silent.

Have a blessed day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Wisdom

Proverbs 1-3

The book of Proverbs pops up at this point in our chronological reading plan because we have advanced in time to Solomon’s reign and he is the author of this book.  That is why, in addition to reading 2 Chronicles and 1 Kings which cover Solomon’s reign, we have also read a few Psalms, the Song of Solomon, and will read Proverbs and Ecclesiastes which were written by Solomon.  He had asked God for wisdom and God gave it to him in spades.

Solomon wrote about various aspects of life.  In Song of Solomon he wrote about marital love.  In Ecclesiastes he wrote about folly.  In Proverbs he wrote about wisdom.  I’ve heard it suggested that Proverbs provides a picture of a young man starting out in life.  The wisdom being shared is intended to guide his feet upon the wisest course.  Whether you are just starting out in life, however, or well along in years, Proverbs provides wisdom for all of us.  I remember hearing Dave Ramsey, the Financial Peace guy, say that he reads a proverb every day.  There are 31 of them so it almost breaks down to reading the book every month.

Guys, the entire Bible is about wisdom.  I think it makes good sense to read the Proverbs on a regular basis and I’ve just started reading a Proverb a day with my daughter as part of my attempt to train her up in the way she should go.  That said, let us not forget the wisdom of the rest of the Bible.  Just reading a Psalm or Proverb every day is not enough; it is only part of a well-balanced spiritual diet.  We must read all of the Bible for it gives us that well rounded wisdom that leads to eternal, joyful life.

Have a blessed day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

True Wisdom

2 Chronicles 1, 1 Kings 3-4, Psalm 72

David is dead.  The reign of Solomon has begun and it is well begun at that.  His father David prepared for his ascension to the throne materially, philosophically, and spiritually.  God came to Solomon and asked him what he would like and Solomon answered that he would like wisdom with which to rule the people of Israel.  This showed that, at the beginning, Solomon’s heart was in the right place.  This is what God cares about most my friends – the heart.  It does not matter what you say.  It doesn’t even matter what you do.  The condition of your heart is what matters.  You can do and say the right thing for the wrong reasons and it will carry no favor with God.  If you stumble though your heart is in the right condition, however, He will not hold it against you if you sincerely ask for forgiveness.  Look how God responded to Solomon’s request.

2 Chronicles 1:11-12

“God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”

We learned just the other day that the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord.  We know that in this context the word fear means great awe and respect for God.  To desire wisdom is to desire a right relationship with God.  In the verse above we see played out what Jesus said about God meeting our material needs:

Matthew 6:31-33

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

In seeking wisdom Solomon was seeking God which resulted in the rest being added to him.  Solomon started on the right foot.  He is the author of the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and many of the Proverbs and Psalms.  His knowledge of God is great and yet the seeds of his future wandering from God have already been sown.  In 1 Kings 3 we are told of Solomon’s prayer as well, along with one detail that was missing in the 2 Chronicles version.

1 Kings 3:1

“Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.”

This bit of information is provided before we are told of Solomon’s prayer for wisdom.  This does not necessarily mean that he took an Egyptian wife prior to his request for wisdom, but it kind of makes sense to me that he did.  There is a difference between human wisdom and divine wisdom.  In human wisdom a marriage alliance makes sense as it was a method for securing peace.  In divine wisdom a marriage alliance does not make sense since you are relying on your own efforts and wisdom for protection rather than on God.

Much of the wisdom for which Solomon is praised seems to be human wisdom; knowledge of how the world works and the best way to do this that or the other.  Still, his proverbs and psalms show that he understood divine wisdom; that is the need to trust and obey God.  It appears to me that Solomon had both and yet, as we will see, he eventually wandered from God.  The cause of this separation stems from his foreign wives and their false gods and religious practices.  To keep peace in his house he allowed them to practice their dead religions.  This is a toxin that poisoned Israel and Solomon himself.

Here is my point, you can have wisdom, you can know God, but unless you consciously decide to obey Him you are in real danger.  God asks you to obey Him not for His own good but for your own good.  When will we get that through our thick heads?  As Paul reminds us:

1 Corinthians 3:18-20

“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

God even tells Solomon that obedience is true wisdom.

1 Kings 3:14

“And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

All of God’s promises come with that caveat – “If you will walk in my ways”.  It is the “will” to act in wisdom that is essential.  You can know what to do but if you don’t do it wisdom is meaningless.  Be wise my brothers, obey God.

Have a blessed day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Fear Of The Lord

Psalm 111-118

Be afraid – very afraid!!!  Today’s reading in the Psalms has several themes but one that stands out is this idea of “the fear of the Lord”.

Psalm 111:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!”

There are over 300 referenced in the Old Testament concerning “the fear of the Lord”.  We clearly are to fear the Lord, but what does that mean?  Should we be shaking, quacking, and cowering; beads of sweat running down our brow?  That isn’t really what “fear of the Lord” means; although those that reject God should be doing just that.  In “Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes” Robert Morgan quotes A. W. Tozer concerning “fear of the Lord:

“The fear of God is … astonished reverence. I believe that the reverential fear of God mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and admiration and devotion is the most enjoyable state and the most satisfying emotion the human soul can know.”

Morgan also provides this quote from Tozer in his book “Knowledge of the Holy”.

“In his book, Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer writes: In olden days men of faith were said to “walk in the fear of God” and to “serve the Lord with fear.” However intimate their communion with God, however bold their prayers, at the base of their religious life was the conception of God as awesome and dreadful. This idea of God transcendent runs through the whole Bible and gives color and tone to the character of saints. This fear of God was more than a natural apprehension of danger; it was a nonrational dread, an acute feeling of personal insufficiency in the presence of God the Almighty.

Wherever God appeared to men in Bible times the results were the same—an overwhelming sense of terror and dismay, a wrenching sensation of sinfulness and guilt. When God spoke, Abraham stretched himself upon the ground to listen. When Moses saw the Lord in the burning bush, he hid his face in fear to look upon God. Isaiah’s vision of God wrung from him the cry, “Woe is me!” Daniel’s encounter with God was probably the most dreadful and wonderful of them all.

Conversely, the self-assurance of modern Christians, the basic levity present in so many of our religious gatherings, the shocking disrespect shown for the Person of God, are evidence enough of deep blindness of heart. Many call themselves by the name of Christ, talk much about God, and pray to Him sometimes, but evidently do not know who He is. “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,” but this healing fear is today hardly found among Christian men.”

Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Do you have a reverential awe of God?  Do you come before Him with an overwhelming sense of His righteousness and your filth?  This, my friend, is just the beginning of wisdom.  You cannot even begin to have wisdom until you come to this understanding and feel it down to your bones.

God is our Heavenly Father, our Abba, Daddy, but He is far more than that.  We abuse our relationship with God when we act as spoiled rotten brats who disrespect their Father.  Have you ever watched a brat in action?  They think they deserve everything and anything they want.  They behave as if their parents are their servants.  They throw a nasty fit if they don’t get what they want.  They love only themselves.

It seems the more well off a parent is, the more likely their children will behave in this way.  Who is wealthier than God?  Who can give his children more than God?  Who loves and indulges his children more than God?  I sometimes thing the most brat-like of all human kind can be those that claim the title of Christian.  This behavior is foolish; it is lacking in wisdom.  By all means celebrate the fact that you are God’s child but never ever behave as a brat.  God is not your servant; you are His servant.  He is not here to obey you; you are here to obey Him.

Right relationship with God requires that you have an intense sense of awe when you think of God.  It means that you come before God understanding how great He is and how low you are.  It means you live your life as His servant.

Psalm 116:16-17

“O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.”

If you have submitted your life to Christ you are a child of the living God.  You are also His servant.  Your proper response to Him and His salvation is awe and the sacrifice of thanksgiving.  This means that you do as Christ said:

Luke 9:23

“…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The sacrifice of thanksgiving is the denial of self; that is to say that you are so thankful for what God has done for you that you obey Him.  You must deny yourself, take up the task your Father/Lord/Master has for you, and do as Christ did – obey God.  That is the sacrifice God asks of you.

Have a blessed day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

The Secret Of A Joyful Life

Ecclesiastes 3-6

I don’t know about you, but as I read Solomon’s words I envision an extremely depressed man.  He is spouting a morose, fatalistic view point.  I want to give a warning here that you need to be careful in what you take away from what he says.  Solomon has wandered away from God.  He has married foreign women and they have pulled him away from right relationship with God with their foreign gods.  In the mean time, he has been hailed across the known world for his wisdom in ruling his people.  He has wealth beyond belief.  He has a palace full of wives and concubines.  He has wealth, power, and fame; everything the secular world has to offer and you can hear in his words the emptiness of his life.  Considering all with which God has blessed him, why is he so down?

He is down because life has no meaning without a right relationship with God.  Notice that Solomon acknowledges God’s existence, sovereignty, and even the need to show Him proper respect but none of this means that he is in right relationship with God.  In one of my posts on Proverbs I wrote about the difference between knowledge and wisdom.  Knowledge is the possession of information.  Wisdom is the right use of that information.  For example, if I know that to be healthy I need to exercise and eat right then I have knowledge.  If I actually exercise and eat right I have wisdom.  In what “Solomon the Wise” writes in Ecclesiastes we discover that he is lacking in both knowledge and wisdom.

I found the following set of verses particularly instructive.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.  For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.”

In verse 20 Solomon says “…because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart”.  Now I have had joy in my heart and I have got to tell you that there is no joy like that which comes from being in right relationship with God.  It is an incredible thing!  Joy just radiates from you.  Everything just seems to be coming up roses and others notice the joy in you; they are drawn to it.  This joy is indeed a gift from God as is everything you are, have, and see.  Solomon is correct that God can fill your heart with this kind of joy but he is incorrect to suggest that it comes from taking pleasure in worldly things.

Appropriate pleasure in worldly things only comes when one is in right relationship with God.  The over arching message Solomon communicates in Ecclesiastes is that the best the world has to offer is emptiness and yet he says you should take pleasure in that emptiness.  How can you take pleasure in something you know does not bring pleasure?  You can’t.  The pleasure in life comes from God. It is in right relationship with God that one can truly enjoy His creation and all that He has provided.

Solomon is experiencing the same disease that permeates our world today.  People have no sense of purpose.  Their existence seems empty and meaningless.  They try to fill the hole in their lives with eating, drinking, the pursuit of wealth and sex, and any number of meaningless pursuits.  You cannot fill a God sized hole with meaningless stuff.  Enjoying your life, having a sense of contentment and purpose, are a by-product of right relationship with God.  The problem is the world tries to get the by-product rather than the “main-product”.  Solomon’s solution to the emptiness of life is no solution at all.

You want to be happy?  Praise God, trust and obey Him, read your Bible every day, pray every day, make the focus of your life right relationship with Him and as Christ told us, “all these things will be added to you”.

Matthew 6:33

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

The secret of a joyful life is no secret, it has been known since God first breathed life into Adam.  The secret to a joyful life is a right relationship with God.

Have a joyful day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!