Category Archives: Bible Study

TO FIGHT, WE STAND – 19a

Bible Study, ,

Ephesians 6:12 NLT‬
[12] “We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

Some leaders in the modern church have thought up and taught some crazy ideas about spiritual warfare based on their own understanding rather than on the clear teaching of Scripture.

  1. False teachers teach the wrong war zone.

Their emphasis is on circumstances, not on the battle in our inner man. In the Old Covenant, the people of God had to fight against the ungodly people around them who led them into idolatry. They were instructed to exterminate the Canaanites, to protect God’s people from their evil influence.

However, nowhere are we told, in the New Covenant, to fight against the people or the difficulties we face in this world, especially the bad things that happen to us through people in the fallen world we live in. In fact, Jesus assured His disciples that trouble in this world is inevitable.

‭John 16:33 NLT‬
[33] “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

When we try to fight against people or circumstances, we are fighting the very instruments God uses to hone our faith in Him.

‭James 1:2-5 NLT‬
[2] “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. [3] For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. [4] So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. [5] If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”

We don’t need weapons to fight against the people and circumstances God is using to strengthen our faith and endurance. Quite the opposite. We need wisdom to understand and co-operate with what God is doing.

Paul took the Corinthians to task for using the law to fight injustice between themselves.

‭1 Corinthians 6:7 NLT‬
[7] Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?

Does this advice sound like ‘fighting the enemy’?

Paul, himself, tried to escape hardships. He begged God to take them away but God said “No!” because hardships were the very things He was using to teach Paul to rely on His grace. Paul’s response should alert us to the folly of fighting ‘the devil’ in our circumstances.

Paul acknowledged that Satan was in the mix, tempting him to react from his old nature,

2 Corinthians 12:6-10 NLT‬
[6] If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message,
[7] even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud….”

But…

[8] “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. [9] Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. [10] That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul learned that, though the tests came from the devil, often through ungodly people, God was using them to expose the real war zone inside himself. So, he could explain to the Galatians that the struggle was between the old nature still in him and the Holy Spirit who was his new master, not between him and humans.

‭Galatians 5:16-17 NLT‬
[16] “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. [17] The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

  1. False teachers teach the wrong weapons.

Again, they use Scripture to endorse their incorrect solution. Take, for example, Paul’s explanation about ‘pulling down strongholds’.

‭2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV‬
[3]”For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Some translators miss the point by inferring that the strongholds are in the people who are warring against us. For example,

‭2 Corinthians 10:3-5 CEV‬
[3]”We live in this world, but we don’t act like its people [4] or fight our battles with the weapons of this world. Instead, we use God’s power that can destroy fortresses. We destroy arguments [5] and every bit of pride that keeps anyone from knowing God. We capture people’s thoughts and make them obey Christ.”

However, if this was what Paul intended, he would be contradicting himself because he stated clearly, in our Scripture today, that we are NOT fighting flesh and blood.

If we are fighting a war against people, how is it possible for us to change the way other people think and act towards us by some magical use of words like, for example, ‘taking authority over’ or ‘praying against’? Is this the power of God working through us?

Paul specifically declares that we are not fighting against people. Our struggle is against the spiritual forces in the world that are out to influence us aganst God because they cannot influence God who is their real enemy. How do they do that? By playing on the old nature in us that pulls us towards sin.

The battle zone is not in our circumstances. It is in our minds. Thoughts and beliefs produce actions and behaviour. We cannot magically change what other people think but we can change our own behaviour by thinking and acting according to God’s thoughts instead of in our own.

The old strongholds of error and unbelief can be demolished in us only as we are ‘transformed by the renewing of our minds’.

‭‭Romans 12:2 NLT‬
[2] “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

The power to change other people lies in our godly response to the way they and circumstances treat us.

‭Luke 6:35 NLT‬
[35] “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.”

Jesus followed His own instruction. He absorbed into Himself every evil act against Him without retaliation and even prayed for those who killed Him.

‭Luke 23:34 NLT‬
[34]”Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.”

‭1 Peter 2:22-24 NLT‬
[22]”He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. [23] He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. [24] He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”

God’s mighty power lies, not in our attempts to change other people, but in our own transformation, bringing our unruly spirits under the Holy Spirit’s control.

‭Romans 5:17 NLT‬
[17]” For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

To be continued…

CHILDREN, OBEY – 19 b

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Ephesians 6:1-4 NLT‬
[1] “Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. [2] “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: [3] If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

Although Paul addresses children first in the family dynamic, it is the parent, especially the father, who needs to understand the goal towards which his fathering role is moving. Without a goal, raising godly children becomes a game of hit-and-miss, a minefield of mistakes resulting in conflict and rebellion.

We see this ‘warfare’ between parents and children in the best of families simply because parents are not aware of their role or goal in their children’s lives and because children have no idea what they are to become and why discipline must be applied to reach the goal. This battle of wills results in anger, resentment, and disharmony on both sides. Children believe that they have equal say in the choices and decisions they make. They think that they are little ‘adults’!

So, Paul clearly states the only goal of parenting… obedience. Why is obedience to parents so important? Obedience to authority is part of the cycle of life and is the only way to experience harmony in the home and in society.

We have increasing lawlessness today because the emphasis has shifted from submission to authority to the demand for ‘rights’ for everyone, including children and animals! Basic rights are good and must be protected but not at the expense of submission to legitimate authority.

Children will never know ‘the fear of the Lord’ until they learn, first, to respect and submit to parental authority and, later, to all other authorities. The fear of the Lord is the supreme purpose of obedience. As a child matures in knowledge and understanding, he must transfer obedience from his earthly father to his heavenly Father. He must learn this lesson early if he is to continue the cycle of harmony in his future family and in the families of his descendants.

There are two essential requirements for a child to grow up in a happy and secure environment; boundaries and blessing, both of which will protect him from insecurity… boundaries from foolish and destructive behaviour, and blessing from mistrust in himself and those he must respect and honour.

Parents set the boundaries, not their children, to protect children from self-destruction, not to restrict or prohibit them from growing by experience. Children learn from the consequences of their behaviour, both good and bad. Protecting them from consequences will rob them of the lessons that follow in adulthood. A life without consequences in early childhood leads to the dangerous mindset that nothing will happen to them regardless of what they do.

A father’s blessing reassures the child that he is accepted, affirmed, and adored in his father’s heart. This ‘blessing’ gives the child the confidence to face life against the backdrop of his family, knowing that he is accepted and loved for who he is, not for what he does.

We see the best example of a father’s blessing and the personal security it produced, in the life of Jesus. Before He ever stepped out onto the stage of public ministry, He needed two vital strategies.

  1. He needed confidence in the Father’s confidence in Him.

He received that blessing from the Father in an audible voice at His baptism, and that affirmation secured His passion to please the Father in all He said and did.

‭Luke 3:21-22 NLT‬
[21] “One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, [22] and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

‭John 8:29 NLT‬
[29] And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.”

  1. He needed a strategy to fulfill His mission as Saviour of the world.

His strategy was cemented in His soul when the devil tempted Him to act independently of the Father. He chose to place Himself under the authority of the Father and His Word.

‭Luke 4:4 NLT‬
[4] But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’”

He chose to obey the Word of God in every situation because of His confidence in the Father. Therefore, He could testify repeatedly,

‭John 5:19-20a NLT‬
[19]… “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. [20] For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing….”

‭Hebrews 5:8-9 NLT‬
[8]” Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. [9] In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”

Obedience to parents, then, although it cuts across their natural bent towards evil, is the children’s pathway towards obedience to God’s Word and the promise of a long life, in the Old Covenant. Though this promise may not apply in the New Covenant because longevity is not necessarily part of God’s purpose for the individual, God sets obedience as a priority in every part of a person’s life.

The devil’s strategy, from the beginning, was to separate us from God’s authority and get us to act alone. This trend is cemented in a child’s life if he is allowed to get his own way.

Obedience to authority does not begin in adulthood. It begins when a baby takes its first breath. Authority applied lovingly, consistently, and purposefully, will achieve its goal. Godly children who honour their parents by showing respect and submitting to their authority, are the only building blocks of a stable society.

We see the painful consequences in our society where children have no active fathers in their lives and are left to plot their own course in life. The need for acceptance and belonging is so strong that, without the blessing of a loving father, even gangsterism is better than nothing.

DISCIPLINE AND INSTRUCTION – 18a

Bible Study, ,

Ephesians 6:4 NLT
[4] Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.”

Parents, unfortunately, even in the church, have lost God’s pattern for parenthood in the chaos of human ‘wisdom’. The Bible gives clear direction for fathers and mothers to raise godly offspring.

Take the book of Proverbs, for instance, written by Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, which is full of details that help us understand the nitty-gritty of parenthood. From Solomon’s instructions, we glean the nature children have from birth. We also learn how to deal with their inherent rebellion and waywardness.

No child is a blank page at birth.

‭Proverbs 22:15 NLT‬
[15] “A youngster’s heart is filled with foolishness, but physical discipline will drive it far away.”

Every child is born with an ‘old nature’ inherited from Adam, that has a bent towards sin. David acknowledge this trait in himself.

‭Psalms 51:5 NLT‬
[5] “For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.”

Without wise intervention, a child will inevitable go the way of his fallen nature.

‭Proverbs 29:15 NIV‬
[15] “A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother.”

Every child is also born with a moral compass – conscience, written on the heart. Together with the basic knowledge of right and wrong comes the guilt that follows deliberate deviation from the right way.

A parent’s role, then, is to alert the child to the wrong he has done, to point to the right way to obey what his conscience (God’s Word) teaches, and to apply appropriate discipline so that the lesson is learned.

Since the father is the head of the home, the leader and example for his family, it falls on him to carry out the role of teacher through instruction and discipline.

How often fathers abdicate from this charge and only father biological children. They leave their wives to train the children, which inevitably fails because mothers cannot marry their role as nurturer with the more difficult role of disciplining unruly behaviour.

It takes a mature man, secure and confident in his relationship to his heavenly Father, to treat his children as the Father treats him. Love is the atmosphere in which fathering happens. Fathering, in turn, is not about inconsistent and emotional reactions to bad behaviour. It’s about patiently and consistently guiding the child, using discipline and instruction, towards the goal of true sonship, i.e., obedience and submission, in preparation for sonship in God’s family.

Without a clear goal in view, the path to adulthood becomes a battle ground of wills and a place of tension, insecurity, and unhappiness.

Parents need to find the difficult balance between overindulgence which cements a child`s inherent selfishness and too-strict control whidh robs him of security and confidence.

Here are two simple rules to help parents on this tortuous journey.

  1. Apply discipline to rebellion, not immaturity. A good rule of thumb from Larry Chritianson, “The Christian Family”, “The rod must be the first recourse, not the last resort.” In other words, children must learn to obey the first time a parent speaks, not at the end of a conflict.
  2. Make decisions for young children, decisions with them as they grow older and understand issues better, and guide them in their own decisions as they move towards young adulthood.

Happy parenting!

To be continued…

A GLORIOUS CHURCH – 17

Bible Study, ,

Ephesians 5:25-27 NLT‬
[25] “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her [26] to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.
[27] He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.”

Is this ever really possible?

When we see what is going on in many parts of the church of the Lord Jesus today, we can ask this legitimate question. From our perspective, a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, holy and faultless, seems a very tall order.

Yet, Paul confidently penned the promise – a perfect bride for Jesus, free from the ‘spots’ of teenage immaturity and the ‘wrinkles’ of old age and decay….and without sin!

As I prayed, somewhat skeptically, that Jesus would perfect His bride, I thought of the possibility of all His people everywhere reaching spiritual maturity, perfectly loving and united in Him. Could…would it ever happen? How long must we wait for the final chapter of His Word to come about?

Then the Holy Spirit took me to a parable Jesus told that cleared up the issue for me, once and for all.

‭Matthew 13:24-30 NLT‬
[24] Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field.
[25] But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away.
[26] When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. [27] The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’
[28] ‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.’ Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.
[29] ‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do.
[30] Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

The last verse of this parable finally answered my question. Jesus IS PERFECTING His BRIDE now, but she is made up of individuals who are becoming like Him in the middle of life among the ‘weeds’ in the world.

How like God to use the very situations that make us uncomfortable to purify our hearts from sin and draw us close to Him. Isaiah prophesied that God’s Servant, His Messiah, would grow up like a root in dry ground. So we, too, must grow up in Christ against the backdrop of the spiritual darkness in the world around us.

It is never God’s intention to isolate us from the influences of ungodly people in the world or the troubles sin brought into the world. These are the very instruments God uses to sanctify us, to set us apart from sin for Himself, and to mature our faith in, and obedience to Him.

‭James 1:2-4 NLT‬
[2] “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. [3] For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. [4] So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

‭Hebrews 12:5-10 NLT‬
[5]”And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. [6] For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” [7] As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? [8] If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. [9] Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? [10] For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.”

Trials, hardships, discipline, suffering…the things we would rather run from, are the tools God uses to chip away everything in us that does not resemble Jesus.

God honed Jesus, through the discipline of suffering, to be the perfect sacrifice for sinners. So, we, too, must follow Him if we are to go with Him to the Father.

‭Hebrews 5:8-9 NLT‬
[8] “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. [9] In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”

Where does God find these tools with which to shape us into the image of Jesus? He finds them in the world of people (the ‘weeds’) and circumstances that rub us up the wrong way, exposing the old, sinful nature in us. Only when we are caught out by our reactions can we know what is in us and what needs to be pruned off through His discipline.

The ‘weeds’ in the church are not our problem. We are! God leaves the weeds there to sharpen our knowledge, understanding, and discernment of the truth of His Word and to teach us to recognise the sin in us, to forsake sin, and to live in the grace of His forgiveness and salvation. Without the trials and tests we endure, our faith would be as flabby as wet spaghetti!

When we get this, we are beginning to understand the essence of spiritual ‘warfare’. Jesus is perfecting His bride but not in the way we think. He isn’t getting rid of the weeds. He’s using them to clean out the ‘weeds’ in us. Moment by moment, day by day, through the troubles and hardships we endure, our minds are being renewed by His word as we receive the grace to overcome sin and to be led by His Spirit.

Only at harvest time will the fruit of our lives be fully revealed. Weeds will be seen to be weeds and wheat real wheat.

‭Matthew 7:15-20 NLT‬
[15] “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. [16] You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? [17] A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. [18] A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. [19] So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. [20] Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”

So, Jesus says, “Don’t worry about the weeds. I’ll deal with them in due time. You must make sure that your fruit is of the Spirit. Then my harvesters will gather you into my barn with all the pure ‘wheat’ of my bride, the true church.”

PRAY THE PATTERN – 16

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Ephesians 5:18, 20, 21, 22a, 25a NLT‬
[18]”Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life…. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit…
[20] And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[21] And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
[22] For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord…
[25] For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church”….

Paul’s ‘therefores’, following his teaching on God’s grace in this letter, form patterns of behaviour for those who have been saved by grace. What does he mean by ‘saved’? Only when we understand what sin has done to us can we begin to fathom the extent to which God’s grace has gone to rescue us from sin’s consequences.

So, Paul says, God has given us a blueprint for life after we have been rescued from death and made alive by God’s Spirit. His patterns include every category and level of the people who make up His family.

God has chosen His Son to be the model for every child of His. Jesus is the only one qualified to be the model since He is the only human who lived on earth as a perfect Son. He is the blueprint for God’s children, the one after whom the Holy Spirit is patterning everyone who has been born from above and saved from sin.

Included in these patterns is God’s blueprint for marriage. God intended marriage, between one man and one woman for life, to be the visual aid of the intimate union between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Trinity.

God is a family. His plan was to bring into His family the humans He had created to enjoy family life with the Godhead. He instituted marriage on earth to be a family, including the children born from that union, to give us a taste of life in His heavenly family.

The fact that humans failed to follow His pattern did not deter God. He set up His plan of salvation, based on His grace, to bring His pattern back on track. Through Jesus, He brought us back to Himself and restored His power to live life His way.

Although God’s patterns are for us to follow in every situation in life, He akso has another purpose for them.

Our prayers are often based on the problems we encounter. Families are struggling, for example, and our prayers focus on what’s going wrong. We end up giving God advice or telling Him what to do.

However, God has told us the purpose for marriage and the ‘how-to’ in Ephesians. So, He says, pray the pattern, not the problem.

We know that God hears us if we pray according to His will.

‭1 John 5:14-15 NLT‬
[14] “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. [15] And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”

Instead of praying lengthy, wordy prayers, (like the pagans), for ourselves and others, just say ‘amen’ and ‘thank you’ to His pattern because it has already been approved.

‭2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT‬
[20]” For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

So, we can apply this principle to every situation we encounter for a sure solution. It’s God’s prerogative to answer in His time and in His way, but it’s our responsibility to trust Him by giving thanks for His answer.

God wants to change people. He allows situations to happen so that He can apply His grace. He gives us opportunity to participate with Him through prayer to reveal His grace to us too. In that way, we worship Him and He gets the glory, which is the ultimate purpose of prayer.

‭John 15:7-8 NLT‬
[7] “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! [8] When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”