Monthly Archives: January 2016

Flee Darkness – Live In The Light

Bible Study, , , , , ,

FLEE DARKNESS – LIVE IN THE LIGHT

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible – and everything illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:

‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’

Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is (Eph. 5:11-17).

Bugs and creepy crawlies live the darkness. Kick over a stone and they scatter, scuttling off to find another dark spot where they can take shelter from the light. Bugs don’t hide from the light because they are evil; they hide under stones to stay out of sight because predators are continually hunting for a tasty morsel.

People hide in darkness for a very different reason.

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God John 3:20-21).

What is darkness in this context? Ignorance or willful disobedience to the standards God has set for us leaves us in darkness. ‘Light’ and ‘darkness’ are common metaphors in Scripture. Light represents the truth about God and us that He has revealed in His Word, and the moral and upright living that flows from obeying God’s instructions. Darkness is the opposite – immoral living in contradiction to God’s Word.

King David understood the part that God’s Word plays in keeping our feet on the right path in life.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path (Psa. 119:105).  

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you (Psa. 119:11).

Obedience to the prescriptions and instructions in God’s Word enables us to navigate the pitfalls in life without damaging our consciences or our souls. First of all, God teaches us how to have harmonious relationships with one another – within the closest of all bonds in the family, and then with the people who radiate outwards from our inner circle, friends and acquaintances and those with whom we rub shoulders in the world.

God created an interactive universe as an expression of the unity within the Trinity. God is one – according to the daily confession of the Israelites:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deut. 6:4).

The word for one – echad – can mean either a single unit or a compound unity, depending on its context. Jewish scholars argue that God is a single person while Christians believe that God is a compound unity – three persons in one Godhead.

However, both man and the universe bear witness to the amazingly complex unity that exists in every system which is an expression of the echad in God. Everything in the universe is interdependent and interactive.

No Man Is an Island is a famous line from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, a 1624 work by the English poet John Donne – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man_Is_an_Island – retrieved January 2016.

The Apostle Paul expressed the same thought:

For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord (Rom. 14:7-8).

The point is that the human race is interconnected and interdependent, just as is the physical universe. Whether we live by the God’s Word or in defiance of God’s standards, what we do affects other people in a ripple effect. My sin and your sin contributes to the chaos around us and we cannot escape the consequences of our disobedience and the disobedience of others.

On this basis, Paul pleads with his readers to live in the light. Wisdom, in the simplest terms, means doing what works. God has told us in His Word what works. Sin in all its ramifications does not work because it creates chaos in relationships.

Our responsibility as believers is to maintain harmony in all our relationships by walking in the light with God and with one another.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

Once Darkness – Now Light

Bible Study, , ,

ONCE DARKNESS – NOW LIGHT

Let no one deceive you with empty words for, because of such things, God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord (Eph. 5:6-10).

What are the ‘empty words’ of which Paul speaks? ‘Empty’ simply means that these words have nothing in them – no substance – which implies that they are lies. What kind of words are empty of truth? Words that man speaks in contradiction to God’s Word have no truth in them. Satan is their source because he wants to lure people away from God and from the truth.

Satan spoke empty words to Adam and Eve and when they believed him and did what he tempted them to do, they discovered that it was God who had spoken the truth, not the devil. The outcome, just as Paul had written, was the wrath of God on them for their disobedience. Scientists and philosophers who deny the existence of God, speak empty words. Those who disregard God’s moral requirements, living impure and wicked lives, are under the dark cloud of Gods’ wrath because they have believed the ‘empty words’ with which the devil has deceived them.

Deception is one of the devil’s most potent weapons. He deceives through lies which contradict God’s truth and he deceives through fear – a powerful emotion that drives people to ignore or disregard the character and promises of God.

Paul counsels his readers not to partner with people who, under Satan’s influence, propagate his deception both by their words and by the way they live.  God has preserved in written form over thousands of years, His directions for living lives that please Him and that protect us from the effects of His wrath. God’s wrath is not capricious outbursts of anger but a settled disposition of displeasure. To be under God’s displeasure is to be subject to the consequences He clearly describes in His word for choosing to disobey Him.

There is no small print in God’s Word. He hides nothing from His people. He takes no pleasure in meting out punishment to those who are disobedient. The devil has spawned the lie that God is a hard taskmaster, waiting with His rod of punishment to catch anyone out who transgresses His laws. God has clearly warned everyone who cares to take notice, of the consequences of disobedience but He has endless mercy for those who repent and return to His way.

Why should His people not be partners with those who contradict and disobey His Word? Not only is such association detrimental to our wellbeing, but it also cuts across everything we are and have been taught as children of God and citizens of His kingdom. Loyal citizens of a country are bound by the constitution of that country. Should they step outside the boundaries of that constitution, they will be prosecuted. Our prisons are crammed with people who have transgressed the laws of our land.

Likewise, those who belong to God’s kingdom have voluntarily placed themselves under the constitution of His kingdom. They have committed themselves to loyalty to Jesus as the king and have placed themselves under His authority to obey His Word because His Word has substance – it is the truth.

Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Darkness disappears when a light is turned on. Darkness has no substance; it is merely the absence of light. Light exposes the furniture in a room which would be potential obstacles in the dark. Light enables us to see what is in our environment. In the light, we are able to avoid tripping over things we cannot see in the dark. In the same way, the light of God’s Word enables us to avoid falling prey to devil’s lies and destroying ourselves by believing his deception.

It is our responsibility as children of the kingdom of light, to live out in our daily lives who we are. The fruit of our lives reveals the root. Paul insists that God’s children bear the fruit of lives that live in the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. It is impossible to live in the darkness of disobedience and, at the same time, bear the fruit of light. What we do reveals what we are.

And find out what pleases the Lord. What is it that pleases God? The Bible gives us the answer. God gave King David a title He gave to no one else. Preachers and theologians often make heavy weather of this, one simply because they have ignored the context.

After removing Saul, He [God] made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13: 22).

Did you get that? Obedience to His Word pleases God more than anything else. It is not our service or our sacrifice which pleases Him. It is our prompt and complete obedience. Obedience to God’s requirements is the one thing, above everything else, that indicates whether we fear Him or not.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

Immorality, Impurity And Greed Are Out!

Bible Study, , , ,

IMMORALITY, IMPURITY AND GREED ARE OUT!

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure. No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Eph. 5:3-5).

We must always keep in mind that the recipients of Paul’s letter were once immoral, impure and greedy people!

The change in a person’s lifestyle, who has become a follower of Jesus, is and must be so radical that they live as citizens of a completely opposite kingdom with opposite standards of behaviour.

Paul defined these two opposing realms as the kingdoms and light and darkness. Light is a synonym for everything for which God stands – morality, purity and generosity in every way towards others as a reflection of God’s character. Darkness – the absence of light – represents whatever God is not. Paul summed up the characteristics of those who insist on living in darkness by three words – immoral, impure and greedy.

We don’t need to look very far, in the world around us, to recognise these characteristics in those who refuse to acknowledge God and live under His authority.  Selfishness and all its ramifications dominate human society. It’s everyone for himself regardless of what it does to others. Selfishness controls even the most humanitarian of professions – medicine and its associated disciplines.

In my country, if a seriously ill or injured person cannot produce a medical aid card or the upfront amount demanded by a private hospital, he or she can die outside without being seen of treated, and no one cares a hoot. Our government hospitals and ambulance services are no better. People die waiting for an ambulance. Babies die before help arrives for a woman in labour. The motto of employees of these services, mostly controlled by unions, is generally ‘That’s not my job.’

Paul urgently implored these new-born babies in Christ, “Don’t be like that.” He has already explained in detail that they have been given a brand new life. They were once dead to God but, because of His grace, they were now alive and able to respond to His Spirit in them. They had been restored to the family of God and given unrestricted access to the Father. It was now up to them, with all the resources God had given them to live their new lives, to leave the old ways behind and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in them.

What did Paul mean by ‘immoral, impure and greedy’?

“To say that, some act is immoral is to say that violates some moral laws, norms or standards.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immorality – retrieved January 2016.

Purity is a state of being unmixed with anything that taints or pollutes e.g., pure water has no pollutants in it. A pure person is one whose behaviour is not tainted with immoral actions or standards. To be impure is to taint one’s being with actions or behaviour that are not part of upright living.

Greed is “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed” – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/greed – retrieved January 2016.

 

 

What is idolatry? http://www.gotquestions.org/idolatry-definition.html

 

“The definition of idolatry, according to Webster, is “the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.” An idol is anything that replaces the one, true God.”

 

http://www.gotquestions.org/idolatry-definition.html – retrieved January 2016.

 

These vices have no place in a believer’s life because Christ has set him free from the standards and practices of the world. His citizenship is in the kingdom of light where the standards of righteousness apply. It is up to each citizen of the kingdom of God to establish new patterns of behaviour based on then choice to imitate Jesus rather than the citizens of the dominion of darkness.

 

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

Be Imitators Of God

Bible Study, , ,

BE IMITATORS OF GOD

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:1-2).

Every word in these two verses is loaded with significance. In the earlier NIV versions, Paul’s words are translated as be imitators of God as dearly loved children. One of the requirements of a disciple in 1st century Israel was that he learn to imitate his rabbi. ‘Imitation’ in this context did not mean ‘a fake’ but rather a replica of his master. A disciple has to live in such close proximity to his rabbi that he learned to think, speak and act just like him.

A rabbi chose disciples in whom he had the confidence that they would become just like him. They were to walk behind him as he moved from place to place. He was essentially a roving teacher, instructing the people who gathered around him in the correct interpretation of the Torah – the 5 books of Moses – and debating current issues in the light of what other rabbis whose authority to interpret and apply his interpretation of the Torah according to what he believed to be God’s original intention. This interpretation and application was called the rabbi’s ‘yoke’.

The concept of a yoke had special significance in Israel. The Israelites were and agricultural people – they worked and lived off the land. Their word of God, made up of two letters, e and l, el, was derived from two pictures in the original paleo-Hebrew script. The ‘e’ was the picture of an ox head, meaning ‘strength’ and the ‘l’ was a picture of a shepherd’s staff, meaning ‘authority’. They understood God to be one who had strength and authority.

The same two letters, e and l appear in the word aleph meaning to learn by association. To a Hebrew person, a yoke was ‘a staff of the shoulder’. In order to train a young ox to plough a straight furrow, the farmer would place a yoke across its shoulder and yoke it with an older, experienced ox so that became a replica of his ‘teacher’.

Now does not Jesus’ invitation have new meaning for you?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).

Jesus, as a rabbi with authority from God, invited those who were tired of the demanding yoke of the religious leaders with its petty rules and rituals, to take His yoke. By learning to live the way He taught them, He would change their hearts and free them from the fear and guilt which drove them to seek God’s approval by obeying laws and rules.

In order to be imitators of God, we must live in close association with Jesus and learn from Him. Paul called this “putting on Christ”. God has freed us from bondage to Satan and to slavery to sin. However, change is not automatic. In close association with Jesus, we learn to think like Him and to behave like Him. It is a slow, life-long process which comes through practice. Let me illustrate.

Brick-makers use a mould into which they pour concrete which they must allow to dry before they take away the form. Once the concrete or clay is dry, the brick will retain its shape when they remove the form.

In a similar way, when we imitate Jesus by acting with humility and gentleness, even if we don’t feel it, we are creating a ‘form’ which will eventually become a way of life. Paul used another metaphor, that of getting dressed.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Col. 3: 12).

The more we act like Jesus, the more we will become like Him. We are to ‘walk’ in the way of love. The Bible pictures life as a journey through a dangerous and unknown way. If we are to reach our destination, we must follow the one who knows the way lest we wander from the path and die in the desert. Jesus said, “I am the way.” He is the ‘light’ – He walks in the light of God’s Word and is, therefore, qualified to lead us to the Father.

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12).

Jesus came to show us how to live by the Torah – God’s directions for reaching our destination. He insisted that He had not come to do away with God’s instructions but to ‘fulfil’ them – to show His people how to God intended for them to live. He wanted them to be examples to the surrounding pagan nations of His best way of living.

Our role as His disciples is to stick close to Him and to learn by association with Him, imitating Him in every detail of our lives until we become replicas of our Master in this world.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

Settle Your Differences Jesus’ Way

Bible Study, , ,

SETTLE YOUR DIFFERENCES JESUS’ WAY

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you (Eph. 4: 31-32).

No more bar-room brawling!

The words Paul uses are reminiscent of the way that ungodly men typically settle their differences. One can just imagine the scene in a tavern. An argument breaks out between two drunk men. Tempers flare, words fly, peppered with swearing, cursing and oaths. A fist strike out and the fight is on. Chaos! Blood flows and furniture, crockery and even some of the bystanders take a beating. Nothing has been achieved but more reason to be angry and bitter.

This is not the way to handle conflict, says Paul. Boys fight with fists, girls with words but fighting resolves nothing. However, you are no longer immature children, driven by heat and not guided by light. There will always be differences and conflicts between people as long as we are in this world. Fighting with fists or words achieves nothing but increased hostility, tension and bitterness. The ripples of anger and antagonism spread outwards, encompassing families and even communities.

Jesus has a way of dealing with conflict and all the emotional baggage it brings that is far more effective and final than fists. It’s called ‘forgiveness’. He had a lot to say about forgiveness since forgiveness is the basis of His relationship with us and should always be the way we relate to one another.

Before we talk about forgiveness, let’s take a look at the consequences of harbouring offences and holding on to bitterness.

Bitterness has a root which produces fruit. Moses reminded God’s people, on the eve of his departure, that idolatry was the fruit of a poisonous root.

Make sure that there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure that there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison (Deut. 29:18).

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews picked up on this thought.

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many (Heb. 12: 15).

What is this ‘bitter root’ of which both these verses speak? Both idolatry and unforgiveness are the expression of self above God. God forbade His people to worship idols because of the terrible effect it would have on them. They chose to ignore His warnings. They put themselves above God and became like the gods they worshipped.

But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved (Hos. 9:10b)

Refusal to forgive is based on the same principle – self above God. God commands us to forgive those who sin against us because we no longer have a reason to hold grudges. Jesus died to deal with the sin of the whole world. His death provides forgiveness for all sin, for all people, for all time. When we refuse to forgive another, we are in effect saying that God is a liar and that He has not forgiven the sin of the one we hold guilty. We think we have the right to punish our offender even though Jesus has already paid his debt. Idolatry! We set ourselves above God just as effectively as those who worshipped idols.

Idolatry, worshipping self above God, is the bitter root that produces the fruit that ‘defiles many’. Selfishness and all the ramifications of self above all, is the root of conflict.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James. 4: 1-3).

God gives the grace to forgive when we turn from our selfish passions with the earnest desire to please and obey Him. He enables us to look our offender in the face, literally or figuratively, and say, “You owe me nothing,” because God has forgiven him, and I can, therefore, let the offence go. Once my heart is at peace, I have no need to engage in the attitudes and activities of which Paul speaks.

A forgiving heart no longer harbours anger, rage, bitterness, slander and malice. These are the devil’s ‘weapons of mass destruction’ which forgiveness through the power of the Holy Spirit defuses. God’s love, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, neutralises the poison of idolatry and shuts down the need for conflict or revenge.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?