The Bible Is Always New

I have just discovered some fascinating facts about the order of creation in the Genesis 1 account. Though having studied this section of Scripture many times over the years, I realize once again the impossibility of completely exhausting any passage for meaning and application.  In most cases I’m sure I’ve just begun to scratch the surface.

Facing the Triple-Headed Monster

Have you had experience with attacks from this monster?  If you’re human you have.  It starts at a very early age and never relents.  Many seemingly have overcome it, at least two of its heads, only to be taken by surprise by the third and carried away to its den.  No, this is not some wild beast or horror movie character, but a very real threat to our health, relationships and eternal destiny.  Sometimes it comes at us openly with an in-your-face approach, but other times it slips in with great stealth or in disguise.  In spite of its great power to destroy, however, it can be rendered harmless when opposed with the right strategy.

Faith: Dead or Alive?

Is there any more important question we need to have the right answer for than that?  Does the book of James contradict other Scriptures where it says “faith, if it has no works, is dead, being alone.  Ephesians 2:8-9, for example, says that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works.  In Romans 3:20 we read that by the works of the Law no one will be justified, and Galatians 2:16 tells us that a person is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus.

Make Up Your Mind!

"Don’t be so indecisive, so wishy-washy!”  If you’ve heard that very often, chances are you have a problem making up your mind.  Maybe you have trouble deciding what to order at a restaurant, or what color to paint the bedroom.  Some of us are quicker decision makers than others, but speed isn’t always a virtue.  However, when it comes to how we choose to live our lives and to follow Jesus, as many of us say we do, there is little comfort for vacillating to be found in the Scriptures.

Partiality: Why?

In the last post we saw how James, one of the pillars of the first century Church and the half-brother of Jesus, spoke out to Christians through his writing in the book of James against showing partiality toward the rich.  Clearly, that group of people didn’t just have wealth, but power over the poor, to control and take advantage of them for their own benefit.  Why then would those in the Church want to show partiality to them?

Partiality: The Subtle Sin

In the book of James are many warnings of pitfalls to avoid and appeals to make right choices in living the Christian life.  One of the most poignant of these has to do with favoritism, especially among believers.  Very bluntly, he writes, “…if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:9 ESV).

Patience and the Concealed Weapon

The book of James in the New Testament is short, only five chapters long, but it is chock full of condensed wisdom.  Take for example the opening verses that encourage the reader to count it as joy when we encounter various trials.  This is because the endurance (patience in the King James Version) that results from such testing of our faith will ultimately produce godly character in us.

Persons of Peace: Pre-Disciples

Jesus taught His disciples that the harvest (of souls) was plentiful (Luke 10:2) and trained them to proclaim the Kingdom of God before He went into various towns and villages.  He would send them on ahead by twos – as many as 70 at a time.  His instructions to them were to find a man of peace as they went into each populated area.  By that, He meant a person who would receive them and accept their message of peace.  They were to stay at that person’s house until they left the area and not move from house to house.

Shaking Up More Traditions

In the last post we shared the idea that a different model from today’s time-honored concept of disciple making is evidenced in the Scriptures of the New Testament.  Rather than putting new believers into an intense training mode for months or even years to bring them into spiritual maturity to be able to reach out to win and train more new believers, the process was reversed.  That is, emphasis was placed on getting them quickly into action, sharing their new knowledge of Christ while growing spiritually under the training of a more mature disciple.

Time To Shake Our Traditions?

During this series of blog posts, we’ve been looking at various aspects of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and the need for each disciple to be trained to make disciples who will, in turn, make more disciples.  But does this go far enough?  Will it get the job of completing the Great Commission during this generation, or any generation?  Is it time to shake up our traditional methods and see if we’re truly using the Biblical model.

The Proven Strategy

When Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission (to go and make disciples of all nations), He was making the most important assignment ever given to His followers.  The success of this urgent task was being placed into the hands of a few fallible and fragile human beings, and He was about to leave them.  The spiritual destiny of the whole world rested on their shoulders.  How was it physically possible for these few men to get the story of Jesus out to the whole world, and even if they could, how long would it take?

Who Are Jesus’ Disciples Today?

As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, the word disciple is used so many times in the Scriptures that it is important to know what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  So far, we’ve seen that a disciple is defined simply as a learner and follower of another’s teachings.  To become a disciple of Jesus, however, there is a very real cost in self denial that must be counted and accepted first.  The next question that naturally arises is:  Who are the ones that are called to become disciples?

Jesus First

In focusing on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, we have seen from Luke 14:25-33 that He expects loyalty to Himself above even that found in the closest human relationships.  He must be the disciple’s first love.  But that isn’t all.  He also expects disciples to put Him above themselves.