I’m on hiatus this week and I am enjoying it. There is something to be said for taking a few vacation days away from work during this time of the year, despite the cold weather that makes it impossible to accomplish anything even remotely productive. I’ve enjoyed waking up each morning and drinking coffee with my wife; just being mindful of the little things in life and I’ve been reminded yet again of their importance. I also know it will end all too soon and I will find myself back to the grind of my job in no time, so I am savoring each moment as I write in my blog this morning.
Tim Tebow is playing in the Sugar Bowl this week. His Florida Gators did not meet their own lofty expectations of a national championship contest, but it is still a prestigious bowl game that will garner national attention. I am by no means a Gator fan; when I watch one of their games I can be counted on to root for the other team regardless of who they happen to be playing. But I have become a fan of Tim Tebow and not just because of his physical prowess as a quarterback, although he is a great one. I’m more inclined to be his fan due to the way he lives his life and how he stands up for his faith despite the media spotlight that has been focused upon him.
I read an article in an on-line newspaper this morning that reported his habit of writing Scripture-references on the face-black painted below his eyes before every game. He uses a new scripture for each competition and he says that it originates from whatever he is feeling in his heart on game day. Of course, I was already aware of this as it was explained during a game I was watching a few months ago, and the announcers, to give them credit, treated it as a wholesome thing for him to do. I printed the article for my daughter as she is possibly his number one fan, but I did not print the complete article for her. The commentary was good and painted Tim in a very favorable light, but the reader comments at the bottom of the article were appalling.
I’ll explain myself by saying that most of the comments had nothing to do with his success or failure on the gridiron. A large percentage were apparently left on the page in a blatant attempt to discredit his faith and his lifestyle, and some of them were even well written and bordered on the profound. I became sickened after the first page and stopped reading when one reader suggested that Tim needed to ‘loosen up’ and become more a member of the ‘real world’. But what really broke my heart was the comment that came from someone who appeared to be a Christian, quoting a verse in Matthew 6 that he used to make a point that Tim was losing his reward in Heaven for publicly displaying his faith here on earth.
What?
I wanted to post my own comment and almost did, pronouncing my opinion that if Tim were a Muslim and had used quotations from the Koran, none of this would be an issue. He would be celebrated as ‘modern’ and one who has been ‘enlightened’, etc. But that argument is tired in my mind. It no longer matters in the proverbial grand scheme of things. I also thought about commenting back to the ‘Christian’ and asking him would he feel better if Tim chose to hide his light under a bushel. A voice in my head told me to step away from the keyboard, and I was reminded of the casting of pearls before swine that Jesus mentioned and the consequences thereof. In time I will feel better and this will once again be a great day. A Christian today needs patience in these sorts of matters.
My take on Mr. Tebow’s public display of Scripture, as well as his lifestyle, is this: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
I think Tim gets it. That’s what I see reading between the lines of the media reports and the news articles that I’ve read about him. Besides, he used these verses himself during the Florida State game.
Rightly Divided
Youth Sunday School Lesson - 12/20/09
Our lesson guide this week states that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. I know this to be true from my own experience. A few years back as a young (and foolish) engineer, I found myself working on an electrical panel. The panel was powered with 480 volts of electricity and controlled motors in a factory. 480 volts is a lot of juice; your typical wall outlet has only 120 volts, as a reference. So anyway, I thought I had found the problem and turned the power off to fix it, then powered it back on again to check out my repair work. My repair was not correct and I blew a small fuse in the panel, so I was back to square one.
It was getting close to break time, and my partner informed me he was ready to go. I told him to wait just a second as I wanted to change the fuse and try something else. Thinking about a good cup of coffee, what I was going to do later, or maybe world peace, I reached in and grabbed the fuse. The problem was obvious: I had neglected to turn off the electricity to the cabinet. For a moment I thought my partner was joking around with me and had grabbed me from behind and started shaking me, but I could not figure out why he would do such a thing. Because of not following the proper procedures, I was being electrocuted! God intervened and the breaker tripped, thus saving my life. Other than a burn on my hand and my hair becoming a little more afro-like than normal, I was not harmed.
There are proper procedures to follow in almost everything you do in life. You must be trained to perform certain jobs and a failure to be taught the right way to do things could result in a catastrophe. Once you have been trained, it is up to you to follow the rules and guidelines when you do a job or meet certain circumstances in your life.
Paul writes to Timothy: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” In our spiritual lives as Christians, we should never believe that salvation is as far as we need to go with our faith, yet sometimes we treat it in that manner. A Christian should always strive to grow and reach maturity in his or her faith. How can we do this? By studying God’s Word diligently and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. This should be a no-brainer to all of us by now, but there is more to the verse than simply studying to be approved – did you catch it?
Paul teaches Timothy that we should also ‘rightly divide’ the Word of Truth. The Bible is not a hard book to understand, despite what some people may tell you. If you enter into a time of serious study with prayer and a willingness to allow the Spirit to guide you as a Christian, the things God would have you know and understand will come to you clearly. One of the things to remember is that we should not read the Bible with a microscope – zeroing in on only one or two passages. The Bible is the sum of its parts, and when you compare scriptures across the whole Bible you will be able to gain a complete understanding of what God has done for us, will do for us, and what He has planned for us. The Bible does not contradict itself – it confirms itself over and over again!
This week, we are going to talk in class about what the Bible will teach us when we ‘rightly divide’ the words we read under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We will look at how an overall knowledge of the Bible is important, and will keep us from being led astray by someone who takes a verse from here or there in an effort to make a point that may or may not be scripturally sound.
One guideline we should follow is that the Bible will never cause conflict among true Christians when they enter into a sincere time of study with a heart set on learning from God’s Word. If we meet for class and I teach something that angers you, or you ask something that angers me, we need to re-examine what we are studying. More often than not, in those situations we are not rightly dividing the Word of God, and at the very least we are not following the direction of the Holy Spirit. God’s Word should uplift us and not divide us when we use it correctly.
Finally, it is important to not only know God’s Word, but to also hide it in our heart by memory. There will not always be enough time to run home and look up a scripture that someone else quotes to us, and if we have it memorized in our hearts we will be less likely to be led astray by a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They’re out there, you know?
Our lesson guide this week states that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. I know this to be true from my own experience. A few years back as a young (and foolish) engineer, I found myself working on an electrical panel. The panel was powered with 480 volts of electricity and controlled motors in a factory. 480 volts is a lot of juice; your typical wall outlet has only 120 volts, as a reference. So anyway, I thought I had found the problem and turned the power off to fix it, then powered it back on again to check out my repair work. My repair was not correct and I blew a small fuse in the panel, so I was back to square one.
It was getting close to break time, and my partner informed me he was ready to go. I told him to wait just a second as I wanted to change the fuse and try something else. Thinking about a good cup of coffee, what I was going to do later, or maybe world peace, I reached in and grabbed the fuse. The problem was obvious: I had neglected to turn off the electricity to the cabinet. For a moment I thought my partner was joking around with me and had grabbed me from behind and started shaking me, but I could not figure out why he would do such a thing. Because of not following the proper procedures, I was being electrocuted! God intervened and the breaker tripped, thus saving my life. Other than a burn on my hand and my hair becoming a little more afro-like than normal, I was not harmed.
There are proper procedures to follow in almost everything you do in life. You must be trained to perform certain jobs and a failure to be taught the right way to do things could result in a catastrophe. Once you have been trained, it is up to you to follow the rules and guidelines when you do a job or meet certain circumstances in your life.
Paul writes to Timothy: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” In our spiritual lives as Christians, we should never believe that salvation is as far as we need to go with our faith, yet sometimes we treat it in that manner. A Christian should always strive to grow and reach maturity in his or her faith. How can we do this? By studying God’s Word diligently and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. This should be a no-brainer to all of us by now, but there is more to the verse than simply studying to be approved – did you catch it?
Paul teaches Timothy that we should also ‘rightly divide’ the Word of Truth. The Bible is not a hard book to understand, despite what some people may tell you. If you enter into a time of serious study with prayer and a willingness to allow the Spirit to guide you as a Christian, the things God would have you know and understand will come to you clearly. One of the things to remember is that we should not read the Bible with a microscope – zeroing in on only one or two passages. The Bible is the sum of its parts, and when you compare scriptures across the whole Bible you will be able to gain a complete understanding of what God has done for us, will do for us, and what He has planned for us. The Bible does not contradict itself – it confirms itself over and over again!
This week, we are going to talk in class about what the Bible will teach us when we ‘rightly divide’ the words we read under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We will look at how an overall knowledge of the Bible is important, and will keep us from being led astray by someone who takes a verse from here or there in an effort to make a point that may or may not be scripturally sound.
One guideline we should follow is that the Bible will never cause conflict among true Christians when they enter into a sincere time of study with a heart set on learning from God’s Word. If we meet for class and I teach something that angers you, or you ask something that angers me, we need to re-examine what we are studying. More often than not, in those situations we are not rightly dividing the Word of God, and at the very least we are not following the direction of the Holy Spirit. God’s Word should uplift us and not divide us when we use it correctly.
Finally, it is important to not only know God’s Word, but to also hide it in our heart by memory. There will not always be enough time to run home and look up a scripture that someone else quotes to us, and if we have it memorized in our hearts we will be less likely to be led astray by a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They’re out there, you know?
Second-Rate Faith
I have a very short attention span, and it appears to only get worse as I grow older. I need to be mentally stimulated and I go the extra mile each day in an attempt to be so. I read books and browse the Internet. I watch sports on television. I go out of my way to find a challenge at work. When all else fails, you might even catch me working on a crossword puzzle.
Maybe it’s a sign of the times as I know that I am not alone in feeling this way. Since the dawn of the digital age, we have been bombarded daily with things that stimulate our mind. This is a good thing, but I can’t help my belief that it is also the cause of our chronic attention deficit disorders. Yes, I called it that because when you get down to the nuts and bolts of the matter - that's what it is.
The business training industry has undergone several changes and modified their agendas during the last few years and it is obvious that they ‘get it’. Attend any work-related seminar and you’ll be challenged not by mundane lectures, but by dynamic power-point presentations featuring incredible graphics keyed by memorable catch-phrases. They have to be that way in order to survive in the world of business-related seminars. Our schools and universities no longer attempt to teach the old English classics in literature, preferring instead to push post-modern authors and their works. I was shocked when my daughter informed me (with a puzzled look when I asked) Beowulf was not listed on her English Lit syllabus.
It is bad enough that we see this happening in our schools and universities, but I have also noted the symptoms as they invade our churches. Sermons are boring and are quickly becoming passé. The grand old hymns of Fannie J. Crosby and Robert Lowry (among others) are swiftly being replaced with modern praise and worship music. A church is noted for its programs and adaptability to the schedules of its members, and a failure in these areas could spell the end for the church that dares to miss the mark.
Does your young adult Sunday school class have doughnuts and coffee before class? Are there various programs and functions available for the youth? Is your preacher long-winded and uninteresting? Does he use a power-point slide show? Does he use a modern translation of the Bible that is easier to understand? These are the avant-garde questions to use when shopping for a church to attend. I’ve even suggested to my pastor that we open up a concession stand in the back of the church where we can sell nachos and Cokes, et al, during the services - thereby earning money for the building fund as we make things more comfortable for the membership. ‘We’ll pack ‘em in!’ I promised him.
Is this what church is really all about? Is it what we have come to these days?
I like to call it second-rate faith. It is a faith based on emotion and feelings, with no substance and no desire for growth. What can the church do for me and my family with as little or no return on my part as possible? Better said, what can God do for me with as little or no return on my part as possible?
In John 2, Jesus had performed many miracles in Jerusalem and was returning to Galilee following the Passover: “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”
Many believed in Him, but Jesus did not believe in them. Think about it. Why would Jesus do this? After all, we are told that they (the many) believed in Him. If you read the verses again and pay close attention, maybe you'll catch it – they believed in Him due to the hoopla surrounding His wonderful miracles. It was the excitement and emotion of the moment that thrilled their hearts and minds, but it didn’t touch their hearts. He knew when He left or no longer provided miracles for them; they would soon get over it all and go about their lives as before. Jesus wants something deeper from us than that. He wants our lives to be changed as well as our hearts.
It is something worth remembering when we attend worship services at our church each Sunday. We should ask ourselves why we are there, and specifically what our motive for being there is. If we are seeking a deeper faith and a closer relationship with Christ, then we are there for the right reasons. But if it is the doughnuts and camaraderie, the rocked-out versions of old hymns, or those delicious nachos from the concession stand – we need to re-examine our belief and commitment to Him, and in so doing earnestly seek His commitment to us.
Maybe it’s a sign of the times as I know that I am not alone in feeling this way. Since the dawn of the digital age, we have been bombarded daily with things that stimulate our mind. This is a good thing, but I can’t help my belief that it is also the cause of our chronic attention deficit disorders. Yes, I called it that because when you get down to the nuts and bolts of the matter - that's what it is.
The business training industry has undergone several changes and modified their agendas during the last few years and it is obvious that they ‘get it’. Attend any work-related seminar and you’ll be challenged not by mundane lectures, but by dynamic power-point presentations featuring incredible graphics keyed by memorable catch-phrases. They have to be that way in order to survive in the world of business-related seminars. Our schools and universities no longer attempt to teach the old English classics in literature, preferring instead to push post-modern authors and their works. I was shocked when my daughter informed me (with a puzzled look when I asked) Beowulf was not listed on her English Lit syllabus.
It is bad enough that we see this happening in our schools and universities, but I have also noted the symptoms as they invade our churches. Sermons are boring and are quickly becoming passé. The grand old hymns of Fannie J. Crosby and Robert Lowry (among others) are swiftly being replaced with modern praise and worship music. A church is noted for its programs and adaptability to the schedules of its members, and a failure in these areas could spell the end for the church that dares to miss the mark.
Does your young adult Sunday school class have doughnuts and coffee before class? Are there various programs and functions available for the youth? Is your preacher long-winded and uninteresting? Does he use a power-point slide show? Does he use a modern translation of the Bible that is easier to understand? These are the avant-garde questions to use when shopping for a church to attend. I’ve even suggested to my pastor that we open up a concession stand in the back of the church where we can sell nachos and Cokes, et al, during the services - thereby earning money for the building fund as we make things more comfortable for the membership. ‘We’ll pack ‘em in!’ I promised him.
Is this what church is really all about? Is it what we have come to these days?
I like to call it second-rate faith. It is a faith based on emotion and feelings, with no substance and no desire for growth. What can the church do for me and my family with as little or no return on my part as possible? Better said, what can God do for me with as little or no return on my part as possible?
In John 2, Jesus had performed many miracles in Jerusalem and was returning to Galilee following the Passover: “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”
Many believed in Him, but Jesus did not believe in them. Think about it. Why would Jesus do this? After all, we are told that they (the many) believed in Him. If you read the verses again and pay close attention, maybe you'll catch it – they believed in Him due to the hoopla surrounding His wonderful miracles. It was the excitement and emotion of the moment that thrilled their hearts and minds, but it didn’t touch their hearts. He knew when He left or no longer provided miracles for them; they would soon get over it all and go about their lives as before. Jesus wants something deeper from us than that. He wants our lives to be changed as well as our hearts.
It is something worth remembering when we attend worship services at our church each Sunday. We should ask ourselves why we are there, and specifically what our motive for being there is. If we are seeking a deeper faith and a closer relationship with Christ, then we are there for the right reasons. But if it is the doughnuts and camaraderie, the rocked-out versions of old hymns, or those delicious nachos from the concession stand – we need to re-examine our belief and commitment to Him, and in so doing earnestly seek His commitment to us.
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