Category: Uncategorized

Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive (Colossians 3:12-13 CSB).

In this letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul teaches us about the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ in all matters. His preeminent lordship means that he has the right to reorder or restructure the way of life of his people. In other words, by the Spirit he tells us how to live godly. Colossians 3:1-17 is a great text about this. Paul starts with the basic idea of being Christ-focused (3:1-4), next he presents ungodly ways that we must put off (3:5-11), and then he tells us the “new clothing” all followers of Jesus Christ are to wear (3:12-17).

Seven qualities of true godliness are presented in these two verses. More follow in the remainder of this section. Forgiveness is probably the most discussed of these seven. People have much difficulty forgiving others, though everyone wants to be forgiven when we have sinned. Most people sense their need for patience, though impatience is easily dismissed as a mere character flaw. Compassion and kindness are applauded, while humility and gentleness are looked down on, though neither is well-understood. That brings us to the one aspect of relational godliness that is forgotten or ignored: bearing with one another. I have taught the Bible for over forty years, and in my experience at least, people are rather “ho-hum” about bearing with or putting up with others. Certainly, we want others to put up with our sins, mistakes, failures, and general quirkiness. Yes, you and I might look at our own strangeness as originality, but others view our peculiarities as eccentricity, oddness, or simple weirdness. All such matters provide numerous occasions to put up with each other.

As members of the Christ’s body, the church, we need to bear with each other. We might be in the same local church (gathering of believers) or small group or Bible study. Since God our Father has put us together, he wants us to develop our relationship as brothers and sisters in his family. Let’s think of some actions and reactions that are not bearing with one another.

• When we become annoyed and angry with others because of their sins, flaws, and quirkiness, we are not putting up with them. This should be obvious.
• It does not mean that we ignore their sins and fail to confront them in love. If we do that, we are simply running from problems.
• During a conversation with someone, when we desperately seek a way out of the conversation, we fail to put up with them.
• Likewise, if we avoid connecting with someone, because we get irritated by them, we fail to bear with them. This never helps a relationship to develop, because we need to interact with each other.
• When we act toward them in impatience, looking eagerly for the opportunity to set them straight. I call this the “grinding your gears” approach. You’re not clobbering the other person yet, but you wish you could! That is not bearing with another person.

When do we bear with one another?

• When we commit to invest time in improving our relationship with the other person. Paul wanted the Colossian believers to develop a close relationship in their local gathering. This will involve emotional pain on our part, because we do not merely flip an internal switch that stops the irritation we feel. It also will require our own growth in grace and the knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3:18).
• When we listen to their story and seek to understand it. This will take effort to concentrate, because we might want to bail out mentally while they tell their story.
• We must be willing to wait for the other person to change. Some people are very broken by what has happened to them and their concurrent wrong reactions to those events. Picture yourself helping someone to walk again after an accident. The process takes time. That is easy to tell ourselves, but difficult to implement practically.
• We need to model good patterns of communication to the other person and perhaps tell them how to communicate properly. Certainly, you cannot start here, because hurting people must know that you truly care and desire a better relationship before they show interest in what you think you need to tell them.
• We ought to pray for the person that we seek to put up with. God works where we cannot: in our heart and in their heart. Pray.

Clearly, this is a complex matter, since relationships among two sinners, including saved sinners, are complicated and complex. But we are new people in Christ, we have the Bible, and the Holy Spirit lives within us to help us. So then, let’s start to put up with people, even when we find it very difficult and frustrating.

Grace and peace
David

1 Timothy 1:17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (CSB).

At the conclusion of every year, most people conduct at least a casual evaluation of what kind of a year it was for them. Answers range across the whole spectrum from “horribly terrible” to “most excellent”. I can understand the reasons many say, “I’m glad this year is over! I hope the new year will be much better!” My wife and I went through a series of years (2010-2015) that we were glad to see end. Looking back now, I think we can see the hand of God’s blessing on us at all times during those years, even though we suffered. Our Sovereign God was very merciful when it was hard to discern his hand of blessing. And we’re thankful!

Regardless of how you and I evaluated the past year, I know how we ought to begin 2020: with joyful praise to the Lord our God! If you had a difficult year, remember to keep the living God in your focus in the new year. If you think last year was great, don’t forget the Father in heaven who has loaded you with benefits.

Wherever you are on this spectrum, a godly response will require ongoing repentance and faith. By this I mean that we will need to have our thoughts of the true and living God transformed by his word, and then to trust him each step of the way. It is important to both have our minds renewed (Rm 12:1-2) and to commit ourselves to the Lord. It doesn’t do any good and even is spiritually harmful to say, “I will trust God better this year,” if we have wrong ideas and thoughts about God. For example, can you trust God if you have doubts about his wisdom or control over all things or his kindness or his love? The answer should be obvious. Can you trust God if you wrongly imagine that you have the right to decide what is best for you, or if God is required to make your life pleasant? Not at all!

So then, how can we have right ideas of God and attitudes about him, so that we desire to praise the true and living God? I think our text highlights some characteristics of God that will transform our minds and hearts.

• God is King. He’s the Boss. He directs all things according to the counsel of his own will. While he joyfully includes us in his work, he doesn’t ask for our advice. This is rather difficult for people to accept who want to be directing life in this world. I hear too much about people asserting that “we have a free will”. I’ve never heard anyone ask, “Does God have a free will?”
• God is immortal. He’s not affected by time, human events, and human opinions about him. He never changes in his glorious, holy essence. He is God, and there is no other. He will be the same holy and loving God for us throughout the year.
• God is invisible. He is spirit, and we cannot perceive his presence with our physical senses. People long for various physical signs that God is present. That makes idolatry extremely popular. Too many contemporary churches try to make the spiritual physically apparent by the use of lights, fog machines, and the interior design of their buildings. This is not different from churches in the past that used paintings, sculpture, stained glass windows, and soaring architecture to try to achieve similar results. But God is invisible. You must trust his revelation of himself. The Spirit of Glory resides in every believer, but we do not have halos or a supernatural glow!
• God is the only God. He has no equals or competitors. He is unique; he is holy. This truth demands that we set our minds and love on him above all. It also requires us to rejoice that he is God and not we ourselves.

May God give us the grace to think and live in conformity with his revelation of himself. Then we will be able to praise him during 2020.

Grace and peace, David

Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:1-2 NIV).

During this Christmas season, our granddaughter, who is almost three, learned the first stanza of the Christmas hymn “We Three Kings”. I think we all rejoice when young children can use their voices to sing the praises of the King of kings. It is always good to sing praises to the Lord, especially when we sing about one of the important events in the history of redemption.

When a child sings, it is interesting to listen carefully to their words, since they usually vary from the actual words of the song. When Elise sings this carol, she says, “We five kings….” We smile at her artistic license in departing from the traditional text. She makes no change to the Biblical texts in the number of kings (actually Magi), since Matthew only refers to them in the plural without counting them. Her devotion to singing to the Great King is an example to us all.

So now let us turn our minds to worship and consider four reactions to Christ’s birth. One of the key words in our text is the word “worship”. Let’s look at the people mentioned in the text and see how many of them desired to worship Jesus Christ the Lord.

Many people were disturbed (2:1-3). The source of much of this disruption came from King Herod. When an oppressive ruler is stirred up about something, others have reason for concern. King Herod had murdered his wife, three sons, a mother-in-law, a brother-in-law, an uncle, and many others. He would tolerate no opposition from anyone under his authority. Nor would he allow any potential rival to his throne to live.

The people of Jerusalem were caught up in the unrest. With a man like Herod in power, the people would be very concerned about what might happen from the appearance of these visitors with their scary question. What might Herod do? Who might get caught by his suspicious inquisition? Yes, the people had sufficient reason to be troubled. Did they pray for God’s protection from the king’s cruelty? Did hope arise in their hearts because of this news of a newborn? We do not know. None of them appear to have had any public interest in the birth of a Messiah. Fear ruled over worship. We need to show hope to a troubled world, because we know that God’s King has been born.

Religious scholars were disinterested (2:4-6). They knew the facts about the promised Messiah. They knew what God had said through the prophet Micah some seven hundred years before. They certainly knew the other prophecies about the Messiah that were written by David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, too. To men well taught in the Law and the Prophets, this was an easy question.

Yet they lacked a zeal for discovery. All Jerusalem was buzzing over the inquiry of the Magi. They should have wondered what was happening when the Gentile king ruling over them asked about their Messiah. But they were not stirred to pursue these matters. They knew a lot, but they lacked any deep, life-changing interest. So it is with many religious people. Perhaps they will have heard or will hear later the story of Christmas. But will they seek to know its meaning? Will they strive to know more about the newborn King? We ought to model the right kind of interest, rather than being content with correct information that the Savior was born over two thousand years ago.

King Herod was deceitful (2:7-8). He played the religious game carefully. He did not want to arouse speculation about the coming of the Messiah among the people. So he had to act quietly. He did not want to make the Magi suspicious before he gained some more information about how to identify the newborn King. Clearly, he was unaware of the nature of the star, inferring that it was simply some mumbo jumbo of astrologers. For this reason, he pretended to be a devout worshiper of the Lord.

His intent was far from worship of the Messiah. The sequel to this account shows what Herod intended. It was murder. Let us stay far away from his spirit. Let us love God’s peace.

The Magi were delighted (2:9-12).

• They acted on the information they had received. It was meager compared to the riches of God’s word that we now have. But they made a long journey that cost them money, hardship, and time in order to find the baby King.
• They rejoiced when they saw the star. They experienced God leading them when no one else could or would. It is not certain what this star was, but it was clearly special, since it led them to the house where Jesus was.
• They worshiped and honored the baby king. Filled with joy, they gave him rich gifts. In response to God’s great gift of his Son, have you given him yourself? He wants you most of all. He welcomes you to know his surpassing greatness and love.

We should not be surprised when we encounter different reactions to Christ and Christmas. Besides the above mentioned, people may react in other ways. Most people are mired in the responses of unbelief, regardless of their form. They have been part of the human situation since the first Christmas.

In this account we learn anew how God can supply for his people in surprising ways. In this text we see a few of them: a star for the Magi, gifts for the young family, which will help them during their escape to Egypt, and dreams to provide a special warning for the Magi and to give Joseph direction to protect his family. God is active in our lives, whether or not we recognize him.

God’s love is seen in his willingness to send his Son to be the Savior of sinners. God sent his Son to save oppressors and the oppressed, the disinterested and those ready to listen, the deceivers and the deceived, those far off and those who are near. It matters not who we are and what we’ve done, Christ was born to save people like us. How deeply are you interested in the birth of Jesus? Yes, you are reading this post when you could be wasting your life on frivolity. Obviously, you have some kind of interest. But that isn’t the question. Are you interested enough to dig deeper, to learn more? Or have you grown too accustomed to these words to be stirred by them?

Grace and peace, David

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful (Colossians 3:15 NIV)

Thanksgiving. Most think of it as the holiday that kicks of the Holiday season. It features food, family, food, friends, food, football, food… Well, you get the idea. If you wanted to add a “spiritual sounding” word, you could have added “fellowship”, but often that sounds like “food” to many Christians. (The “Fellowship Hall” in the church building is where you eat, right?) Sadly, to many people, Thanksgiving is the time when you gather for feasting and hopefully fun, and there is NOTHING wrong with feasting and fun. But feasting and fun is all that is thought about, except for a quick prayer before the meal.

However, those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ have a higher and wider perspective. We know the One to whom we surely must give thanks. So, on the special day set apart for giving thanks in our culture, we will be thankful! Let’s think about some matters for which to give thanks. Feel free to use these suggestions, and develop your own.

• We thank God for God himself. Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name (Psalm 103:1 NIV) Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
  his faithful love endures forever (Psalm 107:1 CSB). Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion; Declare among the peoples His deeds (Psalm 9:11 NASB). For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen (Romans 11:36 NLT).
• We thank God for saving grace. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord (Psalm 40:2-3 ESV). Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:3-4 NIV). Giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light (Colossians 1:12 CSB).
• We thank God for our family. House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord (Proverbs 19:14 ESV). Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him (Psalm 127:3 NIV)
• We thank God for other believers. But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13 CSB). I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints (Philemon 1:4-5 ESV).
• We thank God in all circumstances. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:18 NIV). Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening (Acts 16:25 NLT).

So then, we have much for which to give thanks, and the above mentioned is only a starting place. As you read God’s Word, look for what the Spirit mentions that God has given to us, and then make those items on your praise list. Happy Thanksgiving!

Grace and peace, David