Thoughts From 1 Timothy - Day 5

  I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.  1Tim 2:1-4

            It's 2024 and we are having a presidential election. Funny how that happens every 4 years. As usual there is the vitriol from the right and left saying each other's candidate is the worst thing for America. It's so easy to see the other side as enemies and spend our time praying that our candidate, God's clear choice, gets in. On a side note, I've often encouraged people to rethink their religion on the basis of do you believe because your parents raised you in that faith or do you believe it because you have examined it to be true? Most people blindly accept their family's faith, but I'm pretty convinced more people accept their family's politics blindly.

        This passage tells us that we should not be praying against the other side but for

   #1. Their salvation - I actually think Trump is more hardened to salvation than Kamala. He was just at a prayer rally with over 50,000 people praying for him to get elected and he was there and posted a video on Twitter. He continues to be in the presence of Christians yet refuses to commit his life to the Lord and evidence it by his behavior. But then again, how many times did it take Nebuchadnezzar to finally humble himself before the Lord. Kamala has been rejected by Christians and probably has rejected the gospel less times. We were just in the mountains fishing and the guide told us the more remote you go the easier it is to catch the trout because they don't reject the lure as easily as they have never seen it before. Do you get my fishers of men analogy? Pray for our leaders' salvations. God is not willing that any should perish.

  #2. That they might keep us at peace - War is horrendous and although I'm not a pacifist, killing fellow creations of God should be a last resort. I don't want my grandkids to be drafted. I was one year from being drafted for Viet Nam. Also for peace in our streets and communities that the leaders would restrain evil and violence from within our nation. Pray for a strong yet humble and moral police force. I have one, Nate Wyrick, in my Sunday School class and if all the police were like him, you would never hear a call for defunding.

   #3. That they might restore quietness - I hate to say it but if Trump gets in we will have 4 more years of attempted impeachments ... basically he will bring anger out from the left and  will be the center of everything news. If Harris gets in, pray that the right might honor her and submit to her authority unless it violates the Bible. But I look forward to the election being over and hopefully more quiet. I can't call my family without hearing political rhetoric and I just long to live a peaceful quiet life.

Review of Netlix's Nobody Wants This

 

        #1 on Netflix for several weeks was a rom com 10 episode series called "Nobody Wants This". Each episode is 30 minutes so binging it is possible and my wife can usually stay awake for 30 minutes. The worst is setting aside a romantic evening to watch a romantic movie and 20 minutes into it she is asleep, and I end up watching a movie I really didn't want to watch instead of say "Extraction 2".

        Episodes 1 and 2 were great. His breakup seemed to be sort of ill defined especially as we see the beauty and depth of his ex in later episodes. It does seem like she is the better catch and Joanne is just the "forbidden fruit".

       Which leads me to the problem I have with this series, which actually is somewhat fixed at the end where he decides to leave "the ministry". The rabbi is not a good spiritual leader. Being a Christian, I am understandably bothered by this with all the hypocritical leaders in our ranks. From Catholic priests abusing thousands of young boys, to Camp Kannacuck, to Ravi Zacharias, the Southern Baptist scandal of abuse, to Steven Lawson in the last few months, Bill Gothard, and dozens more, hypocrisy is despised by us. Noah (the rabbi) goes for the forbidden fruit and by episode 3 is having sex which according to the Torah is wrong. He even brings her to a Jewish youth camp where he is going to teach about the Torah to these youth while having premarital sex in his cabin. I googled to see if Jews were bothered by this and it seems the only thing they are bothered by is the stereotypical portrayal of Jewish women as being bossy. Along with this he uses the Lord's name in vain and has a love relationship with a gentile which is forbidden in the Torah multiple times.

          This isn't to say Noah is a bad person. He is just a bad rabbi. If love is considering other's needs above our own, he puts everyone first including leaving his job for Joanne. Joanne's mom is hurt by her ex-husband's new relationship and he comforts her. Instead of burning Rebecca's things he takes them to her and doesn't avoid the hard conversations. He refuses to gossip, won't eat unclean food, and forgives Joanne easily for lying to him. Also he understands the female mind and gets to core issues in a way that only Hollywood script writers could fabricate.

          Don't get me wrong, I'm not bothered by these people having premarital sex. If I were, I couldn't watch any movies. I have problems with a speaker and leader of people, on God's behalf, having premarital sex and like I said before, now that he has quit his job, they are two people following their own morality having sex.

         Will he leave his Jewishness? No, that is his culture. Will he be troubled by his decision? Yes. Will they find out that chemistry, sex, lust, passion, and the thrill of scandalous behavior wears off only to leave two people who have nothing in common who have given up everything to be together trying to pick up the pieces of their life? If it is a true story, yes. What would be great is if he goes back to Rebecca and she won't have him. We will see in upcoming seasons.

        We see young boys and girls in the Church Youth Group who get enamored with someone who isn't a follower of Jesus. If they pursue this relationship, the first thing you will hear is, "I don't believe the Bible anymore; it's outdated." (Code for I want to have sex) They will gradually disappear from the fellowship but their cultural Christianity will someday marginally bring them back to raise their kids in Church because they have fond memories of those days. It's so sad because God had great plans for their life and they gave it up for lust. I guess this along with being a hypocritical leader representing God is the crux of the objection to this show in my review.

Thoughts From 1Timothy - Day 4

 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1Tim. 1:13-17

         I've heard objections to Christianity that go like this - "Your God says, 'Worship Me or I'll send you to hell.' I can't and won't worship a narcissistic being like that." Here are a few thoughts on that.

        1. God doesn't need anything. He doesn't need your worship. If you choose not to worship Him it's sort of like refusing a medical treatment. OK, your loss. Where I work now, in downtown Memphis, we have so many very sick pregnant women who come in for evaluation and they need to be admitted and they just leave AMA (against medical advice). I think this is a proper analogy because the worship of God is what our sin-sick soul needs. We were made for this but unfortunately substitute the worship of other things because we are all worshipping something. Isn't that right, Swifties.

      2. God doesn't send you to hell for not worshipping Him, you were already on your way because you are following Satan and that's his home. You might say, "I'm not a Satan worshipper." If you are on the throne of your life, that's all Satan wants. Law #1 of the Satanic Bible is not worship Satan but rather, worship yourself. There are just 2 sides, God and Satan and if you aren't worshipping God you are worshipping Satan. It's like your parents saying, "You have 2 choices. You can go to college or not go to college." You respond, "Neither. I'm going to get a job." There is no third option, you have chosen not to go to college.

     3. Paul was aware of how evil he was and the depth of his sin and rebellion toward God and the realization of the mercy bestowed upon him led him to worship. People with the above objection just don't realize their depravity and the grace and mercy of God offered to them. They don't understand the Love of God for them to offer up His Son in their place. We don't worship God because he have to. We worship God because we want to. We love because He first loved us.

       Jesus asked Paul,"Why are you kicking against the pricks?" A prick was a pointy goad that was used to keep the oxen moving. It would be foolish if the oxen got the pointy stick in his behind to lift his hind leg and kick the stick because his hoof would just get stuck like his rear. This objection is an illustration of that. You refusing to worship God is just hurting yourself.

Thoughts From 1 Timothy - Day 3

 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.  1 Tim. 1:8-11

         For every negative there is a positive. For example, don't lie is negative and tell the truth is positive. Don't eat from that one tree is negative and eat from thousands of others is positive. Don't have sex with someone your same sex and don't have sex until you are married is negative, while have sex with someone of the opposite sex when you are married is positive.

       Prior to accepting by faith Christ's forgiveness on the cross, the law was all negative to us. We saw it as a bunch of "dont's" because God was seen as a cruel taskmaster out to ruin our fun and freedom. Paul said in Romans 7 that once he learned coveting was wrong, all he wanted to do is covet. Even though there was only one rule in the garden, Satan came to Eve and focused on the one negative rather than every positive created for them in paradise. Not only did we focus on wanting to do the negatives when we were unsaved, if we did try to do something good, somehow in the midst of that we were breaking a negative. For example, giving to the poor - positive. Seeking recognition for being a good person - negative. Loaning a possession to someone - positive. Expecting reciprocation - negative. Jesus talks a lot about things like this in the sermon on the mount as He exposed people's (especially Pharisees) goodness as fraudulent saying unless we are perfect, we can't get to Heaven.

      When we by faith receive forgiveness of sins and salvation, Christ's perfection is granted to us. Now those desires to do the negatives gradually get replaced by desires to do the positives because God's Spirit lives in us and changes our desires to His. When we do positive things, it isn't done for self-seeking reasons but rather a desire to please the one who made us and gave His life for us and it is actually the power of the Spirit, who has only pure motives, doing it through us. When we do the things that reflect His character and His design for humans, it gives Him glory. It makes Him happy.

      I was thinking, the law is a bit like a policeman. The policeman has a negative function- punish law breakers, and a positive function - create a safe environment for law abiding citizens to live in. If you are a law breaker, the last thing you want to see is a cop. If you are obeying the law, it gives you a sense of freedom when you see him and encouragement to continue to do the right thing.

     The real question is - Is the main desire of your heart to do whatever makes God happy or what makes you happy? The surprise is that the only way for you to be happy is to make God happy. That's how He designed us.

Thoughts From 1 Timothy 1 - Day 2

 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.  1 Tim. 1:3-7

        Paul sent Timothy to oversee the Church in Ephesus which was being threatened in two ways. First was doctrinally. The early Church was threatened by Satan messing with the essentials of the gospel in order that people could believe but believe the wrong gospel and thus not be redeemed. The essentials are

   1. The deity of Christ

   2. Salvation by grace through faith that is evidenced by obedience

   3. No other means of salvation but Jesus

   4. Resurrection of Christ and the dead

   5. The Bible is the inspired word of God (the Old testament scriptures for Timothy)

These are hills to die on and Paul sent Timothy to make sure that error didn't creep in. Today, Satan uses the same tactics and progressive Christianity includes a number of these errors. Church leaders must be aware of these and discerning and confrontational when exposed to them.

       The second attack to the church was geneologies and I'm not quite sure what that is but the results of it were 5 fold

      1. It caused arguing and quarreling

      2. This caused division - didn't lead to love

      3. Those who knew more than others were prideful

      4. Discussing it didn't go anywhere. Didn't lead to sanctification but was an intellectual exercise only

      5. Took away from faith alone. Wasn't violating the essentials but may have been chipping away.

   What are those things today? End times discussions, modes of baptism, incorporation of Jewish customs into Christianity, Calvinism or Arminianism, KJV only, political party allegiance, cessationism or not, old earth vs. young earth and many others are all areas where some people are much more knowledgeable about than you. As they pontificate it usually leads to pride, division, arguing and frankly usually doesn't increase anyone's faith. Paul told Timothy that this was already happening in the church and nip it in the bud.

    Is your church on the right track?

Thoughts From 1 Timothy - Day 1

  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  1 Timothy 1:1,2

             Paul must have been amazed every time he called himself an apostle of Jesus, being a previous persecutor of all who believed in Jesus to the point where he was probably instrumental in the death of people in the early church. Yet God saved him and commanded him to be a sent out one (apostle) to Jews and Gentiles in unreached areas.

           No wonder this title led him to speak of mercy, grace and peace. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Paul deserved the same thing back that he dished out and he didn't get it. Actually he sort of did but it wasn't from the church; it was from the people whose side he was previously on. The world loves you when you are singing their tune but they hang you out to dry when you quit.

       Grace is getting what you don't deserve. Paul deserved wrath from God, yet he received a calling, a new family, and a home in Heaven where I believe he will be rewarded with the same honor as the 12, taking Judas' spot. (Just a theory)

        Finally he received peace. Jesus said "why do you keep kicking against the goads?". In other words Paul's life prior to conversion was one of pain, frustration, inner turmoil. After salvation he knew the Truth and didn't have to fight against God and be His enemy but rather His friend and be empowered by Him. Christians should be characterized by a sense of peace. We don't have to fear like the world does because we know who is in control and we know how the story ends, and it's a happy ending.

       The other consideration with the "apostle" title is why this is preserved for us today. In order for books/ letters to be included in the Bible, they had to be penned by someone with apostolic authority. Paul, by calling himself an apostle, God ordained not self ordained, is lending God's stamp of approval to this epistle and everything you read from hereon in this letter, even though he was penning the words, it was equal to God penning the words. It is truth and should be received that way.