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Daily Bible thoughts 1042: Monday 28th December 2015: 2 Timothy 1:1-7: Spiritual parenthood.

2 Timothy 1:1-7: Spiritual parenthood.(please click here for todays passage)

Some years ago, I heard a great preacher speaking on Romans 7: 4: ‘’So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.’’ He talked about different types of spiritual fruit, one being the fruit of spiritual children. He asked us, ‘Do you have any?’ Then, turning to a couple who were sitting on the same platform, he said, ‘Here are two of mine.’ He lovingly walked over to them and put his arm around them. Just a few years earlier he had led them to Christ and now they were in the ministry. The bonds between them were evident. It was a poignant moment.

Consider in our short passage:

  • The joy of spiritual parenthood (2a): ‘’To Timothy, my beloved child.’’ You want the very best gifts for your children. Whatever you have given them at Christmas, you know that life’s best and most important things do not come wrapped up in prettily packaged parcels. What better to wish for your children than: ‘’Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.’’ (2b). Here are enduring things that will never end up in a rubbish dump. We will never outgrow our need for them. As parents, we also want to encourage our children to grow and develop and use their gifts – become the people God destined them to be. Spiritual parents have similar desires for their offspring (6, 7). Paul did not want to see any inherent timidity holding Timothy back.
  • The bonds of spiritual parenthood (4): Timothy’s ‘’tears’’ may well have come at a time when he and his ‘dad’ in Christ were parted. Understandably, there were strong emotions felt by this pair. There was a significant attachment.
  • The influence of natural family (5): It may have been through Paul that Timothy became a Christian, but Paul recognised the vital role played by a devout family upbringing. It is true that ‘’God has no grandchildren.’’ You can’t get into heaven on your parents’ ticket. But I do know from personal experience the great blessing it is to be raised in a Christian family. I thank God for my parents, David and Jessie Thompson, who prayed for me, and brought me up to go to church every Sunday. They taught me about Jesus. How grateful I am for Reg Thompson, my dad’s dad, who, as a widower, was often around in my early years. The influence of his quietly godly life is something I will never forget. It is a blessing to have a Christian family.
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Daily Bible thoughts 1041: Friday 25th December 2015: Luke 4:31-44: The ‘Unseen Guest’.

 Luke 4:31-44: The ‘Unseen Guest’.

‘’Christ is a guest that will pay well for his entertainment; those that bid him welcome into their hearts and houses shall be no losers by him; he comes with healing.’’ Matthew Henry.

Is Christ the ‘Unseen Guest’ at your Christmas table today? Have you invited Him into your home on His ‘birthday’? Will He remain as a special ‘guest’ under your roof all year, and not just on Christmas day? You will be blessed indeed if He is at home in your home.

Here are some other thoughts from this lovely passage:

  • The people recognised a difference about Jesus compared to their regular teachers (32). ‘’…for his words had the ring of authority’’ B. Phillips translation. Demons are mentioned 23 times in Luke, but 14 of those references occur between here and (9:50) in Jesus’ Galilean ministry. Christ came into the world to conquer all evil (1 John 3:8b). That is something to celebrate this Christmas day (see also 41. Matthew Henry says about this verse: ‘’It was a confession upon the rack, and therefore was not admitted in evidence.’’);
  • Like Simon’s mother-in-law we are ‘saved to serve’ (38, 39). See how Jesus responds to prayer: ‘’…they asked Jesus to help her. So…’’ Here is something to celebrate this Christmas day: we have a prayer-answering Omnipotent Lord Jesus;
  • The personal touch of Jesus (40): ‘’…and he laid his hands on each one of them separately and healed them.’’ B. Phillips. See the time He took over individuals; the care He gave them. In the mass He did not lose sight of the individual; in the crowd He still saw the man and woman, the boy and girl. Here is something to celebrate this Christmas day: Jesus loves us personally and deeply;
  • The vital importance of ‘solitary refinement’, as someone put it. There were no imperfections to be removed from Jesus, but if He saw the need for times of withdrawal for fellowship with God, surely we should. However, there is a balance to be observed. If we withdraw briefly from the world, it is only that we might return to it with renewed strength and vigour. ‘Though a desert place may be a convenient retreat, yet it is not a convenient residence, because we were not sent into the world to live to ourselves…but to glorify God and do good in our generation. A desert is no desert if we be with Christ there.’’ Matthew Henry. Here is something to celebrate this Christmas day: the great example of Jesus as a Man of prayer;
  • The gospel imperative (42-44). The good news must be spread; it has to be shared. On this festive day, let’s not keep the great cause for our celebration to ourselves; let’s stay focussed on Jesus. Here is something to celebrate this Christmas day: there is a cure for sin, and it is found in the Saviour Jesus

‘’In the rush to take and experience what Jesus has to offer, people can easily forget the One all the miracles point to.’’ IVP Commentary.

Let’s keep our eyes fixed on wonderful Jesus – today – and every day of the coming year.

Prayer: I love you Lord. Oh help me to love you more.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1040: Thursday 24th December 2015: Jeremiah 25:15-38: Sobering truth.

 Jeremiah 25:15-38: Sobering truth.(please click here for todays passage)

‘’The nation was deaf to God’s Word (vv.4, 7, 8), but that Word would be fulfilled, not only to Israel, but to all the nations to which God sent it by His prophet. God is long-suffering toward disobedient people and gives them many opportunities for repentance, but eventually He must act. He will be like a host who makes his guests drunk (vv.15-29), a lion that attacks the flock (vv.30-31, 34-38), a whirlwind that sweeps across the nation and destroys it (vv.32-33).’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, pp.514,515.

Judgment begins at the house of God (29; see 1 Peter 4:17) with the people of God. But it doesn’t stop there. The sobering truth is that there is going to be a worldwide judgment, and how terrible it will be. These verses point repeatedly to this universal reality.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed: ‘’Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’’ (Luke 22:42). In that moment He knew the contents of the ‘cup’; what was in it and what it would bring to Him. Was He not God? Had He not spoken these words in the first place? That ‘’cup of the wine of wrath’’ has a ‘sharp’ taste. It is effectively drinking a sword. It brings death (16, 27; see also 33). But in the case of Jesus, drinking the cup didn’t end with His ‘’fall’’ (27). Afterwards, unlike anyone else who drank from the cup, He rose, forever. The resurrection of Christ shows that God the Father has accepted His work on our behalf. This is why Jesus came into the world at Christmas. He was born to die. He took our place on the cross, drinking to the dregs the cup of God’s wrath against sin. Rightly speaking it should have been put to our lips. But Jesus took it for us. If we trust Him and His work on our behalf; if we receive what He has done for us, we too will rise with Him to eternal life.

Here are two other significant points from today’s reading:

  • Prophets (and preachers) are people under orders (15, 17). We do what we are told, go where we are sent and say what we are given. This is ministry;
  • Kings and rulers serve a higher authority (17-26). However great and powerful they may seem to us, they are under the sovereignty of Almighty God.

Prayer: ‘’Oh make me understand it, help me to take it in, what it meant to you, the Holy One, to bear away my sin.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1039: Wednesday 23rd December 2015: Jeremiah 25: 8-14: Remember Who’s in control.

Jeremiah 25: 8-14: Remember Who’s in control(please click for passage)
‘’An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.’’ Sidney J. Harris (quoted by Warren Wiersbe.)
Remember Who is in control.
People in Jeremiah’s day thought of Nebuchadnezzar as a ‘master’. He was big in their eyes. But the Lord of history saw him in true perspective. He called him ‘’my servant’’ (9). He was less than small in God’s eyes. Nebuchadnezzar was God’s agent of judgment, even though he didn’t realise it. He was not a believer, but in his conquests he was accomplishing God’s will (51:20-23). God is sovereign and He can use whoever He chooses to get His will done – even unconverted people. The ‘’seventy years’’ (11) represented a lifetime in the Old Testament; so those who went into exile would not see their homeland again. That’s the point. But there is probably a further matter here: ‘’One reason God determined a period of seventy years was that the land might enjoy the rest the Jews had denied it (2 Chron.36:20-21; Lev.25:3-5). The law of the sabbatical year had been ignored for nearly five hundred years!’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (OT),p.1240. But God never forgets His own Word. We don’t so much break it as we are broken by it in the breaking of it!
There are at least two implications of God’s Sovereignty as seen in this section:
• Sin will be punished. God’s Word had been repeatedly preached by Jeremiah and other prophets. It had also been repeatedly pushed away, like unwanted plates of lovingly prepared food. God is patient. He gives plenty of time for the children to change their minds and ‘eat their dinner.’ But the moment will arrive when there are no further chances. No one gets away forever with rejecting God;
• People will reap what they sow (12-14). A day was coming when the punishers would be punished; the instruments of judgment would be judged; those who enslaved others would themselves be enslaved. Although God used the Babylonians in His purposes, He did not make them sin. They too would have to pay for the wrong things they had done. The ‘’many nations’’ spoken about were Media, Persia, and their allies, who defeated the Babylonians in 539 B.C. The ‘’great kings’’ were Cyrus the great and the tributary kings allied with him. No one is so great that God cannot fell them like a gigantic tree.
It all goes to show that ‘’what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.’’
Prayer: Lord help me to be careful about the choices I make today.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1038: Tuesday 22nd December 2015: Jeremiah 25:1-7: Hearing problems.

 Jeremiah 25:1-7: Hearing problems.(please click here for todays passage)

When I was an assistant pastor in my first church it was my delight to be sent to visit an elderly couple who were just a joy to be with. I remember the lovely old man (who I can see in my mind’s eye still, but whose name I have sadly forgotten) telling me that he went to ‘the hard of hearing club!’ He had problems with deafness; but he did not choose his condition.

It was different with Judah. They put themselves in ‘the hard of hearing club’ by wilful, stubborn rebellion. They were like the little boy who sticks his fingers in his ears because he does not want to listen to his ‘ticking off’. This prophecy was given by Jeremiah nineteen years before the fall of Jerusalem – about half way through his ministry. He, and other prophets, had warned the people of Judah over and over again, but they had not listened (3, 4).

Here are three questions for us to consider:

What is God saying ‘’persistently’’? (3, 4): What is the thing God keeps bringing up with you, and you don’t want to talk about it? You don’t want to hear.

Where, and how, are you tuning Him out? (3, 7): ‘’…but you have not listened…Yet you have not listened…’’ If you don’t like a particular radio programme; if, for some reason, the presenter is annoying you, you can just turn the off switch. He’s still speaking, but you’re not listening. It’s a deliberate choice. Click. He’s gone as far as you’re concerned. You don’t have to be bothered by him anymore. People try and do something similar with God. A friend of mine was disturbed by burglars one night. For a long time afterwards he couldn’t sleep. He heard the slightest noise. Eventually he found a workable solution. Ear plugs. He put them in every night and made friends with sleep once more. This was a good thing for my acquaintance, but it’s a bad thing when we put in the plugs to avoid hearing the sounds from heaven.

Do you realise where such deliberate deafness leads? To ‘’harm’’ (6, 7). You hurt yourself when you don’t listen to God; when you turn a deaf ear to His voice. If you keep on walking down the road with your ear plugs in it will take you to judgment. It also leads to misery, poverty, famine, darkness, waste and ruin (10,11). ‘’And I’ll banish every sound of joy – singing, laughter, marriage festivities, genial workmen, candlelit suppers. The whole landscape will be one vast wasteland.’’ The Message. If you fancy living in such a barren environment, keep sticking your fingers in your ears. That will get you there.

One final thought for today:

‘’One could say that Jeremiah had failed…But fortunately for Jeremiah (and for us) God does not measure the value of one’s ministry by its ‘’success’’ or ‘’failure’’ but rather by the faithfulness of the minister. This should be an encouragement to those Christian workers who labour in difficult circumstances, whose churches don’t grow, whose preaching falls on deaf ears. The truth is that spiritual success in ministry is brought about by the Lord (John 21:1-6). Our role is to trust the Lord and follow His directions.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, pp.1110, 1111.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1037: Monday 21st December 2015: 1 Timothy 6:20, 21: True riches.

 1 Timothy 6:20-21: True riches.(please click here for todays passage)

I read recently that Simon Cowell’s home has been targeted in a burglary. If you are seen to have a lot in this world, there will be greedy eyes locked on to your possessions. There are plenty of people around who want to steal your ‘treasures’.

As we saw yesterday, in the final section of his first letter Paul teaches about the correct handling of wealth. He tells Timothy what he should say to rich Christians.

But the final exhortation to Timothy reminds us where the truest treasure lies:

‘’And oh, my dear Timothy, guard the treasure you were given! Guard it with your life.’’ The Message.

‘’Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.’’ New International Version.

Timothy did not have a complete Bible – not as we know it. But what he did have he was to ‘’guard’’ as ‘’treasure’’. In the face of false teaching, he had a commission to keep on preaching the truth as it had been revealed to him. He also needed to guard his own heart so that he did not ‘catch’ the deadly heretical ‘infection’ that was doing the rounds.

Do you treasure your Bible more than any other earthly possession? Are your truest riches to be found in the gospel?

Church leaders especially have a sober responsibility to guard the riches of God’s revelation. This message does not belong to us. It has been ‘’entrusted’’ to our care. Let’s make sure it is never stolen from our own hearts, or from the flock in our care.

From time to time you hear stories of evangelical church leaders who no longer believe what they once were committed to. Some stand up and express their unbelief publicly. I heard of one such incident recently. It is tragic, and damaging, when it happens. To stay true to God and His Word to the very end is our commission. To fulfil it we will need resources from outside. So the final words of today’s reading sparkle with relevance, and meet our need:

‘’Overwhelming grace keep you.’’ The Message.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for entrusting your finest riches to fickle people such as we are. But thank you too that you do more than ask us to stand guard. You give us armour to wear so that the thief doesn’t get past us to steal the loot.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1036: Friday 18th December 2015: 1 Timothy 6:17-21: A divine perspective on wealth.

 1 Timothy 6:17-21: A divine perspective on wealth.(please click here for todays passage)

‘’Earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can.’’ John Wesley

Here are some final thoughts from this wonderful letter to Timothy:

The transience of riches: ‘’Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain…’’ (17). It is. Banks have collapsed before. A bad business decision, an unexpected redundancy, a shift on the stock market, and it can all come crashing down. These words give us the insight that there were rich people in the early church. They needed to be reminded not to make wealth their god. No-one should trust in money. It is fickle. ‘’Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow.’’ The Message.

The usefulness of riches: ‘’…God…richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.’’ (17b), and a big part of the enjoyment lies in having the privilege to give it away (18): ‘’Command (this is not an option!) them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.’’ Someone said that money makes a good servant but a poor master. Timothy was told to command the rich Christians not to live in servitude to their wealth; neither in the worship of it. Rather, they were to let it serve the purposes of God through them. ‘’Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage – to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous.’’ The Message.

Lasting riches: ‘’In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.’’ The way to keep your money is to give it away. This is counter-intuitive, but all who do so find that God’s laws of economics work differently. ‘’If they do that, they will build a treasury that will last…’’ The Message. If you invest your money in the bank of heaven what an eternal return you will receive. Is giving a joy to you? This is one major way to check out the state of your heart.

Prayer: Lord God, you have blessed me with so much. Again, I am faced with the challenge of being a good ‘steward’, and I so want to ask for your help with this. I commit to you all I have received from your generous Hand. Please show me how you want me to use it, and help me to be obedient.

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Daily Bible thoughts 1035: Thursday 17th December 2015: 1 Timothy 6:11-16: Put on your running shoes.

 1 Timothy 6:11-16: Put on your running shoes.(please click here for todays passage)

The great evangelist, D.L. Moody, said that he had more trouble with D.L. Moody than any person he knew.

Most weeks, I run on certain mornings. I have no doubts about the fact that I can only run because of the health and strength God gives me. But I have to do the running. I have to make a choice to get out of bed, put on my running shoes and expend the effort. I am always glad I did, even if I don’t feel like doing it initially.

Run from (11a): ‘’But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this.’’ The Message. We should choose to put distance between ourselves and sin. Timothy was to flee from heresy and greed – I believe the context suggests this. Of course, there are many other things to show your heels. I was impressed to hear a well-known Christian leader say that one day, while he was walking in a forest, he came across a pile of pornographic material someone had discarded. ‘’Do you know what I did?’’ he asked. ‘’I ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction because I know I can’t handle stuff like that.’’

Run towards (11b): Not only should we resist certain things. Positively, there are certain qualities to pursue and put on. ‘’Pursue a righteous life – a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith.’’ The Message.

Run in the light of (13): We live in the light of God’s presence and Christ’s return ‘’which God will bring about in his own time’’ (15a). I do wish some date-setting Christians would get this into their heads!

Like running, the Christian life takes effort. There are things we have to do: ‘’…flee…pursue…Fight…Take hold…keep this command…’’ But we do not do these things in our own strength. It is ‘’God, who gives life to everything’’ (13), and He enables us to ‘run’.

Bill Hybels says, ‘’You are the most difficult person you will ever have to lead.’’ Isn’t that the truth?!

But what a wonderful God we have with us and for us:

‘’I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on his way. He’ll show up right on time, his arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He’s the only one death can’t touch, his light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes – human eyes can’t take him in! Honour to him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes.’’ The Message.

Keep your eyes on Him and you will run well.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 1034: Wednesday 16th December 2015: 1 Timothy 6:3-10: You can’t take it with you.

 1 Timothy 6:3-10: You can’t take it with you.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

Someone said, ‘’You will never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.’’

I heard a young woman give a testimony on one occasion. She was a Christian, but she said that she had been through a period in life when she felt ‘’so discontented’’. Then, in reading her Bible, these words hit her (6): ‘’But godliness with contentment is great gain.’’ (6). They brought perspective and changed everything in her outlook.

What lies at the back of this passage is the lust for money; the love of money. False teaching and money-grabbing tend to go together. When you see greed for monetary gain in a leader/preacher it should set off alarm bells in your head. Be wary. If you are in a position of leadership in the church, and you sense such desires growing in your heart, that is an ‘eye’ to be gouged out and a ‘hand’ to be cut off (Matthew 5:29, 30). Don’t allow such longings to stay. Go to war against them. They may well destroy you if you let them stay. So, as the Sergeant used to say in ‘Hill Street Blues’: ‘’Do it to them before they do it to you.’’

Paul says there’s a standard of teaching by which you can ‘measure’ all teaching, and anything out of true should not be tolerated. In his day he knew of false teachers ‘’who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.’’ (5; Hebrews 13:5). Again, the problem here is the focus on money and the greed for it. The tenth verse has been misquoted as ‘’The love of money is the root of all evil.’’ It isn’t. But it is a serious problem. It leads to bad places. It can lead your heart away from Jesus so that your devotion is given to an idol that will bitterly disappoint (10). You can’t take it with you (7). We should be content with the basics of life (8). God may bless us with more, but it is wise, and right, to cultivate thankful, contented hearts. ‘’Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough…Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.’’ The Message.

False teaching has to be dealt with. It is like a serious infection; a contagion that will spread: ‘’If you have leaders who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumours. Eventually there’s an epidemic of back-stabbing, and truth is bit a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck.’’ The Message.

A well-known preacher was asked to speak at a meeting in the Stock Exchange in London. He said he wanted to entitle his talk: ‘’You can’t take it with you, and if you could it would burn!’’

Prayer: Lord, keep my heart free from the love of money

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