Monthly Archives: December 2008

II Timothy 3:1-5

1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

The scariest part of II Timothy 3:1-5 is the opening phrase of verse 5, “having a form of godliness”. Paul gives a list of horrible sins and then says that those who commit them, have a “form of godliness”. The dreadful behaviour by those who make the days perilous is the activities of people who maintain that they are believers, or at least appear to be believers on the right track. They look good.

This means that that these are not people who are flaunting their sins publicly. These are not those in the Gay Pride parade, the drunks who bother you on the street or the wife swappers next door (although those things are wrong). These are people who “have an appearance of godliness”. They are in church. They preach. They serve. And then they leave such godliness appearing things and, in the words of verses 2 and 3 demonstrate love for themselves, love for money, pride, arrogance, abuse, disobedience to their parents, ingratitude, absence of holiness, heartlessness, inability to back down, slander, inability to say no to temptation and desires of all sorts, brutality, not loving good things, untrustworthiness, recklessness in word and action, self centeredness, and replacing of God with pleasures. What makes the days perilous is not, at least in this passage, the flagrant sins of the ungodly. It is the hypocrisy of those who maintain they belong to Jesus.

Am I guilty of some of the sins Paul lists here as evidence of perilous times? Are you? Today, let’s be honest with ourselves and with God about these kinds of sins. But do not fall into despair. The Gospel is the power of God to them that believe. The Spirit who dwells in believers is able and willing to get us all on the road to more consistent demonstrations of godliness and not just its appearance. Win a victory over sin today – and give the credit where it is due.

II Timothy 3:1-5

1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

It is a very old point to make, but it is worthy of making again – when Paul warned Timothy about the difficulty of the last days he was referring to the days in which Timothy lived. Paul was not talking to Timothy about some far off time that he would not live to see. He was preparing Timothy for the things he was going to encounter in his work as a pastor. Timothy lived in the last days.

The command to Timothy that he be different from those described in verses 1-4 tell us that the “last days” described in this chapter are the days in which Timothy and Paul lived. It has been the last Days since Jesus left the earth. And they have always been days of great difficulty, perilous times. Let us never look at the preponderance of sin in our world as evidence that this is the last generation before the coming of Christ. It is evidence of the fact that we are in the last days and have been for a very long time and may be for a long time yet.

We should find great encouragement from the fact that the church has prospered in the midst of great difficulty throughout the centuries and will survive the crises that we find ourselves in now. What the church has been able to do, by the grace and power of God, it is still able to do through that same power and grace.

But we need to heed the warnings of Scripture, the commands to be vigilant, the urgings to be careful and the promises of reward to the faithful. It is never folly to pray for a movement of God and it is never wrong to believe that great movements of God that were spawned in the past through prayer and the power of God, can indeed happen again. Oh that it would be so, if not in this part of the world then in some other where the Spirit decides it is time to take it next.

Today, do not allow the news you hear of natural disasters and wars to convince you that we are in the final generation before Christ returns. What it should do first is convince you to put every effort into living with greater holiness.

II Timothy 3:1-11
1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra-which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

The word “difficulty” in verse 1 is the Greek word “chalepos” meaning, in this context, “hard to deal with”, “dangerous”. The main point in the verse is not so much that there is great wickedness everywhere, although that is certainly part of what God is telling us. The major point is that the times make it hard on the believer.

The Christian, who lives to please His Lord, is surrounded by ideas and behaviour that tempt to draw him away from the faith. If the culture were godly and everyone was seeking to please God, Christian living would be less difficult. But such is not the case. We live in the midst of great sin and we should not expect it to be otherwise.

The solution is not laws, politics. The solution is the Gospel. And in the saints the alternative to succumbing to the sin that abounds in the culture is the power of the Gospel at work within us. See verse 10 – after listing the ways the ungodly behave Paul’s comment to Timothy is “You however…”. We may have it difficult, but we do not have it impossible. We do not need to give in. This is a major theme of life in Christ as presented by the NT. Romans 12:1-2, Col. 2:8, Matthew 6, I John 2:15-17 and many others are all reminders to us that the Christian is called to live in this wicked world and not be polluted by its immorality. We can live, by the grace and power of God different from the world in which we live. It is the old “in, but not of” argument and it is right.

None of us can rightly say that the reason we sin is because the wickedness of those around us is too great. That would be a denial of the power of the Holy Spirit and the promises of God. Our sin is not God’s fault and it is not the culture’s fault. It is ours.

Today, in the face of temptations, take encouragement from the fact that God enables His people to live transformed lives, not conformed to this world. Prove today that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. There is no temptation that forces otherwise.

Union with Christ is a precious and bottomless well of great theological treasure and sustenance for the soul. A phrase that brings it to the fore is “in Christ” (by Christ, with Christ, from Christ, through Christ). In II Timothy the phrase comes alive in powerful fashion.
2 Tim. 1:1 (ESV)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,
Our promise of life is in Christ
2 Tim. 1:9 (ESV)
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
His own purpose and grace were given to us in Christ before the world began

2 Tim. 1:13 (ESV)
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
The faith and love that we are called to exhibit are in Christ and that is why they are in us.
2 Tim. 2:1 (ESV)
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
We find strength by the grace that we possess in Christ.

2 Tim. 2:10 (ESV)
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Salvation is in Christ and that is where we want the lost to be.

2 Tim. 3:12 (ESV)
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
We live godly lives in Christ

2 Tim. 3:15 (ESV)
and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
We put our faith in Christ and become wise to salvation

All that we have and will become is through Jesus Christ. The magnitude of His work for us in His life, death and resurrection and in His intercession and then in our hope (His return and establishment of the eternal state) is incalculable.

This should send us to our knees in stark wonder. What a travesty that more Christians do not get gripped by the sheer magnificence of this – who can understand it?

Today, reflect upon the fact that every blessing you receive from God, every act of obedience you do for God, every promise you have from God, the hope you have of being welcomed by God, and much more, is because God is satisfied with the work of Christ for you and because you are found in Him. Christ in you, the hope of glory. What a work God has done. It should make us all bow.

Psalm 53

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have those who work evil no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?
5 There they are, in great terror,
where there is no terror!
For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

God looks down from heaven to see if there are any who understand … . Take this literally and you have a God who does not know what is going on. The picture portrayed is that God can be in heaven and also be unaware of what is going on, on the planet. What are we to do with this?

1) Take it literally and conclude that there are things that God does not know and that He must find out by observing. This, the vast majority of Scripture will not allow.
2) Remember that this is poetry and as poetry it is to be understood differently than prose, a didactic passage or historical comment. This is not to avoid the difficulty of the text, but it is to seek to understand the text in the way that it was meant to be understood.
3) Giving human qualities to God is a common way for the Scriptures to help us understand an incomprehensible God better. This is called anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphisms are not infrequent in the Scriptures and this phrase in Psalm 53 is one of them. What is being taught is not God’s ignorance, but man’s utter depravity. Not even God can find a righteous man. If God, who knows everything, can’t find one, then we know one does not exist.

This Psalm is not about God not knowing something. It is about the utter sinfulness of mankind. There is none, not even one, who is righteous. Who then, can intercede for us before God if no one is fit to stand before Him?

This Psalm is about Jesus Christ. It is pointing us to the need for a Saviour. Given that men are so utterly sinful and unable to help themselves, the help must come from Zion, the city of God.

It is God who must restore the fortunes of His people. And He has. Out of Zion Christ came, lived a sinless life, died, taking the punishment for His people and rose from the dead. That is what God did to bring people out of their sin.

Today, rejoice that salvation is not in the least a matter of us being able to provide what God requires but a matter of Him being able and willing to do it Himself. And He did. What a Saviour!

Acts 28:17-31

23When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 25And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:
26 “‘Go to this people, and say, You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
27 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed;
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
28Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”
30He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Paul spent much time in speaking to the Jewish leaders regarding Christ. He debated with them and explained the Scriptures to them and dealt with their questions and even quoted hard texts to them regarding their unwillingness to believe (v. 25-27). Giving the Gospel is not a simple matter of getting a few facts right and firing them at people. Giving out literature is not giving the Gospel – it is getting good stuff into people’s hands so that they can read and believe. It is a good and necessary work. But we need to be able to explain the Scriptures to others and that means knowing them well. We must be willing to take time with people. We need to be patient. We need to work very hard.

There is a striking change between the responses to the preaching of the Gospel in the early chapters of Acts and the later ones. The events of and around Pentecost were extraordinary. God chose to pour out His Spirit in a very spectacular manner. But that is not the norm.

We can pray for similar things to happen, but we should not think that those spectacles are what is needed in order to get the Gospel out effectively. What is needed is a heart for the glory of God, a knowledge of the Scriptures that can deal with the questions of those who disagree with us, much prayer, and much perseverance. May God grant such things to us and may they produce, by His grace, much fruit.

Today, pray to grow in your understanding of the biblical Gospel and pray to recognize the opportunities that God puts in your path to give it to someone and pray that by His sovereign grace, He will use your Gospel work to awaken someone to the wonders of the Gospel.

Acts 27:21-26
21Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. 22Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26But we must run aground on some island.”

An angel of the Lord appears to Paul and gives him a prediction and encouragement. Some people desperately want a direct revelation from God. We all dream and people are prone to see their dreams as God speaking to them. There is no end to the numbers of people who believe God is giving them a special message that others need to listen to. In some ways this is no more than a real hunger for significance. People long for importance. This is an incredibly sad thing and calls for great compassion and sympathy, even while we are involved in disagreeing and correcting. “God DOES speak to me”, is the cry, and to question that is to many people, to question God Himself. The ways in which people erroneously deduce that God has special messages for them are many and varied. But after all that, can we say that God never speaks to anyone like this anymore? How do we determine their truth? Several points:
1) It is right to ask “How do you know this is from God?” There are far too many people who falsely believe that they are God’s mouthpiece for special revelations, to leave people unquestioned, even those who may be legitimate.
2) God will not give these messages to people living in disobedience to, ignorance of, avoidance of … the Word of God. Isaiah 8:20
3) No one should ever have a higher regard for special revelations than they do for the Word of God. To get excited about the “word” and not the Word – is wicked. I Timothy 3:16-17
4) No one should see that these special revelations are necessary for their Christian living or worse, for the living of others that they believe God has given them a message for. The Bible is a sufficient guide for believers in everything. I Timothy 3:16-17
5) A message that conflicts in the slightest manner from the Word of God is not from God. Period. Read all of Psalm 119
6) The Scriptures are a more sure word from God than any revelation, vision, dream or message – II Peter 1:16-21
7) The fulfilment of a message so that it proves a prophecy was true is not proof that it came from God. See II Thess.2:9, 10.

It should never be understood that such revelations as Paul had in Acts 27 are the norm. Such things are recorded, partly because they were so exceptional, even in the day in which they were uttered. The Bible is not “full” of miracles and visions, as is sometimes believed.
9) The Bible’s emphasis is on the fruit of the Spirit more than the gifts and miracles of the Spirit, and so should ours be. Galatians 5:22-23, Ephesians 4:1-3.
10) Such revelations are to be used in conjunction within the ministries of a local church
under the authority of the recognized leaders of that church. There is nothing in the NT that recognizes Christians in a church doing whatever they please. If a church believes that these revelations are possible, there must be some mechanism that allows for them to be utilized in the proper manner. I Corinthians 14
11)All gifts are meant for the benefit of the local church. See I Corinthians 12:7.
Today, read your Bible. There simply is no better way to hear from God.

Acts 26:19-25

19″Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. 21For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
24And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” 25But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

Acts 26 – Paul is defending himself before the puppet King Herod Agrippa and the Roman Governor Festus. When Festus accuses Paul of being insane because of his belief in the Gospel, (and most likely he was referring to the belief in the resurrection), Paul replies that what he has been saying is “true and rational”.

The Gospel is believed by faith but that does not make it irrational. The word means “sane, sensible “temperate,” “self-control,” of “balanced mind”… . Believing the Gospel is not the jettisoning of our mental capacities. It is the embracing of them and the use of them properly.

We often hear the charge that to believe in God and many of the doctrines of the Scriptures is just plain stupid. It is a stupid thing to say and reflects more of an ignorance about Christianity than it does any true assessment of it. But sadly, there are many Christians who seem to think that faith means not needing to think hard and love God with all their minds. Some even believe that hard mental activity interferes with living by faith.

Christianity is not just for intellectuals and there are many fine believers who are uneducated, mentally challenged, or unable to pursue the study of the things in the Scriptures that push us to hard thinking. But this does not mean that faith is irrational. It is not. Paul was a PhD of his day. He was no mental slouch. The ridicule of Festus did not deter him. “I speak true and rational words” he told his critic.

Today, as you read your Bible, pray to be able to understand it properly. Ask Him to help you do the hard mental work that some of the Scriptures often require of us. Be a Christian who loves God with heart, soul, MIND and strength.