Category Archives: Bible Study

Quit Hanging Around the Corpse

We have a fascination with death, being dead, being undead, etc. I am not even going to attempt to categorize any of it because I pay very little attention to it and all I will get are comments about how I mis-categorized something.

My point is this: we need to quit hanging around the corpse. Once something is dead, leave it. Well, more specifically, once your life in Christ is activated, quit hanging around the corpse of what once was.

This is a place where I am intrigued by the word chosen by the Common English Bible:

6 This is what we know: the person that we used to be was crucified with him in order to get rid of the corpse that had been controlled by sin. That way we wouldn’t be slaves to sin anymore, 7 because a person who has died has been freed from sin’s power. (Rom. 6:6-7, CEB)

Romans 6-8 is one of the most powerful passages in Scripture. The emphasis from death to life is so deeply powerful. Leave the old life. Enter into the powerful life of the Spirit. Don’t let the corpse hang around!

You are born into new life. Get rid of the stinking corpse that was your old life. You may think it’s novel to have it hanging around, but it’s stinking up the place! Move on in Christ.

Keeping It Simple: Just Do What He Says

9 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:

Make just and faithful decisions; show kindness and compassion to each other! 10 Don’t oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; don’t plan evil against each other! 11 But they refused to pay attention. They turned a cold shoulder and stopped listening.

12 They steeled their hearts against hearing the Instruction and the words that the Lord of heavenly forces sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. As a result, the Lord of heavenly forces became enraged. (Zech. 7:9-12, CEB)

Israel’s issue was simple. Keep the instruction of the Lord. And the instruction isn’t that difficult to understand.

– Make just and faithful decisions. Got it.

– Show kindness and compassion to each other. Check.

– Don’t oppress the margins of society. You bet.

The problem was that Israel chose to ignore what was said. They refused to pay attention.

This is our issue. God’s best is in front of us. He wants what is for our good. And we decide… not to pay attention. We know better than God. We’re smarter than his Word. We make all kinds of excuses.

This is not a great position in which to find ourselves. But we seem to be as hard-headed at times as Israel. God isn’t particularly favorable toward those who call themselves his people and they keep ignoring him.

It is simple. Not easy. But simple. And we keep rejecting what is for our good.

Refusing God’s Best

We are the human race and it is our demise that we keep thinking WE know better than God. We keep contorting our philosophies and theologies to what brings comfort to us.

The short work of Haggai has a phrase repeated that needs to be shouted to us once again, especially as the people of God:

So now, this is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
Take your ways to heart. (Haggai 1:5, CEB)

As the NIV puts it: “Give careful thought to your ways.”

For Israel, it was the time when they returned to Jerusalem for the purpose of rebuilding the House of the Lord. They had laid the foundation, but then dropped the work. They got consumed with their own stuff. They needed housing… then, they needed nice housing… you know the drill. It happens to the best of us.

Yet, they just didn’t seem to have enough. They were planting, but the crops weren’t producing. They worked harder, but less production resulted.

Take your ways to heart.

They were ignoring God’s best for their misconstrued definitions of what they thought was best for themselves.

We are constantly in that dilemma. We argue and contort and whine and cry and think we know what God wants. Sometimes, we are at least honest enough to say, “I don’t care what God wants. I want what I want!”

Too often, in the name of our own convenience, our own desires, our own selfishness, we think we know God’s best for us. Yet, we too often are guilty of stopping to ask. We know the reason: we may not like the answer.

But what is it we really want then? And at that point, should we keep up the charade by calling ourselves the people of God?

May we truly give up our own agendas and get back to finding out, “What IS God’s best for us?”

Abraham and Faith

One of my favorite passages is Genesis 15. The faithfulness of God is beautifully and powerfully demonstrated in his interaction with Abram.

One of the great verses is v. 6. Again, looking through different translations brings a wider variety of possibility than I imagined.

NIV:
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

CEB:
Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character.

NET Bible:
Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.

What a WIDE variety!

What Abraham did in that moment was CHOOSE to trust. He heard the word of the Lord and chose to take God at his word.

God speaks… we respond. It is radical, simple faith. Not easy. But simple. I love this passage.

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The Righteous Shall Live By…

This is one of those times when comparing translations has a bit of a jolt for me.

I am in Habakkuk for this Sunday’s message, so I run into Hab. 2:4. I usually use the NIV and the CEB. I am also using Logos to do some exegetical work, though I’m just not a Hebrew scholar.

NIV:

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness

CEB:

4 Some people’s desires are truly audacious;
they don’t do the right thing.
But the righteous person will live honestly.

NET Bible notes:

Or “loyalty”; or “integrity.” The Hebrew word אֱמוּנָה (’emunah) has traditionally been translated “faith,” but the term nowhere else refers to “belief” as such. When used of human character and conduct it carries the notion of “honesty, integrity, reliability, faithfulness.” The antecedent of the suffix has been understood in different ways. It could refer to God’s faithfulness, but in this case one would expect a first person suffix (the original form of the LXX has “my faithfulness” here). Others understand the “vision” to be the antecedent. In this case the reliability of the prophecy is in view. For a statement of this view, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 111-12. The present translation assumes that the preceding word “[the person of] integrity” is the antecedent. In this case the Lord is assuring Habakkuk that those who are truly innocent will be preserved through the coming oppression and judgment by their godly lifestyle, for God ultimately rewards this type of conduct. In contrast to these innocent people, those with impure desires (epitomized by the greedy Babylonians; see v. 5) will not be able to withstand God’s judgment (v. 4a).

This is one of those times I love Bible study… and get frustrated because I don’t know enough Hebrew… AND I need to get my message done!

Scared Spitless

That means really scared.

Habakkuk had that experience. His small book is look inside his prayer journal. At first, he seems pretty ferocious. He’s upset with God. The wicked are getting away with murder, blah, blah, blah.

“I’m just going to give God a piece of my mind and see what he does with that!”

2 Lord, how long will I call for help and you not listen?
I cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you don’t deliver us. (Hab. 1:2, CEB)

“So, there! Take that!”

God seems unfazed. Imagine that. We wag our tiny little fingers at him and “rage” at him in our pipsqueak voices… (Come on, even Charlton Heston’s voice sounds like some tiny little mouse from God’s vantage point. Admit it.)

Habakkuk is just so enraged. And God let’s Habakkuk know he’s got this one.

His answer?

5 Look among the nations and watch!
Be astonished and stare
because something is happening in your days
that you wouldn’t believe even if told. (Hab. 1:5, CEB)

Translation: “Shut up and watch something.”

Does Habakkuk learn? Not yet. He rages on in the latter part of Chapter 1.

Then, in Hab. 2:2-3, God shows up.

“Habakkuk, just watch.”

Whatever Habakkuk witnessed in a vision was enough. In fact, it buckled his knees.

16 I hear and my insides tremble.
My lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters my bones.
I tremble while I stand, (Hab. 3:16, CEB)

This isn’t the warm and fuzzies. God showed up and let Habakkuk know what was about to happen and it scared Habakkuk spitless.

There are times we need to have THAT feeling come over us. There are times we need the realization that the warm fuzzies is not the entirety of God. We think WE see injustice? When God shows up and gives us HIS view, we need a sense of fear and trembling.

God is ready to do amazing things. But “amazing” isn’t going to necessarily be in our definition. But whatever God does, when he shows up, have a glass of water close by. You just might need it.

At the End of Ourselves

2 God said, “Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him up as an entirely burned offering there on one of the mountains that I will show you.” 3 Abraham got up early in the morning, harnessed his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with his son Isaac. He split the wood for the entirely burned offering, set out, and went to the place God had described to him. (Gen. 22:2-3, CEB)

God takes Abraham to the very edge. He puts Abraham in a place of no retreat. The knife is up in the air then God stops him. Abraham gets to the place of possessing nothing… yet having everything.

“Now he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing.” (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God)

Repenting of Sin? Or Sorry You Got Caught?

To fear the Lord is to hate evil.
I hate pride and arrogance,
the path of evil and corrupt speech. (Prov. 8:13, CEB)

“Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don’t genuinely hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it; they’re merely sorry because God is going to punish them.”
– Francis Chan, Crazy Love

As one cartoon I once saw said, “I haven’t really died to sin, but I did feel faint once.”

Are We Faithful or Are We Drifting?

Doom, obstinate one,
the defiled one,
the violent city.
2 She listened to no voice;
she accepted no discipline.
She didn’t trust in the Lord,
nor did she draw near to her God.
3 The princes in her midst are roaring lions.
Her judges are wolves of the evening;
they leave nothing for the morning.
4 Her prophets are reckless, men of treachery.
Her priests pollute that which is holy;
they do violence to the Instruction. (Zeph. 3:1-4, CEB)

As the American Church, we may need to pay close attention to this warning to Judah. Sometimes, if we will do ANY self-examination, we may find that we have become obstinate. The church on the “left” easily accuses the church on the “right” of being obstinate. And the favor is often returned. Yet… look inside. Perhaps there are times we are all obstinate in some way. We have failed to listen to God. We have failed because we are too busy talking and not caught up with listening any more.

We don’t trust God for alternate reasons. We are leaning on the public sector to be our supply… or we are leaning on rugged individualism. Both cases demonstrate a lack of trust in God.

And the spiritual leaders… Are we reckless? Do we care about people any more? It is a careful walk to be a pastor and spiritual leader in the Kingdom of God. We have to be able to see people. We have to be careful with the Word of God. Instruct people faithfully.

These words are harsh from Zephaniah. The easy thing to do is leave them in that era. Yet… we need to carefully hear those words once again. Do we TRUST God? Are we faithful to his Word?

Speaking Truth Has Little to do with Response

That said, it is still up to us as believers to take up the admonition to speak the truth in love. That still may not go well, but it does not release us into the depths of this world’s system of “taking it to the man” (or whatever phrase they are using these days).

But when we communicate truth, the reality is that the truth does not always evoke a “positive” response. What we need to remember is that it is not our call. Our call is obedience.

10 He said to me: Human one, listen closely, and take to heart every word I say to you. 11 Then go to the exiles, to your people’s children. Whether they listen or not, speak to them and say: TheLord God proclaims! (Ez. 3;10-11, CEB)