9/8/13

From Gary... Please, don't add any more fences








Price park in Dade City has become one of my favorite places.  I take the dogs there several times a week- and they run and run and are free.  They never stay more than an hour (its Florida after all and we generally go about lunch- so its 90 already) and I know when it is time to go because they will stand in front of the inner locke at the left and wait to be taken out.  The thing is- the dog walk is only about a few hundred or so feet square, so in reality its not that big (to me).  But to them it must seem huge!  I was looking at this collection of pictures stitched together and thought of the law.  How it had boundaries, designed to prevent you from displeasing God.  But, to some people there just aren't enough fences in the world, so they add more. Its about control after all, so the more the merrier.  Enter tradition and your area for "running" gets smaller and smaller until you can only walk and finally- crawl.  This is what the Pharisees did with their traditions.  I suppose they might have meant well (I am being generous), but it had the effect of counteracting the Word of God.  Take the following exchange for example...

Matthew, Chapter 15

 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying,  2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.” 


  3  He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?   4  For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’  and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’   5  But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,”   6  he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.   7  You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 
  8  ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, 
and honor me with their lips; 
but their heart is far from me. 
  9  And in vain do they worship me, 
teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’” 

There is nothing wrong with tradition; but when it is accounted as being on an equal par with the Word of God, then it is dangerous.  Dangerous because a mere human being can think they are as powerful as the Almighty.  Idolatry, pure and simple.   Now, when we go to the dog-walk, the dogs somehow seem to know not to try to jump over the fence or to burrow underneath it.  They just run and play, do their business and otherwise just be the Canines they are.  I like that idea. Just be who you are.  Don't fight God!  Don't try to make null what HE wants you to do.  As usual, attitude is paramount!!!  You know- you can learn a lot from a dog!!!!


ps. The picture is only of the locke and a small area that protrudes at the front--  The whole dog-run is maybe three hundred feet square in addition to this part.

From Jim McGuiggan... Matthew 12:43-45 and demonic squatters

Matthew 12:43-45 and demonic squatters

What's the point of Matthew 12:43-45 and how does it relate to us? Without entering into a rehearsal of recent scholarly opinion maybe it’s safe to say that there’s enough information about the origins of the Pharisees to warrant us saying that they protested the apostasy of Israel that came about in the days of the Seleucid kings. Given this kind of setting they meant to keep Israel from a full-scale departure from the Torah as the expressed will of God. Perhaps they didn’t have as much influence in the Palestine of Jesus’ day—as Neusner, Sanders and others have taught us—but it’s clear from the New Testament and some references from Josephus that they weren’t a mousy little sect that practiced a quietist religion. (If they nurtured a Saul of Tarsus some of them must have been fiery indeed.) It’s true that Jesus seemed always to be in conflict with them but he did teach his disciples to pay attention to them though he had serious criticisms about their overall view and practice (Matthew 23:2-3, 25-28).
In what Arthur Gossip called "a shuddery little tale" Christ spoke to (or at least in the presence of) these Jewish leaders (12:2,14,24,38) about the owner of a house that was haunted (so to speak) by a demonic squatter who then (presumably) was driven from the house. The owner scrubbed the place spotless, papered and painted it and left it like that—scrubbed spotless and orderly. But empty! Meanwhile the demon wandered through waterless/wilderness places and finding no rest decided, he said, to "return to my house" (12:44). When he got back he found it even more suitable to him so he invited seven more squatter-friends even more vile than he into that scrubbed and orderly house. Christ said the latter situation was even worse than the first.
I want to take it that the Pharisees had enough influence in the land to be blind leaders of the blind (Matthew 15:1-14). I also want to link the cleansing of the house with something like the rejection of idolatry and pagan ways, which showed up in the days of John Hyrcanus and the Hasmoneans. The Pharisee types would have been leaders in this revolt against pagan uncleanness. That would indeed have been a work of God and it could easily be expressed in a parable about the removal of a demon from a house (a person or a generation). But a work begun is not a work ended and instead of filling the house with warmth and goodness, mercy and faithfulness it was scrubbed till it shone, ordered until it looked like a mausoleum—a place for dead mean’s bones (see 23:27). Paganism was cast out and in its place they substituted a spotless, ordered emptiness and into it rushed a greater demonism that just loved spotless and ordered emptiness.
A generation (12:39,45) that would see life as consisting of nothing but choices between two evil choices is in sad, bad trouble. To choose moral evil and be like publicans and sinners (characterized in Luke 15 as a selfish and immoral brat) or a spotless, ordered emptiness (characterized in Luke 15 as a sour, duty-conscious and self-righteous brother) is no good choice at all. Here comes the Christ, the possibilities are enormous and hope is alive again. Not to seize the moment and turn to God in full joy and righteousness is to prepare for future misery-—worse than they had known. Israel brought polished emptiness or brattish immorality with them into the temple. What would all that bring into the temple berfore very long? I think 70 AD and Jerusalem’s destruction hovers in the background (compare Matthew 23:29-39).
The issue here involves more than just individuals. It involves generations and even nations. Do you think it's possible to look back on history and see the work of God casting out demonic structures and world-views that weren't followed up by the generation? Have we any reason to believe that evil structures have fallen and others at least as evil have rushed in to fill the vacancy? Have we the record of such things in biblical history? Is it going on before our very eyes? And our individual lives? What happened when the USSR collapsed? And when the Berlin Wall came down? How might all that speak to us? You tell me.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland.... Sacrifices In Evangelism (Galatians 4:12-15)


                     "THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS"

                   Sacrifices In Evangelism (4:12-15)

INTRODUCTION

1. In writing to the Galatians, Paul reminds them of their shared
   history...
   a. How he first came to them in preaching the gospel - Ga 4:12-14
   b. How he was confident they were willing to sacrifice for him - Ga 4:15

2. This passage describes a sentimental argument by Paul...
   a. One of several arguments (personal, scriptural, practical,
      sentimental, allegorical)
   b. Defending justification by faith in Christ rather than by the Law
      of Moses

3. This passage reminds me of the need for sacrifice in evangelism...
   a. Not just by those willing to preach the gospel
   b. But also by those willing to support preachers

[The spread of the gospel can be hindered if we do not appreciate the
necessity for sacrifice.  Who needs to be willing to sacrifice in
evangelism?  Most understand the need to sacrifice...]

I. BY THOSE WHO PREACH

   A. THEY MUST BE WILLING TO GO...
      1. As Jesus commanded - Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15
      2. Otherwise how shall people hear and believe? - Ro 10:13-14
      3. Thus the gospel must be preached to all nations - Mk 13:10; cf.
         Isa 49:6

   B. THEY MUST BE WILLING TO ENDURE...
      1. Paul certainly did - 2Co 11:23-29; 2Ti 2:10; 3:11
      2. He wrote that Timothy must be willing to endure - 2Ti 1:8;
         2:3; 4:5
      3. Those who preach today must often endure:
         a. The inconvenience of frequent moves
         b. The loss of benefits often provided in many secular jobs
         c. The dangers of traveling in unsafe places
         d. The resistance and even persecution by unbelievers
         e. The lack of understanding by immature or false brethren

   C. THEY WILL BE REWARDED...
      1. In heaven if not on earth - Mt 5:10-12
      2. But often even on earth - Mk 10:28-30

[Most who preach the gospel understand the need to sacrifice and do so
willingly.  But there is also a need to sacrifice...]

II. BY THOSE WHO SUPPORT

   A. THEY MUST BE WILLING TO SEND...
      1. Otherwise how shall preachers preach? - Ro 10:14-15
      2. Just as the early churches did
         a. Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch - Ac 11:22
         b. Antioch sent out Paul and Barnabas - Ac 13:1-2
         c. Philippi supported Paul in Thessalonica - Php 4:15-16
         d. Churches supported Paul in Corinth - 2Co 11:8-9
      3. For they understood that such workers were worthy of support
         a. As Jesus had taught his disciples - Mt 10:10; Lk 10:7
         b. As Paul taught the Corinthians - 1Co 9:7-14

   B. THEY MUST BE WILLING TO SACRIFICE...
      1. They are stewards also
         a. Just as preachers are stewards of the gospel - 1Co 4:1
         b. They are stewards of their possessions - 1Pe 4:10
      2. Stewards are expected to be faithful - 1Co 4:2
         a. To minister with the ability God provides - 1Pe 4:11
         c. For which they will one day give account - cf. Mt 25:14-30
      3. Some believe preachers should be willing to sacrifice more than
         others
         a. Should the 'quartermasters' at the base be squandering what
            may have been given them to support the 'soldiers' at the
            front?
         b. Should we not all have the same willingness to sacrifice if
            the need is there?
         c. If brethren 'at the base' sacrificed as much as they expect
            of those who are 'at the front', would there not be more
            good things being done?
      4. We may serve different roles, but we should have the same sense
         of sacrifice! - 1Pe 4:11
         a. Serving with the same zeal ("as with the ability which God
            supplies")
         b. Striving for the same goal ("that in all things God may be
            glorified")

   C. THEY WILL BE REWARDED...
      1. For they are fellow workers for the truth - 3Jn 1:5-8
      2. In receiving and sending those whom Christ has sent, they
         receive Christ - Mt 10:40
      3. They will receive the same reward as those who proclaim- Mt 10:41-42

CONCLUSION

1. The gospel spread around the world in the first century...
   a. As Paul wrote to the brethren at Rome - Ro 10:17-18
   b. As he wrote to the brethren at Colosse - Col 1:23

2. The gospel continues to be spread in countries around the world...
   a. Wherever preachers are willing to make sacrifices to go
   b. Wherever brethren are willing to make sacrifices to send them

May the "Sacrifices In Evangelism" exemplified by the early Christians
inspire us today...!

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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