We have finished Matthew and have begun the gospel account of Mark. In chapter 2, we read of Jesus healing a paralytic. Jesus is at Capernaum and people are gathering in a large enough number that there is no more room at all. Jesus is preaching the word and people are listening. Four men arrive carrying the paralytic. I can’t imagine carrying someone a significant distance but it would certainly slow them down and they arrive to see there is no more room to enter. This doesn’t deter them! That tells me 2 things – they were good friends and they had faith in Jesus power to do something for their friend.
These men carrying the paralytic are good friends. Friends that care. I was thinking about this in terms of drawing an application to ourselves. We need friends that will see our needs and work to help us with them. But we also need to BE friends that see needs and help with them. Not just physical things, but spiritual needs. What greater need does anyone have than to be brought to the Savior and have their sins forgiven?
Jesus looks at this paralytic and says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Perhaps everyone expected Him to heal the man and for them to see him get up and walk, but Jesus saw a bigger need than walking (and a teaching moment). Jesus forgave the man’s sins and He had every right to do so. He is the son of God. But in order to prove His authority to forgive sins, He also heals the man. The miracle proved it. This miracle was the witness to who Jesus is.
We need to understand and remember who Jesus is. The lamb of God. the Son of God. The Great Physician. The Good Shepherd. The Savior. The High Priest. And we could keep going. Jesus is of paramount importance. We need to be at His feet and we need to bring others to His feet!
I could write many articles covering the life of Joseph, but this week included Genesis 39 which is a snapshot of Joseph that is revealing. As a reminder, Joseph had some dreams that he shared with his brothers and it created jealousy (on top of his father’s doting that already sparked jealousy). They conspired against him, sold him into slavery, and told their father that he was dead. Now, we find him in service to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. We see in verse 2 that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success. This was recognized and he rose to a position of prominence in Potiphar’s house so that the only part of the household not under his care and authority was Potiphar’s wife. Not only did Joseph prosper, but so did his master since Joseph was laboring for his benefit.
Verse 6 fills in a little more of the story. Joseph was handsome and he caught the eye of Potiphar’s wife. She was not a faithful wife. She is exposed as being lustful (with the intent of being adulterous) and a liar. As she begins to pursue Joseph, he is faced with a fork in the road kind of decision. He could lie with her and enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin, or he could refuse, keeping his morality and being faithful to God. You’ve read the story, so you know the answer. But what I would like us all to realize is that we face that same decision many, many times in our lives. It may not be as life altering as it was for Joseph but we still face it in one way or another. We all face temptations, perhaps day in and day out like Joseph. Holding one’s resolve under relentless assault can be exhausting.
I don’t know how long this went on, but on the first occasion, Joseph stated, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (verse 9). He cared for his master and his responsibility to him, but he cared even more about his responsibility to God. And so, day after day, he refused her proposition. That is, until one day, it was intense enough that Joseph RUNS from the house and leaves a garment behind and she uses that against him. If he was not going to do what she wanted, she was going to get rid of him. Making the righteous choice was costly. Again, we can relate. Sometimes there is a cost to making righteous choices today, too. We must be willing to endure even at great personal cost!
You have probably read the story of Joseph multiple times and how all of this ends up. God was with Joseph. Joseph was faithful to God. And so God accomplished much through Joseph and sets the stage for some important future events (of which Joseph had some knowledge, Hebrews 11:22).
What kind of challenges to your faith have you faced? Have they come with heavy costs? Do not lose hope. Be faithful unto the end and receive the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
A lot of this past week’s readings in Genesis involved the story of Jacob. I think it is a life story that many struggle with due to Jacob’s earlier life involving the birthright of Esau and the stealing of Esau’s blessing. Ultimately, these events result in Jacob running away from his brother. Genesis is written as a story or historical account without a lot of commentary and we must read it as such. We can resolve issues of his actions by our understanding of God’s nature elsewhere as well as the consequences that happened in the lives of those we are reading about.
When we get to chapter 35, there has been a terrible occurrence with Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. His sons dealt with the inhabitants harshly (and through deceit) which may have prompted the leaving and going back to Bethel, according to the word of the Lord. Consequences are very important in the narrative of Genesis. From the sin of Adam and Eve onward, there has been a very physical consequence of their sins and that became part of the Jewish understanding of sin in general. (That may give us a little insight as we study through the gospels as well. The Jews were looking for very physical signs of both sin and righteousness)
I think we see a lot of maturing on the part of Jacob through his story. He has to endure the deceitfulness of Laban, who doesn’t treat him like family but more like an indentured servant. He is still afraid of Esau, but Esau has matured as well. Their reunion is a heartening reminder that we can grow and mature, moving past our previous failures, sins, and even wrongs we see others committing against us. Life is about learning and maturing, repenting of sin and working to do better. Genesis has a lot of examples of those who sinned but learned from it. Abraham is certainly one of those as well.
When we reached chapter 35, Jacob is again at Bethel, and God renamed him from Jacob (meaning supplanter or one following closely), signifying his relationship with Esau, to Israel. There seems to be some question as to whether Israel meant “one who fights/contends” or “one who perseveres”. I can see both fitting but perhaps at this point of his life and for the people who would be his descendants the latter fits well. With ancient language, meanings can be difficult to nail down. After this, God reaffirms the nation promise to Abraham which will now continue in the line of Israel. “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.” (Genesis 35:11)
The end of chapter 35 includes the death of Rachel and the birth of Israel’s youngest, Benjamin. That will be important to remember later in the story of Joseph.
Abraham wasn’t perfect and neither was Israel (Jacob). No man has ever been perfect (sinless). We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The only one to walk this earth and never sin was Jesus, our Savior (1 Peter 2:22). You and I are going to make mistakes. The take home lesson is to repent, grow, and mature, relying on the Lord for salvation!
I was asked to aid in a discussion about the necessity of baptism this morning. As is the case in many such discussions, there was a lot “what if…” and “but why…” going on. Following was my writeup to get the discussion back on track. This is a discussion many of us come across and might struggle to formulate a response, or even be afraid of taking on the challenge of the discussion. Be encourages that the scriptures do contain the answers and that we need to be ready to make a defense (1 Peter 3:15).
In order to have a common ground, I assume everyone reading this believes that the scriptures are inspired by God and are thoroughly complete, as Paul said to Timothy: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” I would also point out that the New Testament is unique in the way information is presented, at least as far as man is concerned. Much of what we have is a preserved copy of letters written to churches that had specific issues that needed to be dealt with. In addition to this, we have the Acts of the Apostles, a record of the actions by those working to spread the gospel and establish local churches in the first century, the gospels, with each one written with specific goals in mind leading to a more complete picture of the life and teachings of Christ, and a book of comfort concerning the victory of Christ and those that are His in the book of Revelation. When we understand how and why these various books of the New Testament are written, then we also understand that each one is not written to the exclusion of the others – we can’t take one book and say that it contains EVERYTHING. It addresses issues and concerns specific to circumstances and we have to put them all together in order to get a complete picture. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Part of this seeking is to work toward a complete understanding through the scriptures. We have to put in the work. At the same time, these scriptures were not written so as to be confusing or beyond the reasoning capability of the common man. 1 Corinthians 1:20-24 says, “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” There will always be those who are either unwilling to seek God through the scriptures, or they refuse to believe what they find. They shut their ears and eyes to the truth. I say all this with no intention of slight against anyone engaging in this discussion, but to point out that we can’t hang our faith on one point and pretend there is nothing else to know. We must all be students of the Word, with honest hearts, ready to receive what God has said. If there is a limitation, it’s ours and not His.
Regarding baptism: Why is there such a contention over the necessity of baptism? Can we simply accept what the Word has revealed to us of it’s purpose and necessity? Is there anything God tells us is important to our salvation that we can discount? Would we deny the necessity of hearing and understanding the gospel (Romans 10:17)? Would we deny the necessity of faith (Hebrews 11:6)? Would we deny the necessity of confession (Acts 8:37, Romans 10:9-10, Matt hew 10:32-33)? Would we deny the necessity of repentance (2 Peter 3:9, Luke 5:32, Acts 11:18, etc)? Would we deny the necessity of faithfulness (Titus 2:11-12, 2 John 9, Revelation 2:10)? So then why would we deny the necessity of baptism (Acts 2:39, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:1-8, 1 Peter 3:21)? Is it not the limitation of man that does not want to accept this? What else can we take out of scripture (if we advocate taking out the necessity of baptism)? If we refuse to accept what God has said, do we believe we will be found faithful and welcomed into heaven? Matthew 7:21-23 makes it clear that it is not our own concept of righteousness that is the standard, but the will of God!
I have seen many explanations given to try and discount baptism, and I am not going to try and address every one of them at this time. The scriptures teach plainly the necessity of baptism, so how can we reason it away? If we truly do not WANT to believe, God won’t force us. That is part of our own free will. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 states, “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false.” I will share some points to at the least provoke some thought that will hopefully help others in their study:
We have all sinned (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Man can’t overcome that separation on his own — Jesus the Christ, as the lamb of God is the only solution to that separation. It was His sinless blood that brings about forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9; 4:15). So at what point do we contact the blood of Jesus and gain forgiveness of sins?
It’s not at merely the point of belief, for even the devils believe and tremble but we know they are not saved (James 2:19). It’s not at the point of repentance even. Saul, after being confronted by Jesus, was grieved, fasting, and praying. He repented, but he wasn’t saved! Remember that sin separates us from God, and he was told, “Arise and be baptized, washing away your sins.” (Acts 22:16)
It’s not the point of confession either. When the eunuch asked what hindered him from being baptized, he was told that if he believed, he could, and he made the good confession, but then was baptized (Acts 8:37-38). Confession without an obedient faith is just words.
Are all of these things necessary for salvation? Yes. Are there passages that deal with only 1 of these without the others? Yes. We seek the whole picture, though and put them all together!
Baptism does several things: 1) It is an action based on faith. 2) It brings us into Christ (Gal 3:27). Is there salvation without being in Christ? No. 3) It is the answer of a good conscience toward God (1 Peter 3:21) 4) It is the point that we are baptized into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 6). We do not gain forgiveness of sins without the faithful, obedient act! (see also Acts 2:38, James 2:14-16, Colossians 2:12)
On the day of Pentecost, Peter taught the first gospel sermon, convicting men of their lost condition. Act 2:37-38 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Did they argue? Did they ask why they had to be baptized? No. 3,000 souls obeyed the gospel that day and gained forgiveness of sins.
I pray this will be useful for you. I pray that you will search the scriptures without hesitation, without reservation, and with an honest heart, ready to accept what our Lord and Savior has given as requirements in order to be a citizen of the kingdom and gain the promise of eternal life.
Personal responsibility. Those are viewed as dirty words by some today. Why? They don’t want to be accountable to anyone! In their minds, it is always someone else’s fault, someone else’s responsibility, and they feel justified as long as they have someone else to point to in order to blame. Of course, if it is something good, they will be happy to take the “blame” for that!
If there is one thing God teaches us through His word, it is that we are personally accountable for all the we do. “The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20) If that isn’t a statement of personal accountability, I don’t know what is!
Jeremiah dealt with false prophets who would lie to the people. They would assuage the people’s conscience by telling that, “You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.” (Jeremiah 14:13) In other words, go ahead and do as you will, God isn’t going to punish you. This same lie is still being told today. God is just and justice demands a standard be set and be the measurement by which all are compared. That standard was set in the word of God and we will be measured by it (John 12:48). “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12).
God’s judgment of us is not limited to just doing wrong. In fact, He will also judge us for not doing what is right! “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17). We must pursue righteousness, meaning we remove sinful actions and add holiness to our lives! (Hebrews 12:14). We can’t do one without the other. They go hand in hand.
We must accept responsibility for our own actions and inactions. We must understand that judgment will come and we will have to give account of ourselves (Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13). All that we do today will come to light (1 Corinthians 4:5) at judgment.
