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I fear that Christianity often becomes a pursuit of style at the expense of substance. So I decided to write a “Meat and Potatoes” blog, digging into Scripture with as few frills as possible. Since God has provided the meat—His Word—I’m calling the blog “. . . And Potatoes,” in the hope that these mini-sermons can help enhance the flavor of the main dish. You hungry? Let’s dig in!

The Circle of Knowledge - Colossians 1:9-12

2/23/2017

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“[M]y people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” – Hosea 4:6
 
Sometimes, I think knowledge gets a bad rap, and especially within the Church. We’re focused on love, faith, tolerance, kindness and compassion, etcetera—and rightly so! But too often, particularly in the 21st-century American Church, knowledge has become the redheaded stepchild kicked to the corner. And that is very much not the biblical model. Take a look at what Scripture tells us:
 
Knowledge originates with God.[1] Knowledge was central in His creative process[2] and His creation reveals that knowledge.[3] Knowledge is linked to godliness,[4] rejection of knowledge leads to depravity,[5] and zeal for God without knowledge is fruitless.[6] Solomon was praised and rewarded for seeking knowledge,[7] Peter advised us to pursue and grow in knowledge,[8] and Jesus condemned the experts in the law for keeping others from gaining knowledge.[9] Knowledge is equated with competency to instruct one another.[10] Knowledge is part of the renewal process of the Christian.[11] Knowledge is linked to salvation.[12] Knowledge is one of the end goals of Christian maturation[13] and is essential to living a righteous life.[14] We’re also told that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Christ[15] and that we are to take aggressive action against that which attacks the knowledge of God.[16]
 
Kind of gives you the idea that biblical knowledge is important, doesn’t it?
 
Now, to be sure, the Bible also cautions against knowledge—or rather, against abuses of it. We’re told that “knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”[17] Paul warns of destroying weaker brothers or sisters with knowledge.[18] He also says that knowledge, without love, is of no value.[19] People—in biblical times and in modern ones—have become so consumed with knowledge that it has led them to seek it at the expense of love and faith, or to shun those who don’t have knowledge, or even to cherish a special, additional, elitist form of “knowledge” beyond what is in Scripture. As with almost everything in life, there is a balance.
 
Focusing on the ideal picture of knowledge, I want to hone in one passage I’ve yet to touch on. In Colossians 1:9-12, Paul writes the following:
 
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
 
Paul opens his letter to the church in Colossae, as he often does, by thanking God for the Colossians’ faith, fruitfulness, and love. He transitions in verse 9 to his continued prayer, asking “God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” This phrase “knowledge of his will” is a tricky one. Is Paul praying that God will give the Colossians input on whether or not to refinance their home loan, provide them with career advice, or put a blinking beacon over every “right” decision? Is that what is meant by “his will”? While God can give direction on such everyday issues, Scripture gives us a different understanding. We’re told “it is God’s will that you should be sanctified,” specifically in the context of purity.[20] We’re told it “is God’s will” that we “give thanks in all circumstances.”[21] God’s will also instructs us to do good,[22] sometimes to suffer for it,[23] and is instrumental in spreading the gospel.[24] We also see that He will equip us for doing His will[25] and that we are to pray “according to his will.”[26] One might boil down “God’s will” to this: holy living. That is, God’s will is that you “be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”[27]
 
It is to this knowledge that Paul is speaking in Colossians 1:9. He is praying that God would, “through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” enable His people to know how to live a holy life. As is often the case, Paul’s writing builds. He goes on to give the reason for that prayer for knowledge in verse 10: “. . . that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way:” That sounds similar to what we just looked at in terms of God’s will, and we’re starting to see what I call “the circle of knowledge.” But there’s more. Note the colon at the end of the above phrase. Paul is building again, and he now moves on to four specific ways we can live a worthy life and please God.
 
1) By “bearing fruit in every good work.” Jesus spoke extensively about fruit, telling us that we are to bear fruit,[28] that failing to produce fruit has dire consequences,[29] that our fruits identify us,[30] and that we can’t bear fruit ourselves but only through Him.[31] And of course, Galatians 5:22-23 describes for us what that fruit looks like. Now Paul gives us one of the keys to producing that fruit.
 
2—I’m going out of order, hang with me—) By “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” I don’t know about you, but I need plenty of endurance and patience to get through each day. The good news, evidenced by Paul’s prayer and echoed in the old hymn, is that “There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r in the precious blood of the Lamb.” Elsewhere, Paul prays for believers, that they “may know . . . his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead . . .”[32] Let that sink in. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead—that defied death!!!—is available to us. How do we get that power? According to the passage in Colossians, it is tied to knowledge of God’s will. If that doesn’t make you want to crack open the Scriptures . . .
 
3) By “giving joyful thanks to the Father.” It should go without saying that we should live in thankfulness to God, but how often do we fail to do so? Paul reminds us that “he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”[33] Thankfulness for our salvation—and all that it entails—is part of living a holy life, and is tied to our understanding and knowledge. To borrow the model Paul used in his letter to the Romans, “How can they be thankful for that which they do not understand?”
 
4) By “growing in the knowledge of God.” I specifically went out of order to highlight again this “circle of knowledge.” Paraphrasing, Paul’s prayer tells us that knowledge of God’s will leads to holy living. And now we’re told that one of the manifestations of holy living is growing in the knowledge of God. In other words, the more you know, the more you know. The prior cautions about an excessive focus on or abuse of knowledge notwithstanding, we’ve just seen how paramount knowledge is to the Christian life. Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”[34] Jesus prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”[35] The Greek word is transliterated as ginóskó, meaning “to come to know, recognize, perceive.”[36] And Paul writes, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” and “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”[37] We are mistaken if we believe eternal life begins when we die. It begins when we come alive,[38] and the process of sanctification begins at that moment and continues until the day our salvation is consummated. The same is true of our knowledge of God—it is a process.
 
Our knowledge—our knowing—of God won’t be complete until we are with Him in glory, when we “shall know fully.” But until that day, we can continue to grow in our knowledge, knowing that it will bear fruit in our lives, and one of those fruits is more knowledge of God, which leads to more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit . . .


[1] See Proverbs 2:6
[2] See Proverbs 3:19-20
[3] See Psalm 19:1-2
[4] See Titus 1:1; II Peter 1:3
[5] See Romans 1:28
[6] See Romans 10:1-3
[7] See II Chronicles 1:11-12
[8] See II Peter 1:5-8, 3:18
[9] See Luke 11:52
[10] See Romans 15:14
[11] See Colossians 3:10
[12] See I Timothy 2:3-4; II Timothy 2:25
[13] See Ephesians 4:11-13
[14] See Philippians 1:9-11
[15] Colossians 2:2-3
[16] See II Corinthians 10:5
[17] I Corinthians 8:1
[18] See I Corinthians 8:11
[19] See I Corinthians 13:2
[20] I Thessalonians 4:3-6
[21] I Thessalonians 5:18
[22] See I Peter 2:15
[23] See I Peter 3:17, 4:19
[24] See Acts 18:21; Romans 1:10, 15:32; Hebrews 2:4
[25] See Hebrews 13:21
[26] I John 5:14
[27] I Peter 1:15-16
[28] See Matthew 3:8; John 15:16
[29] See Matthew 3:10, 7:19, John 15:2
[30] See Luke 6:43-44; John 15:8
[31] See John 15:4-5
[32] Ephesians 1:18-20
[33] Colossians 1:13-14
[34] Romans 11:33
[35] John 17:3, emphasis added
[36] Strong’s Concordance
[37] I Corinthians 13:9-10, 12
[38] See Ephesians 2:4-5
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In the Cloud - Hebrews 12:1-4

2/9/2017

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Today I want to look at a passage of great encouragement to believers, but one that I think is often somewhat misunderstood. Look with me at Hebrews 12:1-4:
 
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
 
I often hear people refer to this crowd of witnesses as Christians who have died, who are now waiting in heaven cheering us on, like runners at the end of a race. But I don’t believe that is the imagery the author of Hebrews is using, for several reasons. I will spare you, for the time being, my theories on time, space, and eternity, and I won’t delve into the questions that could arise if we assume the saints in heaven are watching us in our fallen condition here below. Those are topics for another time. But the primary reason I think this “cloud of witnesses” refers to something else is the context in which we find it.
 
Hebrews 12 begins with the word “therefore,” and I’ve heard it said numerous times that when we come to the word therefore in Scripture, we need to ask what it’s there for. Therefore is a conjunctive adverb, a word used to connect two independent clauses. Synonyms include “consequently,” “thus,” “as a result,” and “for that reason.” Whenever we see one of those phrases or words in the Bible, we need to make sure we understand what two clauses or thoughts are being joined together and why. In this case, that means turning back to Hebrews 11.
 
Known as the “Hall of Faith,” Hebrews 11 traces Old Testament examples of faith from Abel to Abraham to Moses to many of the prophets. The chapter concludes with a summary: These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.[1] That last word, perfect, is the same Greek word we find in Hebrews 5:8-9, where we read the following: Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Clearly this isn’t talking about Christ being made perfect in the sense of overcoming sin or evolving from a lesser state. Rather, the Greek teleioó means “to bring to an end, to complete.”[2] Compare that with the final uttering of Christ on the cross, “It is finished,”[3]—from the Greek teleó, which means “to bring to an end, complete, fulfill.”[4] Once Christ obediently finished—that is, brought to completion—His work on the cross, He became the source of our salvation. Now, jump back to Hebrews 11, where we see that these great heroes of the faith would be “made perfect”—that is, brought to completion—“only together with us.”
 
So what does that mean? What is that fulfillment? We see earlier in Hebrews 11 that Abraham was “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God,”[5] and to “a better country—a heavenly one.”[6] Moses, we’re told, chose obedience to God instead of the pleasure of sin “because he was looking ahead to his reward.”[7] Others, we read, were looking toward their resurrection.[8] In short, they were anticipating the fulfillment/completion/perfection of their faith—eternal life with God. Take a moment and read through the chapter and see some of what these people went through and endured and accomplished in faith.
 
THEREFORE, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses . . .
 
“Cloud” can be translated as “multitude” or “great company”[9] and the word witness has several meanings. On one hand, a witness is someone who observes something, such as a witness to a particular event. But it also has a connotation of testifying to what was observed, as in a witness in a courtroom. In Hebrews 12:1, the multitude of witnesses aren’t observing us. Instead, they are people who have observed and seen God’s faithfulness and testify—that is, witness—to it by their life of faith, recorded for us. They are to be our inspiration, our guides. We are to follow in their footsteps, emulating their faith.
 
Based upon that, the author of the book exhorts us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Please note those are two different things. Throwing off sin should be a given for Christians. But what about everything that hinders? Hindrances aren’t necessarily sins in and of themselves. An obsession with TV or Facebook or video games that keeps you from reading your Bible or praying regularly can hinder you. Sporting events or school activities that come before church attendance or participation in a Bible study or small group can hinder you. A devotion to family or friends that take up so much time that you “don’t have time” to be involved in church ministries can hinder you. Watching TV, playing on the school softball team, and loving and caring for family aren’t sinful. But they can impede your walk with Christ, and we’re told to throw off such hindrances.
 
A common theme seen throughout Scripture is a warning or admonition followed by encouragement. Paul repeatedly uses this method. He doesn’t just tell us what not to do, but reorients our focus toward what to do. The author of Hebrews does the same thing here, encouraging us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Perseverance means to keep on keeping on, to keep going. The image of a race is one used elsewhere in Scripture,[10] and we can take encouragement that we’re not blazing a new trail. The race is marked out for us, chiefly by those who have gone before us (see chapter 11 again).
 
In addition to following the path of those who’ve gone before us in faith, we’re directed to fix our eyes on Jesus, “the pioneer (other versions use founder and author) and perfecter of faith.” The Greek for perfecter is teleiōtēn, from the same word teleioó we looked at before. The idea is that our faith is all about Jesus. It begins with Him and His work on the cross and it ends with Him bringing us to glory. But look what else we see about Jesus. It tells us He endured the cross. One might say He persevered, as we have just been instructed to do. We see here that we’re not being asked to do anything extraordinary, that Christ hasn’t already done, that other believers haven’t already done. Now, “fixing our eyes on Jesus” is one of those Christian phrases that sounds very spiritual but can be somewhat ambiguous in terms of application. So let me suggest that one of the primary ways we can fix our eyes on Jesus is by looking to His Word. In this particular context, that means studying the faithful who have gone before us. Paul wrote “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”[11] The men and women listed in Hebrews 11 show us how to live a life of faith. When we follow their example, we are following Christ.
 
Verse 2 also informs us that Christ scorned the cross’s shame. The Roman cross is one of the most barbaric methods of capital punishment ever devised, and also one of the most disgraceful, as the condemned was left to hang naked in public, suffering slowly for all to see. But Jesus turned that on its head. Paul wrote that He “disarmed the powers and authorities” and “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”[12] He beat the devil at his own game, and instead of being shamed, Christ was glorified by sitting down “at the right hand of the throne of God”—the ultimate place of honor.
 
We’re told in verse 3 to consider Him (the Greek would be to consider attentively,[13] to meditate upon) so that we do not lose heart. That idea is drawn out a little more in verse 4, where the author writes, “you have not yet resisted [in your struggle against sin] to the point of shedding your blood.” While there are many Christians around the world who have indeed paid for their faith in blood, the majority of us—especially in America—will never shed a drop of blood for the sake of Christ. Compare that with the sufferings of Jesus on the cross and the plight of some in chapter 11’s Hall of Faith: There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.[14]
 
This was almost something of a reality check to the book’s original recipients, and I think to us as well. Our struggles are real, and I don’t mean to minimize your problems or pain. But the heroes of the faith, including the “pioneer and perfecter” endured far worse. Spurred on by their example, by their witness (and by the knowledge that Christ has conquered the shameful cross and now sits glorified with God the Father), let us follow in their footsteps until that day when we, together with them, will be made perfect. If that isn’t encouraging, I don’t know what is . . .


[1] Hebrews 11:39-40

[2] Strong’s Concordance

[3] John 19:30

[4] Strong’s Concordance

[5] Hebrews 11:10

[6] Hebrews 11:16

[7] Hebrews 11:26

[8] Hebrews 11:35

[9] Strong’s Concordance

[10] I Corinthians 9:24; II Timothy 4:7

[11] I Corinthians 11:1

[12] Colossians 2:15

[13] Strong’s Concordance

[14] Hebrews 11:35-38

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Revival - II Chronicles 7:14

2/1/2017

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If Americans, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal America.
 
Sadly, this is how many Christians read and/or apply II Chronicles 7:14. But that is not what it says. Rather, in Scripture we read the following:
 
When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
(II Chronicles 7:11-14)
 
As we look at this passage, we’ll discover several key elements that dramatically change the meaning from what is commonly inferred by even the most well-meaning preachers or politicians. Let’s start with a little context. Solomon has just finished building the temple of the Lord, and has offered a prayer of dedication (see chapter 6) that we’ll look at a bit later. It is in response to this prayer that God speaks to Solomon, and that is paramount to our understanding and application of this promise.
 
Let’s start by taking notice of whom God is speaking in verse 14. He says, “if my people, who are called by name . . .” It should be obvious, but I’ll state it anyway: this is NOT talking about the United States of America. We need to be very careful when we study Scripture that we don’t take a promise made to a person or group of people and make blanket applications to us today. We also need to beware of doing the inverse—only applying biblical promises to biblical people in biblical times. Instead, what we should do is study these promises and their context. Some of them are directly applicable to us today. Others, while revealing God’s character and typical methodology, aren’t.
 
So who are “my people, who are called by name?” For clarity, read Solomon’s prayer of dedication (II Chronicles 6:14-42) in which he says, “your people Israel” six times.[1] The Hebrew word used is ‘am·me·ḵā, and it is found 77 times in the Old Testament, primarily to refer to the people of Israel. But interestingly, it is the same word used in Daniel 12:1 to refer to all Christians. Now, in the context in II Chronicles 7, God is clearly speaking of the people of Israel. The promise is to them, and it is in direct response to Solomon’s request. The oft-quoted verse 14 doesn’t stand on its own; rather, it is part of a sentence that begins in verse 13. Compare what we see there (“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people”) with Solomon’s requests (II Chronicles 6:26, 28). In short, Solomon asked that when ‘am·me·ḵā (“your people”) were punished for their sins and then repented, God would relent and deliver them. And God, in His response, agreed to do exactly that.
 
What we have here is, essentially, a covenant between God and His people. That brings up two questions. First, is the covenant still intact? And second, have the parties changed? We know from Scripture that God does not change[2] and that His word does not change.[3] I think it is safe to infer then, that, while God made a specific promise to Solomon, He will deal similarly with His people today. That raises the obvious question, who now are God’s people? I promise you, no amount of scouring the Scriptures, nor the Constitution nor Mayflower Compact (brilliant documents that they are), will lead you to an answer of the good ol’ U.S. of A. And before you forward this post to all your Israeli friends, let me propose that the Hebrew ‘am·me·ḵā (and its equivalent in II Chronicles 7:14, ‘am·mî, meaning “my people”) best corresponds with II Peter 2:9-10:
 
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
 
Paul writes similarly in Ephesians 2:19:
 
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.
 
Scripture also teaches that the Gentiles have been grafted into Israel[4] and Paul repeatedly writes that there is no difference any longer between Jew and Gentile,[5] but that faith in Jesus Christ is what makes a person a child of God[6]—what makes them “my people.” Therefore, if we’re going to apply the promise of II Chronicles 7:14 today, we need to apply it to the Church. That has some rather serious implications, because God’s promise of deliverance was contingent upon several things. Read it with me again:
 
[I]f my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
 
The promised forgiveness and healing is not dependent on Hollywood celebrities humbling themselves, politicians seeking God’s face, and homosexuals and abortion advocates turning from their wicked ways. Rather, it specifies my people (‘am·mî)—Christians—as the ones that need to model humility, that need to pursue Almighty God, that need to turn from sinning and from tolerating sin. This isn’t to say that America doesn’t have its problems and isn’t in need of spiritual revival, or that God won’t respond to those who penitently seek him. But we err when we make this promise patriotic and start seeing it as a solution to get America back on track.
 
Please keep one other thing in mind. The promised deliverance includes forgiveness of sins and also the healing of the land. God’s people in II Chronicles had a specified piece of land that belonged to them. God’s people today—even the ones living in America—do not.[7] So it would be a misapplication of the promise to say that if the Church “gets its act together” that God will, for lack of a better term, make America great again. That may very well happen—the darkness may retreat as the light grows brighter. Our culture (and thus our politics and laws) might be transformed as the Church is renewed. But it is also possible that the healing will be internal. It may very well be that American culture will continue to decay, that society will slide farther and farther away from God, but His people will be revived and transformed.
 
Don’t get me wrong in all this. I hope and pray that America—both as individual people and as a collective entity—will turn to God, trusting and following Him and His ways. But the focus of II Chronicles 7:14 isn’t on America; it is on those “who are called by my name”—that is, Christians. Nor is the end result a renewed and restored America; it is a renewed and restored Church. And that just might have an eternal impact on America and “even to the ends of the earth.”


[1] II Chronicles 6:21,24,25,27,29,32

[2] Psalm 102:25-27; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Hebrews 13:8

[3] Numbers 23:19; Psalm 33:11; Hebrews 6:17;

[4] Romans 11:17-21

[5] Romans 3:22 and 10:12; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11

[6] Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16 and 3:26; Ephesians 2:8-9;

[7] Philippians 3:20

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    I'm an author and the son of a preacher, with a passion for writing and examining the Scriptures. Thus this blog. (Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the NIV)

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