08

Jump Start # 215

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 215

2 Peter 1:20-21 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

  Sometimes folks get the idea that the Bible is like a pair of pajamas which is one size fits all. Have you ever tried on some of those “one size fit all” clothes. They don’t really fit, even though the tag says they should. The same is with Bible verses. We often try to make them fit every situation, and sometimes we use them in ways that God never intended.

  Our verse is one example of this. You get a couple of people together to discuss the Bible. Before long differences come up. When one feels a bit agitated and that he has had enough of that discussion, he proudly proclaims “well, that’s your interpretation. I have my own interpretation.” One size fits all!

  There are a few things we need to understand. First, the New Testament was written in Greek. From Greek it went to Latin, then German before it came to us in English. That’s a lot of traveling for those words! It helps to look at Bible words with a good Greek dictionary, such as Vine’s Expository Dictionary. I say all this, because the word, “interpretation” in our verse today, actually means “origin.” The context shows that. After saying “no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,” Peter adds, “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will.” Peter is not talking about understanding Bible verses, that’s how we use the word interpretation. He is talking about the origination of Bible verses. Paul said, “All Scripture is inspired of God…”  The Bible came from God. It did not evolve from ancient stories as the cable TV shows imply. The Bible was not thought up by man. The words are God’s words. The Bible is the heart of God revealed. Peter’s verse is about inspiration.

  Now, this leads to a couple of thoughts. First, we must see that the Bible is from God. It is the supreme book. No other books are equal to the Bible. It stands alone. It is accurate, pure and right. It is from God. If a person doesn’t accept that thought, then he will have trouble with what the Bible says. If it is from God, then God said it and that settles it.

  What about this interpretation stuff? Why is it that there are so many different views on the Bible? Why so many conflicting ideas? They can’t all be right, because some of them are opposites. So, which is right? Can we know? I have my view, and you have your view, and others have their view. Does it matter?

  It has long been believed, that the Bible is so complicated and confusing that no two people can agree upon it. That is a depressing thought. How could any people have unity if they can’t agree? Paul told the Corinthians, “be of one mind.” He said to others, “speak the same thing.” How is it that we can study Shakespeare and agree upon what he wrote? How is it that we can study the causes of the Civil War and understand what led to that war? We can understand a piece of classical music. We can understand the poetry of Robert Frost. We can understand the editorial column in the newspaper. All these things we can get, but we can’t get the Bible? It seems to me that such thinking indicts God as a lousy writer. This thinking makes it appear that Shakespeare is a better writer than God?

  I don’t accept this line of thinking. I believe we can all understand the Bible. God is a brilliant author. He wrote in such a way that we can know exactly what He wanted us to know. The problem is not in the understanding, but in the commitment and application. God doesn’t allow a variety of opinions or ideas. He is the Lord. Paul would say in Ephesians 4 that there is “one faith.” Just as there is one God, one Lord, there is one faith. That is not our faith, but “THE” faith—God’s teaching.

  Have you ever noticed that when a person wears colored sunglasses, everything is tinted that same color. Green sunglasses makes everything a bit green. Tan sunglasses makes everything a bit tan. When we begin with preconceived ideas, notions and thoughts, every verse tends to look that way. We must take off those colored glasses. We must look openly, honestly at the Bible.

  Paul said in Ephesians, “be not unwise, but understand the will of the Lord.” We can know God’s will!  What a delight it is to know that we can all know what God wants. It’s not darkness. It’s not a mystery. God has a plan, a way and a truth.

  Don’t begin your study of the Bible with the notion that this is hard, confusing and no one ever can know this stuff. That’s a terrible way to start. God speaks to you through His word. He wants you to know. You can. Now, you can’t learn by casual reading, like the newspaper. You didn’t study your college courses that way either! What a thrilling experience to know that you and I can know the heart of God!

Roger

05

Jump Start # 214

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 214

Revelation 14:7 “and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the Heaven and the earth and the sea and springs of waters.”

  Our verse today is a statement made from an angel who is flying between Heaven and earth.  He says three things: fear God; give Him glory; worship Him. Wonderful concepts. Life changing decisions if we will but do them.

  Two thought I want to share with you. First, notice the emphasis upon the volume of the angel’s voice. The angel said this “with a loud voice.” It’s easy to read over that and to miss it. Reading to ourselves, or silently, as most of us generally do, doesn’t cut it with this verse. You just have to read this out loud. Try it! Now, try it louder! The angel spoke with a LOUD VOICE. He wanted to be heard. He had something to say. We do this all the time. You get a group of people together and everyone is in their little groups talking and the host wants everyone to know that the food is ready and it’s time to eat. Someone with a loud voice will speak up and catch everyone’s attention. Parents raise their voices when they are trying to get their kids attention. You throw in their middle name and that usually makes them stop and listen. Recently, I was preaching at a place and we had some mic and speaker problems. The real problem was I was preaching loud. The next night we didn’t use the mic and everyone heard me fine. One little boy put his hands on his ears and told his mother that my voice scared him. There are a lot of noises today. There are a lot of messages drawing our attention today. The message of God needs to be loud. We need to hear it above all other noises. We need to listen to God. Maybe the world doesn’t know God because it can’t hear God. The old hymn comes to mind, “Go tell it on the mountain…”

  Secondly, the expression, “fear God,” is interesting. We often interpret “fear” to mean “respect.” Be devoted or dedicated to God. The word fear can mean that in some places. But not here. The Greek word for fear is the same word we get “phobia” from. We know phobia—the fear of things. Some fear heights. Some fear spiders. Some fear snakes. I read a list of phobias once. There are hundreds of phobias. Many I never heard of, such as the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth (it’s called, ‘arachibutyrophobia’). My favorite was phobophobia—the fear of fear. I have heard it said that in the New Testament, we are not to be “afraid” of God. This verse says otherwise. There are others:

  • Heb 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
  • Mt 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.”

  Afraid of God—fearful of God. Now that needs some explaining. A person shouldn’t be afraid to come to God. If we were then prodigals would never come home. But we shouldn’t turn God into one of our buddies, either. He is God. He is upon the throne. He is not like us nor is He one of us. Casual and flippant conversations with God in prayer reveals a heart that does not fear God. God is powerful. He is mighty. A good dose of fear will keep a person from messing with the word of God. It will cause a person to realize what God could do to us if we don’t follow Him.

  I sense that modern religion has turned God into a good ole boy who’d go to Nascar races with us, sit on the couch and watch movies and enjoy being a bit foolish now and then. You don’t get that from the Bible. God is holy and majestic. God is supreme. When Cain offered God a different sacrifice, God rejected it. When Uzzah reached out and touched the ark of the covenant to keep it from falling, God struck him dead. When Ananias and his wife lied, God took their lives. The Bible says, “great fear came upon the church.” Elders who refuse to repent are to be rebuked before all, so the rest will be “fearful of sinning” (1 Tim 5). There is a place for fear. Those that work with dangerous equipment, wild animals or intense situations understand that fear keeps them on their toes. It is when they take things for granted that trouble arises. Fear God. Love Him. Honor Him. Follow Him. Let us not be causal in our attitudes, worship or conversation with God.

  When God spoke from the mountain, Israel was so afraid that they begged Moses to do all the talking. They were terrified at the voice of God. I wonder if a good dose of fear would make us sin less? We live in times when fear is not good. Counselors talk to us about our fears. Pills are given to help us forget our fears. We convince ourselves that fear is bad and not to have any fears. We don’t like living with fear. But the angel said, and in a loud voice, FEAR GOD.

  Give that some serious thought!

Roger

04

Jump Start # 213

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 213

1 Thessalonians 5:8 “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

  Daytime—nighttime. Paul in this section of Thessalonians makes a contrast between daytime and nighttime. He uses the expressions, “night,” “darkness” at least six times in just a few verses. Day and night. There are differences. Some of us are morning people, who get up at the crack of dawn with trumpets blowing. That’s me. Others are night owls. They stay up real late and don’t seem to get going until most of us have already gone to bed.

  There are day activities and night activities. I wouldn’t recommend going on a hike in the middle of the night—rather hard to see. Cutting your yard at midnight isn’t a good idea. Most businesses are open in the day. Not too many of us go to the dentist at 2 in the morning unless there is a real emergency. But if you want to go catch some lightning bugs you have to do that at sunset. Going out at noon, you’ll come home empty. Day and night.

  Paul is using these words to describe the spirituality of people. Day people are the followers of Christ. Paul said, “you are all sons of light and sons of day” (v. 5). Again, he said, “but since we are of the day…” (v. 8). The night represented those not in Christ. Those in darkness are not alert of what is going on around them. Mostly, they are not awake spiritually. Jesus used similar thoughts in John 3. There He said, the light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. In other places, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” John told us to “walk in the light as He is in the light.” Daytime and nighttime people…those who are following Christ and those who are not.

  I’ve noticed something about daytime people and nighttime people…they don’t get each other. Given a chance and a choice, there are some who would like to sleep in on a Saturday until noon or later. For them, that is a great way to spend a day off. Early morning folks, like me, nearly explode at such ideas. By noon the day is half over. A person has wasted it just sleeping in bed. There are things to do. Get up and get at it! That’s the way my internal clock works. If I’m in bed past 9:00 in the morning, someone better take my pulse. I’ve probably checked out of life! But on the other side, there are those who love to watch movies and play games at 2:00 in the morning. I need industrial strength toothpicks to keep my eyes open that late. Daytime people and nighttime people.

  I’ve also noticed that spiritual daytime people do not understand those of the night spiritually. Why is it that some don’t want to come to church services? I have a hard time with that one. Why do some not just want to sit down and talk about the Bible? That’s a great thing to do. Just saying that to some nighttime people and they’ll run the other way. No interest. Nighttime spiritual people have a bent on doing the very things that Jesus wouldn’t do. It doesn’t bother them in the least. I guess that’s why they are nighttime.

  Paul’s words were not a means to get nighttime people to live in the day, rather, they are reminders to the daytime people, the Christians, that they need to keep alert, sober and serious about Jesus. Others don’t understand you. God does.

  We are of the daytime! Good reminder of days when it seems to get darker earlier and earlier.

Roger

03

Jump Start # 212

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 212

Philippians 1:24 “yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.”

  This section of Philippians reveals an attitude and spirit in the apostle Paul that is so different from what we hear today. Paul was at a crossroads. A decision was to be made. He admitted, “I do not know which to choose” (v. 22). What was the decision that he faced? To live or to die. Understand, first of all, Paul is not talking about taking his life. Suicide is not on the table of discussion here. His life would end when God said so. He understood that. But he also knew reality. Paul was in prison in Rome for preaching Jesus. The outcome didn’t look good. Paul was not afraid. In fact, that is part of his hard decision here. He knew to die, he would be with the Lord. His walk was so confident that he could say, “to die is gain.” His desire was “to depart and be with Christ.” What a fresh and Biblical view of death. Paul knew that death wasn’t the end. Life doesn’t end at the cemetery—life ends with God. The journey takes us to God. Paul was ready. For the faithful of God, death is just a door to a wonderful world so different than what we have here. The righteous of God will suffer no more after death. Gone will be temptations, trials, struggles, and disappointments. In the presence of God is such a joyous and comforting thought. Paul knew what was awaiting him and he believed it so strongly that he could hardly wait.

  We must stop and look in our spiritual mirror. Can we say that? Do we feel that way? Do we want to squeeze every ounce out of this world and then at an advanced aged die? Not Paul. Take me now, was his attitude. One of these days I am really going to embarrass myself at a funeral. I’ve preached many, many funerals in my time. When the person who passed away was a righteous person I can’t help but think how different they are now than I am. No more locks on the door. No more pills to take. No calendars to turn each month. No aches, no bad news, no fears, no evil people. One of these days, I’m just going say in a funeral, “Quit Crying! They’re the lucky one! They got out of crazy place!”

 Does death scare you? It shouldn’t. Do you dread it? You shouldn’t. It’s the door out and what a wonderful world awaits on the other side.

  Paul was ready to go, but he knew that there remained things to be done. There always is. Work never ends. When thinking about the church and especially the Philippian brethren, Paul realized that he was needed. “To stay is more necessary for you.” Paul was needed. The church needed him. His fingerprints were all over the church.

  Now that brings us to another great consideration from these verses, “Are your fingerprints seen on the church you attend?” Are you making a difference and an impact in the lives of others? So often I hear people asking, “What can you church do for me?” Fair question. But too often, we don’t ask the other question, “How can I help the brethren?” Are we simply receiving, taking each week without making much of an impact. Are we leaving our fingerprints on the church?

  Paul did. He was needed. But then so are you. You are needed. There are things for all of us to be doing, and most would admit that we are not doing near as much as we should. Teaching, encouraging, inviting, helping out are many of the ways we leave our fingerprints upon the church. We sing, “There is a work that we all can do…” It begins with me!

Roger

02

Jump Start # 211

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump  Start # 211

Romans 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are established by God.”

  Today is election day! We have grown up with the concept that every two years we can vote. Politics in our land can be dirty, the political ads on TV can be negative and discouraging and we can become indifferent to politics. Why does it matter, some say, nothing ever changes. That’s not completely true. Our right and privilege to vote is something that the early Christians would never understand. They did not have a say. In fact, many of them, being poor and many being slaves, did not understand rights or freedom. They lived under the heavy hand of Rome.

  Both Paul and Peter told the early disciples to be subject to the government, which for them was Rome. Later, both Paul and Peter would be executed by that government. The call wasn’t for resistance, or rebellion, but to be submissive. This is an attitude of bending your will for the will of others. It is not a sign of weakness but a sign of self control. The best example is that of Jesus. As He was being arrested, He could look Heavenward and see a host of angels. Hundreds and hundreds of angels ready to come at His calling. All He had to say was, “Come,” and the skies would have been filled with angels. Not cute little chubby figures that we see in gift stores, but mighty and powerful servants that would have delivered. When they mistreated Jesus at His trial, He could have said, “Come,” and the angels would have delivered Him. Upon the cross, all He had to say was, “Come,” and they would have rescued Him. Any moment they were ready to serve Him. But He didn’t. Jesus was obedient. Jesus was submissive.

  Citizens are to be submissive to the government. Without that spirit, chaos reigns and every one does what they think is right. Law is thrown aside and lawlessness prevails. Later in this section of Romans, Paul adds, “Render to all what is due to them, tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear;  honor to whom honor.” Jesus said, “render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar.” Jesus was obedient to the law.

  Paul also tells the disciples in his letter to Timothy, “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”  Now that’s different! I’ve heard folks mad at the president. Some curse politicians. Some tell off-color jokes about them. But praying for them? That doesn’t happen often, even in church. It should. The Bible tells us to.

  So today, vote. It’s your privilege. In many countries today that is not an option.  But more than that, as you vote, say a prayer. Pray for those you vote for. Pray for those that are in office. Even after election day, pray. Prayer works. Proverbs tells us that the heart of the king is like channels of water in the hand of God. God can move and change and do things.

  We are blessed to have freedom. We are blessed to have the privilege to vote. Many in the world would love to do what you get to do today!

Roger