16

Jump Start # 1684

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1684

2 Corinthians 11:29 “Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?”

  Our verse is found after a long section in which the apostle Paul is compelled to defend himself against those who are taking pot shots at him. They have questioned his position, since he wasn’t one of the first apostles. They criticized his preaching. They questioned his worthiness. And in a brilliant, tell-all section, Paul lists the trials that he has endured since he became a Christian. The list is hard to believe. Just any one of these would have been the end to most of us. Yet, here he is, still going on for the Lord. The laundry list of persecution includes:

 

  • Multiple imprisonments
  • Five times whipped with 39 lashes
  • Three times beaten with rods
  • Other times beaten so many times he couldn’t remember
  • Stoned
  • Shipwrecked, including spending an entire night in the water
  • Hungry, thirsty and often in dangerous situations
  • Came close to dying more than once

 

We read these words and two thoughts immediately come to our minds. First, it makes us bow our heads in shame. How many times have we let a headache keep us from riding in a nice automobile to an air conditioned church building to sit on padded pews to worship for an hour? Secondly, it makes us ask, why? Why did you put up with all of this Paul? The answer is obvious. Jesus. It was because of the Lord’s love for Paul and what the Lord endured on the cross that kept Paul going. He wasn’t going to allow suffering to stop him. He saw suffering as temporary. He longed to be with the Lord. He was on a mission and he was determined to complete it.

 

After this long list of suffering Paul names some great internal suffering that he experienced. There was the daily concern for the churches, and then our verse today, the concern for those who are weak and led into sin. “Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” One has to think that these internal, spiritual concerns, had a greater impact upon Paul than the physical persecutions. He wanted everyone to go to Heaven. He wanted churches to be strong and growing. He couldn’t stand for folks to remain weak. He had this “intense concern” about those who returned to sin.

 

We are not told what this intense concern for those returning to sin resulted in. It’s not hard to imagine. Knowing Paul from the rest of the N.T., we can put together a good picture of what he would have done.

 

First, he would have prayed hard about that person. He would have prayed that the Lord would help that person. He would pray that the person would see what they have left and where the sin is taking them. He would pray that the Lord would open doors to reach this person. Pray hard is what Paul would have done.

 

Second, Paul would have gone directly to the person if he could. He would sit down and reason with the person. He would have shown Scriptures and reminded the person of the great love and sacrifice that God has for him. He would have warned the person about the dangers of losing their soul.

 

Third, Paul would have continued to follow up. He would write letters when away from that person. He would not let it go. He would have been on that person. Like a giant spiritual tug-of-war, Satan pulling on one end, Paul was holding tight on the other end. He wasn’t ready to let the person go. Paul would have encouraged others to get involved and see after the person. Like an all night search for a missing child, the church would have poured prayers and effort into reaching this person.

 

Fourth, if all efforts were rejected, with tears streaming down his face, Paul would have led the church into practicing discipline upon the wayward soul. Even at that, there would have been prayers and approaches to reach the person.

 

This is what “intense concern” looks like. This ought to be the actions of the shepherds or elders of a congregation. Every godly person ought to walk in the steps of Paul. This is what ought to be done. Sadly, and much too often it’s not.

 

Someone is led into sin and nothing is said. Oh, after a few months, some quietly whisper about what ever happened to “so and so.” Those months become nearly a year before slow moving elders decide to read a form letter before the church. As it is read, some look to each other and ask, “Who is this?” A couple of weeks pass, and a second form letter is mailed to this person in sin. It lists a few verses and coldly proclaims that the church has withdrawn fellowship from him. As the man in sin reads this letter, he scoffs. It’s been over a year now and they are just now getting around to this? He’s returned to sin and is very comfortable now. It’s been so long since he has worshipped with God’s people, that he doesn’t even miss it. Where was the concern when he first left? And this cold, form letter is supposed to bring him back to the Lord? This is showing love and “intense concern?”

 

It’s about time that congregations gave a lot of serious thought into their methods of dealing with those who are led into sin. It would be interesting to see how many were turned around because of these late sent form letters? Is this nothing more than appeasing the conscience of the leaders rather than a serious attempt to bring the  one in error back?

 

Intense concern. I’d like to see a class on that. I’d like to hear a sermon on that one. It would probably be painful to sit through, knowing what has been the practice in the past. Do we really care? Do we really want them back? Do we really love their souls? Maybe it’s time to ditch these form letters and get in the car and drive over there and sit down face to face and talk. Maybe it’s time to ask, “What would it take to bring you back?” Maybe that ought to be done within the a couple of weeks of noticing that they are missing. Maybe we ought to pay better attention to who is missing.

 

Intense concern. I’d like to think that if I dropped out, there would be several who had intense concern about me. I just wonder if I have that same concern for others.

 

Bless be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love—more than a song. It’s the way that it ought to be.

 

Roger

 

15

Jump Start # 1683

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1683

Joshua 7:21 “When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”

  Our verse comes from the early days of Israel in the new promise land. Things were going well. Suddenly, it seemed like everything crashed. The promises were fading away. The nation, following God’s instructions to drive out the inhabitants, were defeated at Ai. After such a stunning victory at Jericho, Ai, should have been an easy victory. They didn’t send a full force. It wasn’t needed. But something terrible happened. The men of Ai struck back very hard. Thirty-six Israelites were killed. The ran in defeat and were chased by the men of Ai. Joshua was stunned. What happened? Then God revealed that Israel had sinned. Achan had taken some prized items from Jericho. There was a command not to take anything.

 

In our verse, Achan is discovered. He confesses the details of what he took. He didn’t say that I took a few things, he itemized the list of stolen property. Two hundred shekels of silver, a gold bar weighing fifty shekels…how did he carry all of this stuff? Did he have help?

 

The consequences were devastating. Achan, his stolen property, his life stock, and even his tent were destroyed in punishment by Israel. Included in this was Achan’s children. They were put to death along with their dad. God was removing Achan’s family line from Israel. There would be no more descendants from this wicked, covetous man. Nothing that belonged to him would survive.

 

There are some things for us here:

 

1. Achan knew what he did was wrong. First, the command had been stated not to take bring anything back. He knew that. Temptation got the best of him. But when he brought items back, he not only put them in his tent, but hid them in the ground in his tent. He was hiding what he had. Guilt will do that. He knew it was wrong. If it wasn’t wrong, he would have proudly paraded his items around and bragged about it. No one seemed to know about this, but God. Guilt will make you look left and then right to see if anyone is watching, but we forget to look up. God’s there. He’s always watching. There is no hiding from God what we have done.

 

2. Achan’s actions affected the nation. When Joshua collapses in fear, God reveals that “Israel had sinned.” We’d say today, Achan sinned. We would put some distance between Achan and the nation. God didn’t. The sin of one affected all. The nation was guilty. Boy, we could hear folks complaining today, “Don’t blame me, I didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t me.” God didn’t see it that way. He was part of the nation. One sinned, they are all guilty.

 

Only a few men when to fight at Ai. We wonder if Achan was one or did he stay behind. If he went, why didn’t God just kill Achan in battle? Why allow others to die? This was part of the consequences of Achan’s sin. Too many times, the innocent get hurt by the sins of others.

 

3. Achan’s family suffered because of his choices. This is really hard to understand. Everything and everyone belonging to Achan was destroyed. Executed by the nation. Forever known as a disobedient thief who was greedy. His foolishness caused his kids to die. One can only imagine the screams of terror and fear that came from his children as they faced death. So tragic.

 

The choices of dads today are still killing their kids. The choice to raise their kids to be bullies, selfish, materialistic, ungodly, is destroying the souls of children nationwide. Dads decision to not follow Christ kills the family. Dads choice to be arrogant, greedy and steal from his company is not much different than the actions of Achan. The children are not stoned to death by the nation today, but they die spiritually. They grow up and live a lifetime away from God. They drop deeper and deeper into selfishness and sinfulness. A generation follows them and they continue the downward spiral of living without any moral direction. Just look around us today. College campuses are producing hundreds if not thousands of future alcoholics. Binge drinking is out of control and these foolish students do not realize that this is addictive and setting them on a course of a life long misery. Look at the idiotic movies being produced that glamorize fornication and sinful conduct. Right is now wrong and wrong is right. Deeper and deeper we sink as a nation. Why? Bibles are closed. Prayers are not uttered. Church buildings are empty. And inside our tents are the spoils of greedy and covetous hearts. Achan’s choices affected the nation and they affected his family.

 

Our choices affect our congregation and our families. We can never be strong as a church, as long as we are hiding sin in our tents. We will never have families that are what they should be as long as we continue to ignore God’s commands. We must think that God put this story, true as it is, in our Bibles, not only for historical reference and accuracy, but to teach us a lesson as well. What we do touches others. What we do affects our family. There is no such thing as, “It’s my life and I can do what I want.” Wrong. Your choices affect others.

 

It must have been hard for Israel to execute one of their own. It must have been extremely hard for them to execute the children of Achan. This is one page of the Bible that I would not like to witnessed. One man’s sin, sure put many people in misery.

 

4. We can’t leave this without saying something about the cause of Achan’s sin. He coveted. He admitted that. He confessed that to Joshua. Even without this command to leave the spoil, Achan should have known. The last of the 10 Commandments was about coveting. Thou shalt not covet. Why didn’t he get that? Why did he think that he could get a pass on that? Why did he think this one time I will do it? How many times does it take to be wrong? How many bites of the forbidden fruit did Eve have to take before it was wrong? Coveting and greed will consume a person. It did Achan. It fills our eyes and our hearts with things that we think will make us happy. If I could only get this, we think. Coveting can get ahold of a person so deep, that he will break the rules to get what he wants. There has been people in the church who embezzled the Sunday contribution. Stealing from God! Greed can make us not see straight.

 

This disastrous story was the result of stuff that Achan stole. His children died because of stuff. He died because of stuff. How many will lose their souls eternally because of stuff?

 

Everyday we make choices. Our choices affects others, they always do.

 

Roger

 

 

14

Jump Start # 1682

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1682

Romans 6:16 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

 

Our verse today is an interesting and revealing thought. Most, especially in our modern Western world, not only do not like the tone of this passage, but would deny it. Slavery is out. No one wants to be a slave. Freedom and independence, whether from the tyranny of another nation or the bondage of someone who owns you, is always viewed as the best option. In my area there are historical signs documenting locations of the famed underground railroad that helped slaves escape from the south to the freedom of the north during the days of the Civil War. No one wants to be a slave. Yet, our passage tells us that we are.

Consider some thoughts:

 

First, no one is totally free. That’s the real troublesome thought here. It bothers me. It bothers many. We like to think that I do what I want to do. No one is over me. No one is telling me what to do. Paul here is showing us that we are either slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness. Our choices, not forced by another, yet are not purely free and independent as we might want to believe. So a person decides to follow God. He reads his Bible, worships on Sunday and makes choices that please God. He is doing what God wants him to do. Is he forced? Does he have to do those things? No. But it is what God wants. Another person has chosen to do the opposite. He doesn’t want to live by rules. He wants to do what he wants. He sleeps in on Sunday. He says whatever he feels like saying. He dresses, lives and makes his choices based upon what makes him happy. He never realizes that he is doing exactly what Satan wants him to do. He, too, like the other person,  is not forced. But his choices reflect the very life that Satan wants him to live, apart from God. Paul’s conclusion is that you can’t break totally free. You will either do what God wants or what Satan wants.

 

Second, these choices have conclusions and consequences. Doing what you want, which is what Satan wants, leads to death, spiritual death and eternal death. Doing what God wants leads to righteous living. The Christian’s life seems more structured and governed by rules. He does what the Bible says. The person of the world, although he doesn’t follow a book like the Bible, and there are no visible rules that he reads, his life is what  Satan wants. Anything other than the Biblical path, is what Satan wants. These choices take us places. For one, it is farther and farther away from God. His life shows very little godliness at all. His language is blasphemous and offensive. He ignores God’s rules about marriage and relationships. His life is addictions, selfishness and sour attitudes. He steals if it suits him. He drinks if he wants. No one tells him what to do, but without knowing it, he is following Satan. This path is a dead end road. He is not living to his potential. He is not doing the best that he can. He is not building healthy relationships around him. He will die and be lost forever because “he did what he wanted to do,” which is Satan’s gospel.

 

Third, slavery or being a servant, isn’t viewed in negative terms Biblically. This slavery has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with heart, obedience and truth. Many common Biblical expressions are tied in to the word servant. A minister is a servant. A deacon is a servant. Jesus, Himself, came not to be served, but to serve. He served mankind. The greatest in the kingdom, the Lord said, will be your servant. These thoughts are hard for us. The idea of a servant brings the image of being on the very bottom of the ladder. We want to work our way up to the top. Some start their own businesses because they want to be their own boss. This modern thought has crippled the church today. People show up to be served. If I don’t like things, I will go somewhere else. People ask, “what is your church going to do for me?” We live in a self-serving lifestyle. We pump our own gas. We check out our selves at the store. We don’t need bank tellers, we use ATM’s. We fill up our own soft drinks at the fast food restaurant. We don’t need others. We certainly do not do things for others. That’s the times we live in. That’s the spirit of today. That’s not the spirit of Christ. We are servants. We serve others, as He served others.

 

This spirit must be taught in our homes. No one is too good to help out. Dinner is over and everyone races to their room. The dirty dishes remain on the kitchen table. Who is going to take care of that? In a restaurant when you are finished eating, you leave. At home, no one is paid to come in and clean up. Each person takes their dishes to the sink. It’s not hard. Different ones take their turn cleaning up. It’s not hard. It teaches service.

 

In the church, deacons are not junior elders. They are not elders in waiting. They are servants. Servants, first of Christ and servants of the congregation. They serve. They must be busy doing what needs to be done. It’s not all physical things. We’ve demoted deacons to custodians and janitors of the church buildings. Why is it that a man must be married, have kids and be qualified and appointed by the church so he can change light bulbs and unclog toilets? Is that it? There were deacons in the first century. See Phil 1:1. Those congregations did not have church buildings back then. What did deacons do? Maybe their role was more spiritual than we allow them. Maybe they took financial support to Paul and carried inspired letters from him to the churches. Trusted, dependable and dedicated men that you know will get the work done, is what these servants are. In too many places today, there are the names of deacons on the role, but they don’t do anything. The church knows that they must have deacons, but they are in name only. The work that they could be doing is being done by elders, who won’t let anyone else do anything.

 

Servants. That’s what we are. We serve. We serve Satan or we serve Christ. We do what Satan wants or we do what Christ wants. Jesus said in the Gospels, “If you are not with me, you are against me.” There is no undecided here. To be undecided is to be with Satan.

 

Teach the heart of a servant. Understand what servants do. Open your eyes and see what you can do today. Roll up your sleeves. Get busy. Get out of the easy chair. Stop complaining about what folks are not doing for you and get doing what the Lord did.

 

Our verse began with this expression, “Do you not know…” I expect some don’t know. It’s time that we did.

 

Roger

 

13

Jump Start # 1681

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1681

Acts 14:23 “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

  The plan and desire of God was for congregations to be overseen by elders. These gifted and spiritual shepherds would not only help each soul, they would set the course and direction for the church. In the amazing shepherd Psalm, Psalm 23, the shepherd knew were green pastures and quiet waters were. He led the flock to those places to be nourished and helped.

 

What is so remarkable about our verse today is that elders were appointed in every church. The “every church” refers to the cities of Lystra, Iconiumn and Antioch. Paul had just returned to those cities. Even more remarkable is that we find Paul first going to these cities at the beginning of this chapter. He’s there and through his preaching, congregations are formed. By the end of this same chapter, he’s back and is now appointing elders in these churches. Understand, decades have not passed. We are talking about a couple of years possibly, at the most, probably, even less than that. How can a congregation go from just starting to having elders within a couple of years? Wouldn’t those new elders still be new converts? Obviously, many of these elders were from the Jewish background and had a solid faith and righteous practice to begin with.

 

There are a few things we need to consider here:

 

1. These men who were appointed as elders wanted to be part of God’s amazing kingdom. They saw the value and the importance of shepherding God’s people. The work of elders is people work. It’s guiding, teaching, and helping brethren on their journey with Christ. Sometimes that work is messy because of the problems we get ourselves into. Sometimes it’s heart breaking when some no longer want to continue with Christ. Paul found, not just in one city, but in all the churches, men who were willing to work with God.

 

Why is this so difficult today? Some congregations will literally go decades and decades without elders. Some currently have no elders and the present generation doesn’t look promising. Why is it this way? Do we find satisfaction in doing things differently than God’s arrangement? Do we like each of us, spiritual or not, having a say in the direction and the future of the church? Do we not like working in the kingdom? Have we seen the ugly side of things and we want no part of it? Are we too selfish and we do not want to devote the time nor the work to help God’s people? Shame on us for ignoring this amazing work. Shame on us for not developing men to see the joy and greatness of working in God’s kingdom. Shame on us for sitting on the sidelines of life, because we just don’t want to. I have heard far too many times, “A man must desire the work, and I simply do not desire it.” WHY? That’s not good enough. Get up. Get engaged. Don’t be satisfied sitting by when you could and you should help the people of God. Don’t bury your talent in the ground. Don’t hide behind “I have a family and just can’t,” or, “My work is really busy.” Paul found men in every church. Could he find men in your congregation?

 

2. There must have been a pool of men to draw from. I been to some small congregations and there may only be one or two men. That would really limit the opportunity for that church to have elders. To be able to appoint in every church, implies that there were many men in every church. This here and alone ought to kick the legs out of the idea that some have of keeping a church small. “I like a small church,” some say. “I don’t think a large church is good.” Those opinions are not Biblical. To keep a church small, means pulling the plug on evangelism. It means we will not interact with the community. It means we will not get the message out in every available media possible. Keep the church small and chances are there won’t be future elders.

 

3. These men that Paul chose to be elders had a great spiritual understanding. A person has to in order to be an elder. They didn’t just show up on Sunday and sleep through the sermon. These men were gifted, spiritual and growing in the Lord. They understood Bible warnings. They understood how the church operates. They knew what their mission was. Intensely interested. Knowing Scripture. Loving people. Realizing how they were gifted by God. These things are what enabled Paul to appoint men as elders.

 

4. The congregation found men that they would follow. Too often, the process of looking for elders turns into a character assassination and a witch hunt. The process begins with the idea, “we must find something wrong with these men.” If and only if, we can’t find anything wrong, then they will be elders. What a sorry attitude and wrong spirit to begin with. Why should the process of appointing elders be so negative and hard? Why is it that some will get so upset that they will leave? Something is terrible wrong with us. One of the greatest days in a congregation’s history ought to be the day that elders were appointed. It ought to be a fun and joyous occasion. The trouble is, men are chosen who can’t and don’t know how to lead. They may be nice guys. They may be our friends. But before all this elder talk, these men were always in the shadows. They were not the ones who were teaching classes, visiting folks. These were not the ones who had Bible studies in their homes. These were not the ones who were very involved in the church. They came, but they didn’t do much. Now, someone thinks that they ought to be an elder. Now, righteous folks scratch their heads. This guy lead? He never has before. Does he understand? Does he know what’s going on? That’s the problem, we are looking for good guys and friends, rather than natural spiritual leaders. It doesn’t seem that Paul had trouble find men to be elders. It doesn’t seem that those congregations were divided and split over the process of putting in these men. When this is done right, it’s a great occasion. Everyone is on board and everyone feels good about this.

 

5. Too often, we give little thought about finding elders unless a dire circumstance takes place. A current elder decides to move, and now the church is in panic mode to find his replacement. Everything buzzes about elders. The preacher will march through the verses found in Timothy and Titus so everyone can be getting ready. Finally and too often, reluctantly, one man is found. He is made an elder. A great sigh of relief falls over the church. And now things settle down and nothing is ever mentioned about elders again until the next crisis. Does this sound familiar? Does this look good? Why not offer a quarter class for all the men in their 20’s and 30’s to study shepherding, not the qualifications. We spend so much time talking about qualifications that a person still doesn’t understand what an elder is supposed to do. Study Psalm 23. Study Ezekiel 34. Study Acts 14. Study people. Study leadership. Study vision. Study nourishing. Study discipline. Study communicating with others. Get folks ready. Develop men now. So many congregations will bring in a young man who wants to preach to be mentored by an experienced preacher. He may spend two years in a program helping him understand the work of preaching. But when it comes to elders, nothing like this is done. A name is presented. If that man survives the process, he is now called one of the elders, but he is clueless as to what he is supposed to do. Why not bring men into elders meetings so they can witnesses what goes on? Why not take one along, as elders go and talk with people? Mentor and train men, so they will understand the work.

 

Paul found men to be elders in every church. Wouldn’t that be great if that could be said in our land and in these times! Too many churches are drifting with no one at the helm. Too many churches are stuck doing nothing and going no where. It’s time to rise up and get serious about the work of God.

 

Roger

 

12

Jump Start # 1680

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1680

1 Timothy 2:9-10 “Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.”

 

Our verse today is found in a section which gives practical instructions for both men and women. The men were told to pray everywhere. One verse for men. Here, two verses for women. Don’t be thinking, men, that women need more help than we do, that’s why there are two for them and one for us. Don’t even go there.

 

These verses addressed to women describe both the inside and the outside, the clothing and the character of a person of God. Don’t think that men get a pass on this. Women have to be modest, but men don’t? Really? Modesty is more than a clothing issue, it’s an attitude and a spiritual issue. Understanding or the lack of understanding about modesty is a huge issue in our culture. Everywhere, from billboards, to magazine covers, to TV commercials, to ads in the Sunday paper, scantly clothed women are used to grab the eye. Immodesty fuels lust which creates improper thoughts. Hollywood awards programs feature women who like to show as much skin as they can get away with. It’s shocking. It’s shameful. It feeds this sex crazed times that we are in. I wish someone would shout from the crowd, “Put your clothes on!”

 

Consider some thoughts from this passage.

 

First, Paul’s concern was not wearing too little clothing, but showing off by wearing very expensive clothing. Gold, pearls and costly garments were the attire of the rich. Most of the first Christians were poor. Many were servants and slaves. They didn’t have dozens and dozens of outfits to chose from. But there were a few, here and there that were wealthy. Leading women of Thessalonica became Christians. Lydia appears to have been wealthy. Some of Caesar’s household became Christians. Paul’s words here were about flaunting and showing off. Dressing to impress. We don’t generally think of modesty in that way. This is how it is used here. His words are not about bikinis but peals, gold and costly garments. Showing off, most of us did that when we were kids. Many guys did that on their first dates. We wanted to be noticed, liked and impressed. We went for that “wow” factor. It seems that some of the wealthy women were doing that. That would created an atmosphere that “I’m better than you,” when in truth, we are all sinners needing Jesus.

 

Second, Paul wanted the attention to be drawn to the good works that they were supposed to be doing. Instead of parading around in fine clothes, roll up your sleeves, get your hands in the bucket and get busy helping someone. Your fancy clothes tends to stick your nose up in the air and that leads to you thinking that you are too good to do certain things. Not in the kingdom. Not among God’s people.

 

These words are similar to the Lord’s address on the mount. Let them see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven. Good works is sprinkled throughout Paul’s writings. The Galatians were told, “while we have opportunity let us do good to all…” Three times in Titus the idea of engaging in good works is found. The hallmark of God’s people is not the talk that they talk, but the good that they do.

 

I have known some very wealthy Christians. Yet it was these very same Christians that I’ve seen down at the church house on a Saturday morning, pulling weeds, or even cleaning the toilets at the building. I’ve seen these folks cleaning the house of a young family that had sickness. I’ve seen them help pay the college expenses for a young Christian. These are the things that Paul wanted the wealthy to be known for. They used their talents and wealth to help others. They weren’t spending money on themselves. They were known, not for their wealth, but for being counted upon. They were doing good deeds.

 

Third, good deeds is natural for someone who is making the claim of godliness. Making the claim. That’s a great expression. If someone made the claim to be golfer, then there would be some things that you would expect. Right off the bat, you’d expect him to own a set of golf clubs. To be a golfer without a set of golf clubs doesn’t make sense. You’d expect that person to golf. The clubs that sits in the garage year round and are never used, doesn’t meet the claim that you are a golfer. We could say the same about a student. Someone who claimed to be a student, ought to be taking classes, going to those classes, owns textbooks, studies, writes papers and takes tests. That’s what students do. To claim to be a student, but one never goes to class, doesn’t fit the bill.

 

So, in the passage, Paul mentions the claim to godliness. There are certain things that ought to be expected and go with that claim. A godly person will worship God. Not just now and then, not as a CEO (Christmas and Easter Only), but regularly. That’s what godly people do. They do what God wants them to do. That’s what makes them godly.

 

Someone claiming to be godly is going to talk a certain way. The negative stuff, like gossip, cussing, abusive language, will not be there. But what will be noticed is kindness, thankfulness, thoughtfulness.

 

Someone who claims to be godly will dress modestly. That’s one of the points of the passage. Claiming to be a Christian, yet wearing very little clothing, or as in our passage, dressing to show off, do not go together. This includes special occasions, weddings and other events. The Christian doesn’t get a pass because they are in a wedding. It’s a special time, so I can be immodest. No. Our verse begins with the word “Likewise,” which connects it to the passage above where Paul wanted men to pray everywhere. Modesty isn’t just in the church building. It’s at work. It’s on vacation. It’s at weddings. It’s everywhere.

 

Someone who claims to be godly will be busy doing good works. They will help others. They will be encouragers. They will teach the Gospel where they can. They will let their lights shine for Jesus. That’s what we’d expect from godly people and that’s just what godly people would do.

 

Making a claim to godliness. Many folks do that. They let you know that they believe in Jesus, but ask them about the weekend, and they’ll talk about drinking parties, filthy movies that they watched and their language is peppered and salty with words that are offensive, obscene and indecent. These folks make the claim, but the claim doesn’t match the behavior. This is what Paul is driving at. You are claiming to be a Christian. Make sure your clothing and your actions live up to that claim. Walk the walk. Let your behavior, inside and out, speak for who you are.

 

I was teaching a group of our teens last evening about this very passage and this very subject, modesty. I asked them, “How do you know if something you are wearing is modest or not?” One said, “have your parents tell you.” I suggested putting a chair in front of a mirror. Sit down. What you see in the mirror is what others are seeing. The greatest thought came from a senior in high school. He said, “if it’s borderline, if it’s something that you’re not sure, why are you even considering wearing that?” Bravo! That’s it! Don’t get close to the line. Don’t wear something in which someone might want to come and evangelize you because they didn’t think you were a Christian. Certainly a Christian wouldn’t wear that.

 

Don’t just make that claim, live up to it. Live godly.

 

Roger