The State vs God's Word.

Our state, local and Federal governments, while never perfect, were at one time built upon an understanding of God's law. As time has progressed we are defining right and wrong more from our own understanding than from God's Word, and thus we are departing severely from where we first stood, in many cases.

Believers are faced with the issue of which to follow: the State or the Lord? For some of us, as long as we are good citizens of our state, read our Bibles some and are in church fairly often then we believe all is well between ourselves and God. Likely this is not so!

Here is one example: the issue of divorce and remarriage. Our state a divorce is easy to obtain. Once the divorce is finalized a new marriage is permitted. We, believers, are happy when we or our children are doing things legally. Yet, if one settles for the standard that is given by our State, we would do well to realize that we often are falling short of God's standard. Does this possibility disturb us? Christ's teaching on remarriage was so sever that it brought about this response from his disciples: "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." (Mat 19:10 ESV) The situation that led to this response by the disciples began with the Pharisees asking Jesus: “"Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" (Mat 19:3 ESV) Christ points out that in the beginning God had made male and female. Then Christ makes this statement: “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." (Mat 19:6 ESV) This is followed by the revelation that it is because of the hardness of our hearts that divorce was permitted, not commanded. Therefore, Christ continues, (to paraphrase) remarriage except in the case of our spouse committing adultery is a sin because upon remarriage we ourselves are committing adultery, for in God's sight, our first marriage was not broken.

Are there other issues out there in which the Christian community is patting itself on its back because they are following legal guidelines, yet completely missing the clear Word of our God? I fear that this might be so.

The Lord's Church must not settle for conformity to the state. Rather we must proclaim: “We are the Lord's body.” ""Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." 18 "For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." 19 "Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19 ESV)

The art of giving a good speech
or
Teaching the Word

As a pastor/teacher (Eph. 4:1,12) I am sent by our Lord to teach His word to His people, and to others as well. Paul instructions to Timothy and Titus contain the words: teacher, teach and teaching(s). While I believe those of us called to teach ought to strive by God's grace and gifts to do the best job that we are able to do, we are not called to give good speeches. I would distinguish between a speech and a teaching along these lines. A teacher is first interested in teaching something. While a speaker might be interested in teaching, the impact or impress of his speaking, his style, his use of illustrations and many other factors move to the fore front of his task. Paul tells the Corinthians that he did not come to them with persuasive words of wisdom, (1 Co. 1:17,24,30; 2:1,4ff,13) in other words, Paul thought there was something of higher importance than being known as a top notch speaker.

A teacher of God's Word would lay the foundation of Christ and build upon this, while trusting in His gracious God to build His house. In this light a teacher of God's Word is not much different from a teacher of math or language. This teaching would be done by patiently going over the material, re-enforcing it and building upon the basics. This very process of teaching has a higher priority than anything else, other than being true to the Word.

Maybe if I were a conference speaker or someone showing up to 'preach' once at a church I might think about making a 'speech'. Hum, but if I did what would be my goal? However, I'm building a church, which is to grow in the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, if God would so blesses.

There has been a gap between this blog and the last one. My wife and I went away for 3 days, all by ourselves. We had an enjoyable time together.

Pastors are people just like everyone else. Time with my wife is important for both of us. Our mornings were spent reading and studying, while in the afternoons we window shopped and visited the exercise room. (We actually did spend a little money here and there.) We also visited art galleries, a woodworking school and other points of interest. Bobbi sat at my feet some of the time, actually, she was a yard or two away, braiding a rug. I just happened to be sitting near her. I did, however, give her feet some kind of treatment. She had this tube of stuff to be followed by several other tubes of who knows what! Now she has the softest feet around!

We watched a few movies, and listened to a story on tape. I enjoyed listening to her laugh.

Mom went to a respite home for the time while some friends stayed with Lydia, interrupting her schedule.

Now we are all back together.

This was a nice 'break', for which we praise the Lord!