Category: spiritual immaturity

Deflate Yourself and Edify Others #2

Monday, August 28, 2017

“Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth” (1 Corinthians 8:1 KJV).

Ignorance can be very dangerous—knowledge can be equally detrimental!

The Greek word translated “puffeth up” in today’s Scripture is physioo, from physa, “a pair of bellows.” Bellows are a device that consists of a bag between two handles, the handles squeezed together to blow air (as to stoke a fire). Think of an air pump inflating balloons or tires—or pride swelling a “big head!”

It describes people “boasting” concerning their favorite spiritual leaders (1 Corinthians 4:6), believers who “brag” that they have gotten away with misbehavior (1 Corinthians 4:18,19), fleshly members of the Body of Christ “proud of” and encouraging their brother guilty of sexual perversion (1 Corinthians 5:2), and “haughty” individuals extremely fixated on their unique so-called “supernatural” experiences (Colossians 2:18). Notice how every reference save one applies to the Corinthians—the audience of today’s Scripture. Pride overwhelmed Corinth because carnality abounded in it.

First Corinthians chapter 3 is such a sad commentary touching a group of Christians whom the Apostle Paul himself taught for 18 months (Acts 18:11): “[1] And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. [2] I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. [3] For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”

They “walk[ed] as men” in that they were depending on their own viewpoint as the basis for Christian living. Rather than divine thinking, sound Bible doctrine, there abounded in Corinth philosophy, man’s opinions. Man by nature, of course, is sinful. Instead of behaving like saints, they were acting like sinners! Rather than thinking like saints, they were thinking like sinners! Sinners by nature, of course, are selfish. Sinners by nature, of course, are prideful, boasting of their self-sufficiency (“I can do without God!”). If not being educated and grounded in God’s grace, saints will be “puffed up.” God’s grace teaches us to deflate….

Answers in Scripture

Friday, August 25, 2017

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5 KJV).

Are you lacking wisdom, friend? Why not “ask of God?”

Not long ago, Mom and I visited a nearly 96-year-old relative. For a few years now, my parents and I have tried to keep Scriptural dialog open with her. While she is still content in being bound in her works-religion, Mom told me the woman seemed more receptive to truth than usual. She heard the Gospel of the Grace of God many times again during our most recent visit. We tried to emphasize to her that all the “crazy” things happening in the world are the result of sin and that Jesus Christ died to save us from such depravity. She learned once again that the Holy Bible is a beacon of light in this world of darkness, and a solid foundation in this world of uncertainty. Her religion is powerless to help her, educate her, or comfort her in such troubling times.

Another point I stressed with this dear lady is the fact that people are groping around, looking for answers, but apart from God. Notice how the Holy Spirit through James in today’s Scripture encouraged people to consult God when they wanted wisdom. True, the Bible was not yet complete at that time (James was perhaps the earliest “New Testament” Book written); hence, that partially-revealed Word of God left people with various unanswered spiritual questions. Even so, God did not discourage anyone from seeking His truth. He was willing to provide more information if they wanted it!

Many years after James, Paul wrote in the final Bible Book: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17). With the Pauline revelations exposed and written down, everything that God wants man to know and do, we find it in the completed Bible. Thus, the way we “ask” God for wisdom today is to submit to His written words, Holy Scripture. If we are in spiritual darkness, God is not to blame!

Day By Day

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV).

Will Bible reading on Sunday suffice for the week? Today’s Scripture says absolutely not!

A friend in the ministry related a story of encountering a very strange man. After he delivered his sermon, the man came to him and wanted to argue with him about Scripture. When my friend asked him where his Bible was, he said that he did not own one! How was he going to discuss Scripture with my friend who had a Bible, if he did not even have his own personal copy? As it turned out, he said that he had heard the Bible preached all his life, so he did not need to have one for himself. He “knew” what it said because he “remembered” what he had heard preachers say what it said! (That is faulty on so many levels!)

It is a common idea that the Christian can go to church on Sunday, let the minister read from and teach the Bible, and have no further need for “Bible study” until the next weekend. This is exactly why there is so much Bible ignorance and spiritual immaturity in the professing church. There is so much reliance on ministers—and they are often not even reading and/or teaching verses properly! Furthermore, one day of Bible reading a week is spiritual starvation.

Friends, our inward man must be renewed “day by day” (today’s Scripture). Ephesians 4:23 says we need to be “renewed in the spirit of [our] mind.” Romans 12:2 amplifies: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” If the Scriptures are not renewing our mind “day by day,” we are being “conformed to this world” every day. There is no power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives because there is no doctrine for Him to use. Every day, we are taking in all the information the evil world system wants to teach us. We must have sound Bible doctrine—“day by day” Bible study—to win that battle between truth and error!

A Filling—Not a Feeling!

Thursday, August 10, 2017

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;” (Ephesians 5:18,19 KJV).

Notice, dear friends, this is a filling not a feeling!

A Christian woman approached me recently to ask if I believed in “the filling of the Holy Ghost.” I told her that I most certainly did, as the Bible does tell us to be “filled with the Spirit” (cf. today’s Scripture). However, knowing her background, I quickly added, “But there is no loss of self-control with this filling.” Whether today, or thousands of years ago, Satan’s religious system always has its counterfeits. While “praise dancing” feels good, while “holy laughter” brings some people happiness, feelings and emotions do not have the authority to gauge truth. What does it mean to be “filled with the Spirit?”

If we turn to the companion passage of today’s Scripture, we see the term defined for us. Colossians 3:16 says: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” To be “filled with the Spirit” is to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” In other words, His thinking controls us because we have studied and memorized His Holy Word. The Bible says that we need to “mind the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5-8). This is how the Spirit of God leads us. By recalling what we read, we walk in line with what His Word says today in the Dispensation of Grace (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon).

How sad it is when people reduce the role of the Holy Spirit to nothing more than some strange feeling that causes one to engage in some pretty wild, disorderly, absurd behaviors. Religious tradition is so intoxicating, so inebriating, it causes people to lose all sense of reason. Nevertheless, when we “let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly in all wisdom,” it becomes a filling rather than a feeling!

Young and Old(er), Take Heed!

Monday, August 7, 2017

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9 KJV).

By God’s grace, dear brethren, I celebrate my 29th birthday today!

Every passing birthday, Christian friends, causes us to realize two things. Firstly, we see how far we have come in our understanding of life, the world, and God’s ultimate plan. Secondly, we see how far we still have to go! Grace living is a process. Father God does not just “zap” us with sound Bible doctrine so we instantly have sinless behavior. We start as babes in Christ, knowing little. Yet, we do not stay there. Every time we open God’s Word and study it rightly divided, there is steady maturity. That daily intake of sound Bible doctrine allows the indwelling Holy Spirit more material to use in our lives. He takes those verses we believe and transforms us internally, thereby causing our behavior to conform to those grace doctrines.

Notice Ephesians 3:16: “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;….” And 1 Thessalonians 2:13: “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” Finally, 1 Timothy 4:13: “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”

Whether young or old(er), we can cleanse our filthy ways by paying attention to God’s Word rightly divided. Psalm 119 proceeds with: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (verse 105). The Holy Bible guides us right now, where we stand. It also illuminates us into the distant future, that we still not deviate left or right. When we do find ourselves drifting away from this right path, or if we find ourselves not even on that path anymore, then we take heed to the grace doctrines in the Pauline epistles, Romans through Philemon. (This reformation will save us much headache and heartache the next birthday… and countless others!) 🙂

Not Hearing God’s Words #6

Sunday, July 30, 2017

“He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:47 KJV).

Friend, have you ever talked to a lost person about the Bible? Have you also ever spoken to another Christian about the Bible? If you paid attention to both scenarios, you will recall that they were two drastically different conversations. There was such disconnect when dealing with the lost person whereas there was more receptivity on the part of the Christian (usually). Why? Today’s Scripture highlights the reason.

Considering John chapter 8, the Lord Jesus’ conversation with unsaved and disbelieving religionists, we see typified our interactions with such individuals today. When we present spiritual issues, they can respond only in fleshly or material terms. To them, the Scriptures are nonsense: spiritual insanity afflicts them. Focusing on their works, they do not believe God’s message to them. Lacking spiritual insight, they have no ability to see they are lost, enslaved to sin. They cannot handle the message, so they resort to petty name-calling and other personal attacks directed toward us (the messengers). Convicted, they seek to harm, silence, imprison, and even kill us—using whatever means available to them.

Sadly, some believers behave similarly when we attempt to share the rightly-divided Bible with them. They entertain such shallow, manmade perceptions of Scripture. Did you notice the parenthetical “usually” in the introduction? Most lost people refuse to hear the Gospel. Usually, Christian people will talk about the Bible, albeit loosely. Once you delve into the “meat”—deeper things such as the Dispensation of Grace—they behave as lost people. Thinking and walking in the energy of their flesh, they too love religion, human “goodness.” They rebel against those “grace” verses you cite! Second Timothy 2:26 speaks of they “that oppose themselves… [in] the snare of the devil… taken captive by him at his will.” Such Christians, polluted by religious tradition and non-dispensational Bible understanding, cooperate with the Adversary… to defeat themselves!

Thankfully, there are lost people who want to receive the Gospel by faith. They are still coming to trust in Christ every day. Thankfully, there are some Christians who still want to receive the rightly divided Bible. They too are coming to God’s light… “hearing God’s words” also!

Educate the Children

Saturday, July 15, 2017

“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 11:18,19 KJV).

If children are untaught in Scripture, the parents (especially the father) are usually to blame!

Someone recently told me of a certain unruly, indecent young woman in her “Christian” family. When it was suggested that her father get involved, the woman told me that the mother “wore the pants in the family.” The young woman’s father is actually “scared of” the mother, and he will not reprimand his daughter “for fear of” his wife (her mother). Such a sad predicament, and very common!

As our “rotted” society demonstrates, most fathers have failed in their duties at home. Perhaps they are hard workers, good providers. The Bible does say: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). However, according to the Bible, fathers—not mothers—are to be the primary Bible teachers of their children: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Husbands are to be the Bible teachers of their wives: “And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (1 Corinthians 14:35). Furthermore, God commands the husband to be the spiritual leader of the marriage, as Ephesians 5:23,24 instructs: “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”

To the men reading this, if you care about your family, my friends, you will heed these Scriptures!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How was Jesus Christ ‘raised again?’ Why ‘again?’”

Instructing Those That Oppose Themselves

Friday, June 30, 2017

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV).

How do we combat Bible ignorance? We “in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves!”

We all begin life as physical babies but we do not remain in that state. Eventually, we grow up and become adults. Rather than depending on others all our life, we increasingly do for ourselves. Just as we move on in our experience in life, so we become better aware of what is going on and what is expected of us. It is abnormal for us not to make such progress. We all grow at different rates, but we still grow. For an adult to think and behave like a small child is most tragic, and sadly, most churches today are nothing but spiritual nurseries. Spiritual immaturity is not a sin. Prolonged spiritual immaturity is!

Colossians 2:7 says of the Christian life: “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the source of the Christian life. We are edified in Him. We should be “stablished [stabilized] in the faith:” that is, we are spiritually steadied, not “children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness…” (Ephesians 4:14). The key is to be “taught” sound Bible doctrine—and there is rarely any teaching going on in Christian assemblies today. Most of the focus is on music, dancing, singing, liturgy, ceremonies, and prayers!

Friends, so many Christians are living contrary to who God has made them in His Son, Jesus Christ. In humility, gentleness, we must use the Word of God rightly divided to warn them, to teach them, to tell them how to come to the knowledge of the truth and escape the snare of the Devil! We must “instruct those that oppose themselves!”

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Should I preach the same Bible messages I have preached before?”

Not Mixed With Faith

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Hebrews 4:2 KJV).

We can read and memorize all the verses we want, but, if we are not approaching Bible verses in faith, we will not gain the profit God put in them.

I had a recent phone conversation with a brother in Christ who is in the ministry. He is dealing with an individual who jumps from religious group to religious group (five or six current affiliations). This man, whether saved or not I am unsure, constantly asks the brother various Bible questions. How sad it is that people can ask so many questions and still be so ill equipped, unable to distinguish truth from error. Yea, treating the Bible like some “intellectual gym class” will severely harm rather than greatly help!

Take, for example, the nation Israel in the wilderness (Hebrews chapter 3— previous to today’s Scripture). They heard the voice of God thundering from Mount Sinai. They saw the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments inscribed on them. Unlike the pagan nations around them, Israel had access to the one true God (Deuteronomy chapter 4 in its entirety). Alas, Israel did not believe a word God said (today’s Scripture)! They heard, heard, heard… but they did not believe, believe, believe! Hearing the Word of God does not benefit you if you do not believe it! Paul said this of unbelieving Jews in Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Israel had heard the Word of God for centuries, and yet was still in rank unbelief during his Acts ministry!

The writer of the Book of Hebrews, speaking to Israel during the future time after our Dispensation of Grace, urges the Jews to believe the kingdom doctrines Jesus Christ taught during His earthly ministry. They are to believe on Him as their Messiah, the Son of God, their Redeemer; they must wait for Him to return at His Second Coming to establish that earthly kingdom of God. That wonderful news cannot profit them if “not mixed with faith!”

A Prayer Life Fallen Apart

Monday, June 12, 2017

“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV).

Beloved, when your prayer life ceases, fret not!

An online Christian sister admitted on social media that she had just realized how her prayer life is “pretty close to useless.” Having learned more about how to study God’s Word dispensationally—how everything in Scripture is for us to read but not everything therein is to or about us—she recognizes how she has been praying inappropriately. I told her we have all been there at one time. It was good that she reached this point because most believers never do. Moreover, now that she has identified the problem, she can proceed to fixing it. The solution is there in God’s Word rightly divided, she just needs to study more and discover it!

As a Christian delves deeper into the Bible rightly divided, his or her prayer life increasingly disintegrates. Why? He or she has been praying primarily one of two ways. Firstly, praying like Israel. The primary model prayer of Christendom, of course, is the so-called “Lord’s Prayer,” Matthew 6:9-13—“Our Father which art in heaven….” Secondly, praying like heathen. Jesus Christ discussed that as well. Verse 7 says, “use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”

Friends, we should see how our Apostle Paul prayed. Since his salvation is our “pattern” (1 Timothy 1:15,16), then his ministry and life are also our patterns. If Paul knew what God was doing today, and he did according to Ephesians 3:2, then it is safe to assume that Paul prayed in-line with what God was doing today. As other members of the Body of Christ, we would do well to follow the four model Pauline prayers—Ephesians 1:16-23, Ephesians 3:14-21, Philippians 1:9-11, and Colossians 1:9-13.

Indeed, friends, we pray with whatever Bible understanding we have. We do it with understanding nonetheless—neither mindlessly repeating nor haphazardly snatching verses! As it becomes clear where and how we pray wrongly, we let the rightly-divided verses fix our thoughts and hearts. Once we are re-oriented by God’s grace (I speak from experience), we will not miss that old so-called “prayer life!” Onward to maturity! 🙂