Category Archives: Scriptures

10 ways some preachers undermine confidence in God’s Word

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“All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable….” (Second Timothy 3:16)

We pastors love the Word of God.  We read it, study it, devote our lives to learning and teaching and preaching its riches.  It is our sole authority for what we believe and teach.

And yet.

We sometimes do things that undermine the confidence of our congregations in God’s Word.  By our (perhaps) well-intentioned attempts to communicate what we have learned and believe, we may actually do more harm than good. The result of that is to discourage God’s people from reading it on their own and feeding their souls upon its nourishment.  And when we do that, we are betraying them, dishonoring the Lord, and playing right into the hands of the enemy.

Here are 10 ways we sabotage the confidence of our people in Holy Scripture…

1) The pastor stands to preach without reading Scripture at all.

He says by his omission that Scripture doesn’t matter, that what counts is what he has to say.

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The other reason I believe so strongly

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“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel….” (II Timothy 2:8)

Asking thoughtful believers why they are so dadburn confident of the truth of Jesus Christ will result in a hundred different answers.

My pastor says for him, it’s the Lord’s resurrection. It’s as historically verifiable as anything in ancient times and perhaps more. And if Jesus rose, then He’s still alive and how good is that!

In a recent blog here, I said that to me the scriptures “fit” and  just “feel right,” providing the number one assurance for this country boy. I recognize the arbitrary and subjective nature of that, but there it is.

Other reasons believers give range from the archaeological evidence to the miracles they’ve experienced or their grandma’s testimony.

But there’s something else that looms large in my mind, a fact that dominates almost everything else.

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Why God tells us to be perfect but doesn’t expect it

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(Part 2 on this subject)

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Would the Lord issue a command He does not expect to be obeyed?

We may as well raise the question before some reader does it for me and uses it to dismiss everything that follows.

Short answer: He’s trying to get something across, to teach us something important, by issuing the command.

Longer answer: everything that follows.

In His”Sermon on the Mount,” the Lord Jesus sets the bar alarmingly high for all who would live as His disciples.

–When persecuted, we are to rejoice (Matthew 5:12).

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Perfectionism: The cruelest burden we place on one another

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“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect….” (Matthew 5:48)

First, let’s get the theological argument out of the way.

Let’s make this perfectly clear: God knows you are not perfect and will never be this side of Glory.

And even clearer: “God does not expect sinlessness out of you and me. He is under no illusion about us.”  See Psalm 103:14 “He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” And Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, no, not one.”

Got that?  The illusion of sinless perfection is all ours, my friend.

We read Matthew 5:48 and come away with the erroneous conclusion that God ordered us to be perfect, that perfect means sinlessness, and therefore we can be sinless.  But since we cannot achieve perfection–no one you know has ever pulled it off–then He has given us an impossible standard to live by, one that crushes us and frustrates us and forever disappoints Him.

The result would be that we forever live with a disgusted God and in fear of the celestial woodshed, the destiny of children who bring in failing grades.

Yuck. What kind of theology is this?  And yet, you and I know people who believe this and call themselves Bible students, serious disciples of Jesus, and even evangelists (“sharers of the good news”)..

Now, let’s drop the other shoe here…

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What I wonder about Jesus’ times

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“And walking by the Sea of Galilee…. And going on from there…. And Jesus was going about in all Galilee….” (Matthew 4:18,21,23).

They walked everywhere they went, the Lord and HIs disciples. In time, walkers know every nuance of a trail, every pothole in a road, every farmhouse and every place to stop for a drink of water.

I wish I could have walked with the Lord and the disciples. What must that have been like?

Often a crowd accompanied them. “And great multitudes followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan” (Matthew 4:25).

Did they hang back or press in close? Did they talk the whole time or did a holy hush descend on the group?  Was someone in charge–or tried to be–and kept everyone in line? Did they stay with the Lord for days or just for hours? And if for a long time, how were they fed and where did they stay?

I wonder so many things about what that must have been like…

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The scriptures that define you

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“So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done” (Luke 17:10).

What do you mean when you say a certain scripture is “my verse” or “my text”? That you ‘own’ that verse or have ‘claimed it as your own’?

The verses I claim as ‘mine’ are that not because I own them, but they own me.  They know me, are privy to all my secrets, and have nailed me as surely as an prosecuting attorney ever could.

Take Luke 17:7-10, for instance.  It’s not a particularly happy text, not one I read for inspiration and encouragement.  No, it’s something else entirely. But it is mine as surely as my children, my wife, and this house are mine. They carry my name, and so this this scripture.

When all is said and done, I am an unworthy servant; I’ve just done my duty.

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Games we play with God’s word

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All right. It’s time for the game. Everyone ready?

Here’s how it works.

Add up all the letters in your name.  My name, Joe McKeever, has 11.  Joe is 3 letters, McKeever has 8.  Now, find a scripture somewhere in the Bible that is chapter 11, verses 3 through 8, and see if and how it fits your life. If you find a good one, that’s your passage.

See what we did? The total number of letters is for the chapter, and the numbers in your names separately determine the verses. So, I’m 11:3-8.  The question is, “What book?”

We find a lot of “chapters 11:3-8” in the Bible. Genesis has one, Exodus does, Leviticus, Numbers, etc. etc.

Since I made up the rules, I get to select the passage that best suits me. (smiley-face goes here) Hebrews 11:3-8, for instance, is all about faith. And since I like to think of myself as a faith person, that’s my scripture passage.

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Our favorite seniors in Scripture

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“Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance….” (Titus 2:2)

Abraham. Moses. Caleb.Joshua. Barzillai. Simeon.

These godly old people interest us and instruct us.  They inspire us and inform us. And intimidate us?  (Smiley-face goes here.)  Maybe, just a little.

They did so well under extreme conditions.

Now, we’re not just praising them because they lived a long time and got their names in the Holy Scriptures. There are other oldsters in the Word who don’t necessarily make that list of champions.

–There is Eli, the high priest, who told little Samuel to go back to bed and listen for God’s voice, but who did a lousy job raising his sons and turning them loose with God’s people without holding them accountable.

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Second Timothy Chapter 2

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“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

THEREFORE.

When you see that word in Scripture, you ask “What is it there for?”  The usual answer means on the basis of all that has gone before, what is the conclusion.

For instance, in chapter one, but particularly toward the end of the chapter–some have deserted Paul, and only Onesiphorus had sought him out–Paul calls for Timothy and through him the rest of the body of Christ to deepen their resolve to serve Christ.

–-Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  I confess not to know what this means.  It’s one of those wonderful spiritualities that we toss around which sounds great, makes excellent material for hymns and uplifting choruses, but doesn’t actually tell us anything. Or, let me rephrase that: After all our singing it and quoting it, we still have difficulty getting a handle on what exactly it means.

I know some of what the “grace that is in Christ Jesus” means.  John said the Law came by Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). He said Jesus was “full of grace and truth” (1:14).  In short, Jesus was all love, pure love,  love throughout, from top to bottom, from the outermost to the innermost. He was solidly love.  After all, “God is love.”

So, how can we “be strong” in that grace?  I can devote myself to Him, constantly draw near to Him, sit at His feet as Mary did and worship Him, and obey His teachings. Is that what this means? Or, is Paul saying: “Now that you are living in the grace of Jesus, stand up tall and be strong”? Be courageous, outspoken, bold, faithful.

Or, is it all of the above?

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The funniest thing in the Bible

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“And He told them a joke: ‘Two scribes went into a bar mitzvah…”

Okay. There’s nothing like that in the Bible.  And that is all good, believe me.

The Holy Scriptures are not about the humorous side of life and was not given to entertain us. It deals with issues grander, more urgent, deeper, more lasting.

But, since God is the Author of the human personality, and since He used humans to pen the Scriptures, we are not surprised to find humorous–if not outright funny–incidents and aspects to this great book.

Here are a few of my favorites….

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