Friday, February 10, 2006

Good Morning

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 3:1-6; read pages 131-135 in Barclay; stop before "The Letter to Philadelphia"

 

-- wrapping up the letter to Sardis.

 

--  I think that the main thing about the remainder of this chapter of the book is the promise that Christ makes to those who are faithful.  Again, in the spirit that these letters are meant to be understood and apply to the church universal, we can take from this that Jesus knows when we have been faithful, even in a case like Sardis where there were just a few faithful within a larger group whose faith was dead.

 

-- I find it interesting that the scripture doesn't read that Christ will write your name in the book of Life, but instead, he won't erase your name from the Book of Life.  That could mean that (and these are my observations -- I don't have all of the academic background for these options that Barclay usually presents) (1) we all start out in the book of Life at birth, and then we lose our place when we don't confirm our place by accepting Christ or (2) that you are written into the book of life when you accept Christ, but you can lose your place through your unfaithfulness.  Either way, the thought appears to be that you can lose your place in the book of Life, which is a thought that many people would debate you on - many argue that you are permanently saved once saved.

 

-- something to talk about on Sunday.  See you then.

 

Today's Scripture

 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.

 

Philippians 4:8

Today's prayer requests:   Dr. Page

Dr. Page is Ron and Brad's finance teacher at Auburn, who has lymphoma, and is not doing well.  We need to remember him as he struggles with the disease and the treatment.

Today's class member prayer:

Brandon Herring

Have a great day.

Jay

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Good Morning

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 3:1-6; read pages 127-131 in Barclay; stop before "Imperatives of the Risen Lord"

 

-- two quick notes as we continue on with Sardis.

 

-- the first point that Barclay covers today is that the Sardis church was dead.  When I had first read that, I took it to mean ineffectual and lifeless -- he takes his commentary in a slightly different direction, into the idea that they likely had fallen into some sort of sin or sins, which was causing them to be a dead church.  My sense is that, in the other letters, Christ had already called out the churches that were sinning directly about their sins.  I don't think that in this case, the game would change and Christ would use symbolic language to talk about a church that was sinning.    My take is that when the scripture says that the church was dead, that it was doing nothing, it wasn't reaching out, it wasn't advancing the word. 

 

-- the second point Barclay fixes on today is the idea of watchfulness -- that we need to be on guard for slipping into sin, into lethargy in our faith.  It gives me the mental impression of someone tiptoeing through a minefield. --While it may seem that dangers and sin are all around, the more I thought about it the more I think we are a little better off than someone in the middle of mindfield.  It's more like what my youngest brother experiened when he visited Cambodia a couple of years ago.  That country had a civil war that featured a lot of planted anti-personnel mines.  They were visiting some ruins, and the guides warned him that they needed to stay to the path and be safe -- that if they strayed from the path, they would likely step on a mine.  I think that is more like our task, to stay on a path that others have laid out for us and tested it to be safe, to avoid the landminds that are all around us in our culture.

 

Today's Scripture

 

And do this, understanding the present time.  The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

 

Romans 13:11

Today's prayer requests:   Margaret Rose Severance

Brigette's grandmother has been battling complications from a broken leg.  She needs our prayers to help her recover more fully from the broken leg and the complications and immobility that has resulted.

Today's class member prayer:

Danny Walker

Have a great day.

Jay

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Good Morning

 

During the next few days, I might be hit or miss getting out the email -- I'm going to be traveling -- today is Indianapolis.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 3:1-6; read pages 122-126 in Barclay; stop before "Death in Life"

 

-- beginning a section on our next church - Sardis.

 

-- today's reading is about the history of Sardis.  It's hard to believe that John, writing 2,000 years ago, would be writing about a city that had seen its best days, but that is the case with Sardis.  By the time John was writing, Sardis was a formerly great city that didn't really matter any more.  As I was reading about Sardis, the city of Detriot came to mind -- a city that was once very vital, which now has large parts of the city in decay and neglect.

 

-- one realization that I came to today -- I never had given much attention at all to this part of Revelation -- the letters to the churches - I usually skimmed them at best to get to the much more interesting parts of the book.  I think that most people are like that.  But there is a lot of interesting reading in the first part of the book.  Barclay's historical background is part of it, but the bigger part is that John's words to these seven churches are very good words for the church today.  So far, almost all that he has written in warning to these churches are warnings that we can learn from for our church.

 

Today's Scripture

 

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.

 

Romans 8:10

Today's prayer requests:   Corey

Corey is one of Megan's students, who recently found out he had a tumor on this brain.  They are going to do more tests on March 21, so they won't know anything more till then as to how they will be able to treat this.  We just need to remember him and his family in our prayers.

 

Today's class member prayer:

Jodi Findlay

Have a great day.

Jay

Re: Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Just an update on my student Corey....plans to do more tests on March 21st (my birthday)...we won't know anything until then.....please keep him in your prayers......

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Good Morning

 

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 2:18-29; read pages 118-122 in Barclay; stop before "The Letter to Sardis"

 

-- finishing up on Thyatira.

 

-- the interesting thing about Jezebel is not that she was teaching sexual immorality and that it was ok to eat food sacrificed to idols -- but that she was a member of the church in Thyatira.  Remember, the thing that Jesus was holding against this church, and was calling them out on, was their tolerance of this woman.  She and the ones that followed her were going to be punished, as Jesus said, but the church was being held accountable for their tolerance of her teaching.

 

-- I think that is the takeaway for us of this letter, the application of this teaching to the universal church -- we have to know the difference between right and wrong, and have to make that difference matter.  In today's world, we are not encouraged to think that the difference between right and wrong matters, or in some cases, that there is a difference between right and wrong.  That's where the world begins to erode into our faith, where the values of the world seep into the values of the church.  Tolerance of all points of view and opinions might be something that the world cherishes and values, but it isn't a value that the church should hold to.  The letter to Thyatira is plain -- Christ holds against us when we allow bad teachings and wrong points of view a place in the church.

 

-- there is something about that intolerance that is scary and seemingly unchristian, but I don't see anyway around what looks to me to be plainly written scripture.

 

Today's Scripture

 

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

Today's prayer requests:   Nelson Ferreiro, friend of Megan's family

He has just completed chemo after surgery to remove a tumor from his brain.  The tumor is gone as of now, they will recheck in 60 days, but we need to pray for his continued improvement, and that the cancer stays gone.

Just fyi, my dad is doing better -- they are going to do a heart catherization and possibly a stent today, but the plan is for him to go home tomorrow. 

Today's class member prayer:

Lynn Rocksvold

Have a great day.

Jay

Monday, February 6, 2006

Good Morning

 

I'm sorry I wasn't there on Sunday.  My dad, who has recurring heart problems, was taken to the hospital late Saturday night, and things didn't look food for awhile.  I didn't get back home from the hospital till early Sunday morning, and I couldn't get back up and going in time for church.

 

Again, given the late date, I didn't get a chance to let someone know far enough in advance to prepare to teach the class, but I hope you were able to discuss things a bit.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 2:18-29; read pages 115-118 in Barclay; stop before "The Teaching of Jezebel (2)"

 

-- continuing on Thyatira.

 

-- the portion of the letter for commentary today talks about what the church at Thyatira had done wrong, and the identity of the woman Jezebel in the letter.

 

-- I thought it was a bit amusing that Barclay discusses in great length the possible idenitity of Jezebel, before landing on the answer that we really don't have any idea who she was, other than she must be bad, in order to be called by the name of a woman in the Old Testament who has become synonomous, even in our day, with wickedness.

 

-- The particular thing discussed today was the church in Thyatira's acceptance of the teaching put forth by Jezebel that eating meat sacrificed to idols was OK for Christians to eat.  The matter isn't quite as cut and dried as Barclay lays out.  In Acts, as mentioned, in a letter to Gentile churchs in Antioch and some other places, the elders in Jersusalem made not eating meat sacrificed to idols as one of the four or so dietary rules that the Gentiles had to follow as condition of the faith.

 

-- Paul does talk about food sacrificed to idols in chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians, and essentially says since there is only one true God, and that eating or not eating certain things won't get you any closer to God.  But, he adds, since some people weak in the faith might be misled or confused by Christians eating meat sacrificed to idols, then Christians should abstain from it because it would confuse some other believers.

 

-- Over in chapter 10, Paul gets a little harder on the practice, as noted in our scripture below, but essentially his message is the same -- (1) idols are nothing (2) eating or not eating certain things won't get you any closer to salvation or to God and (3) but we should never do anything in our eating or drinking that causes someone else to stumble, or to bring disrepute on the faith or church.

 

-- Or course, Paul says "Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it".

 

-- So, long story short, Jezebel was teaching something where she only knew half the story.  If you had only passing knowledge of a portion of Paul's teaching, you'd think you were OK to teach that eating food sacrificed to idols was fine. But the full knowledge of the scriptures puts it on the list of things Christians shouldn't do.

 

-- I don't think that this situation comes up for us any longer in our lives, but am I missing anything?  Note that the scripture below, to me, has a two meanings -- the specific question about idols, and a broader, more symbolic question about who we should be associating with.

 

Today's Scripture

 

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 10:21

Today's prayer requests:    Jerry Waters

My dad is still in the hospital in the Cardiac Care Unit.  They are going to be doing some tests on him to see what caused this last episode of heart arhythmia, which caused his defribulator implant to go off 19 times during a five hour period.  Just need prayers for the doctors to stablize his heart rate, and for him to help him not be frightened

Today's class member prayer:

Carl McKinney

Have a great day.

Jay